Volatility Shares is launching two Solana (SOL) futures exchange-traded funds (ETFs), the Volatility Shares Solana ETF (SOLZ) and the Volatility Shares 2X Solana ETF (SOLT), on March 20.

According to the Securities and Exchange Commission filing, SOLZ will feature a management fee of 0.95% until June 30, 2026, when the management fee will increase to 1.15%.

Volatility Shares’ 2X Solana ETF gives investors twice the leverage and will feature a 1.85% management fee.

The filings represent the first Solana-based ETFs in the US and follow the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group’s debut of SOL futures contracts.

Following a leadership change at the SEC and the reelection of Donald Trump as president of the United States, asset managers and ETF firms have submitted a torrent of ETF applications to the SEC for approval.

Related: Solana’s 5th birthday: From pandemic origins to US crypto stockpile

CME Group debuts SOL futures

SOL futures went live on March 17 with a trading volume of approximately $12.1 million on the first day.

For context, Bitcoin (BTC) futures debuted at over $102 million in volume on the first day of trading, and Ether (ETH) futures garnered over $30 million the day they launched.

Despite the relatively low volume, SOL futures contracts could help boost demand for the cryptocurrency from institutional investors and encourage price discovery.

The launch of SOL futures signaled the approval of SOL ETFs in the United States as financial regulators embrace digital assets amid a policy pivot.

According to Chris Chung, founder of Titan — a Solana-based swap platform — the CME’s futures indicate that SOL is now a mature asset capable of attracting institutional interest.

Chung added that the launch of SOL futures and ETFs position Solana as a blockchain network poised for real-world use cases such as payments, not just a memecoin casino.

ETFs could also allow investor capital to flow into SOL, creating a sustained rally in the altcoin that competitors lacking an ETF might miss out on.

The launch of Bitcoin ETFs in 2024 is widely believed to have siloed institutional capital away from the rest of the crypto market, preventing capital rotation from BTC into altcoins and upending altseason.

Magazine: Memecoins are ded — But Solana ‘100x better’ despite revenue plunge

Solana’s native token, SOL (SOL), rose 8% on March 19 as investors turned to riskier assets ahead of US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks. While interest rates are expected to stay unchanged, analysts anticipate a softer inflation outlook for 2025. Meanwhile, key onchain and derivatives metrics for Solana suggest further upside for SOL price.

The cryptocurrency market mirrored intraday movements in the US stock market, suggesting SOL’s gains were not driven by industry-specific news, such as reports that the US Securities and Exchange Commission may drop its lawsuit against Ripple after clinging to it for four years.

On March 19, the Russell 2000 index futures, tracking US-listed small-cap companies, surged to their highest level in twelve days. Despite a broader slowdown in decentralized application (DApp) activity, Solana stands out. 

Solana’s TVL continues to rise

Solana’s onchain volumes dropped 47% over two weeks, but similar declines were seen across Ethereum, Arbitrum, Tron, and Avalanche, highlighting industry-wide trends rather than Solana-specific issues. The Solana network’s total value locked (TVL), a measure of deposits, hit its highest level since July 2022, supporting SOL’s bullish momentum.

On March 17, Solana’s TVL climbed to 53.2 million SOL, marking a 10% increase from the previous month. By comparison, BNB Chain’s TVL rose 6% in BNB terms, while Tron’s deposits fell 8% in TRX terms over the same period. Despite weaker activity in decentralized applications (DApps), Solana continued to attract a steady flow of deposits, showcasing its resilience.

Solana saw strong momentum, driven by Bybit Staking, which surged 51% in deposits since Feb. 17, and Drift, a perpetual trading platform, with a 36% TVL increase. Restaking app Fragmentic also recorded a 65% rise in SOL deposits over 30 days. In nominal terms, Solana secured its second-place position in TVL at $6.8 billion, ahead of BNB Chain’s $5.4 billion.

Despite the market downturn, several Solana DApps remain among the top 10 in fees, outperforming larger competitors like Uniswap and Ethereum’s leading staking solutions.

Solana’s memecoin launchpad Pump.fun, decentralized exchange Jupiter, automated market maker and liquidity provider Meteora, and staking platform Jito are among the leaders in fees. More notably, Solana’s weekly base layer fees have surpassed Ethereum’s, which holds the top position with $53.3 billion in TVL.

SOL derivatives hold steady as token unlock fears subside

Despite a 27% decline in SOL’s price over 30 days, demand for leveraged positions remains balanced between longs (buyers) and shorts (sellers), as indicated by the futures funding rate.

Periods of high demand for bearish bets typically push the 8-hour perpetual futures funding rate to -0.02%, which equals 1.8% per month. When the rate turns negative, shorts are the ones paying to maintain their positions. The opposite occurs when traders are optimistic about SOL’s price, causing the funding rate to rise above 0.02%.

The recent price weakness was not enough to instill confidence in bears, at least not to the extent of adding leveraged positions. One reason for this can be explained by the reduced growth in SOL supply going forward, similar to inflation. A total of 2.72 million SOL will be unlocked in April, but only 0.79 million are expected for May and June.

Ultimately, SOL is well-positioned to reclaim the $170 level last seen on March 3, given the resilience in deposits, the lack of leverage demand from bears, and the reduced supply increase in the coming months.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Crypto regulations must be enacted through an act of Congress to become permanent and meaningful pieces of legislation, according to former Congressman Wiley Nickel.

In an exclusive video interview with Cointelegraph’s Turner Wright, Nickel urged bipartisan collaboration to push through comprehensive crypto regulations. The former Congressman added:

“I think it’s really important for anybody who cares about this issue to step back and realize that if you want lasting change in Washington, you must move legislation through Congress. Otherwise, if you’re talking about executive orders, it will just go back and forth.”

“You don’t want to have the mess that we saw just months ago with Gary Gensler’s SEC — you need to get legislation through Congress,” Nickel reiterated.

President Trump’s Jan. 23 executive order establishing the Working Group on Digital Assets, which also prohibited the development of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), and the order establishing a Bitcoin strategic reserve alongside a separate crypto stockpile, were both examples of executive actions that can be reversed at a later date.

Related: Congress on track for stablecoin, market structure bills by August: Blockchain Association

Both chambers of Congress rush to push through meaningful legislation

Rep. Tom Emmer, the majority whip of the United States House of Representatives, reintroduced legislation banning a CBDC in the US on March 6.

Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis also reintroduced the Bitcoin Act in March, which builds upon an earlier bill of the same title but allows the US to purchase more than 1 million Bitcoin (BTC).

Rep. Byron Donalds recently announced that he would draft legislation to codify the Bitcoin strategic reserve into law — shielding President Trump’s original executive order from being overturned by a future administration.

On March 12, the House of Representatives repealed the IRS broker rule requiring decentralized finance platforms to report information to the Internal Revenue Service in a 292-131 vote.

Speaking at this year’s Blockworks Digital Asset Summit, Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna said that Congress should be able to pass comprehensive crypto regulation in 2025, including a stablecoin bill and a market structure bill.

Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered

The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s dismissal of its years-long lawsuit against Ripple Labs, the developer of the XRP Ledger blockchain network, is a “victory for the industry,” Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said at Blockworks’ 2025 Digital Asset Summit in New York.

Earlier on March 19, Garlinghouse revealed that the SEC would dismiss its legal action against Ripple, ending four years of litigation against the blockchain developer for an alleged $1.3-billion unregistered securities offering in 2020.

“It feels like a victory for the industry and the beginning of a new chapter,” Garlinghouse said on March 19 at the Summit, which was attended by Cointelegraph. 

Related: SEC will drop its appeal against Ripple, CEO Garlinghouse says

Major reversal

The dismissal is the latest — and arguably most significant — reversal by the SEC under US President Donald Trump.

The agency previously dropped charges against other crypto firms, including Coinbase, Kraken and Uniswap, for similar alleged securities law violations. 

Under former President Joe Biden, the SEC brought upward of 100 enforcement actions against crypto firms, typically alleging failure to properly register products that former SEC Chair Gary Gensler said fell under the securities regulators’ jurisdiction. 

Trump has taken a friendlier stance toward the burgeoning industry, promising to make America the “world’s crypto capital” and appointing industry-friendly leaders to key regulatory posts. 

“The new chapter started with the reset at both the Congress and the executive branch […] when Trump came in and nominated Paul Atkins, Scott Bessent, [and] brought on David Sacks,” Garlinghouse said. 

Trump nominated Atkins and Bessent to head the SEC and Treasury Department, respectively. Sacks is Trump’s artificial intelligence and “crypto czar,” a newly created White House advisory role. 

“I really deeply believed that we were going to be on the right side of the law and on the right side of history,” Garlinghouse said of his company’s protracted legal fight with US regulators, adding that, in his view, the SEC was “just […] trying to bully” the crypto industry. 

Now that regulatory headwinds have subsided, Ripple is focusing on expansion, Garlinghouse added. 

“Ripple has invested over $2 billion in investments and acquisitions across the crypto landscape, and some of those have nothing to do with XRP because if crypto does well, I fundamentally believe Ripple will do well,” he said. 

Magazine: Classic Sega, Atari and Nintendo games get crypto makeovers: Web3 Gamer

Cardano’s (ADA) price has managed a steady 13.5% in March after experiencing a 32% dip in February. The altcoin is still down 15% in Q1, but technical data is beginning to point to the continuation of the recent positive price action.

Despite ADA price moving sideways between $0.78 and $0.70 over the past 10 days, social sentiment related to the altcoin has hit a new year-to-date high.

Cardano’s “bullish” sentiment soars to 4-month high

According to Santiment, an onchain intelligence platform, Cardano’s social sentiment exhibited its highest positive measurement in four months.

ADA investors received a boost from the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) recent comments, which classified Cardano’s use case as “smart contracts for government services.” The SEC statement was followed by ADA’s highest ratio of positive comments since the first week of November 2024.

A rise in social sentiment is often aligned with increased trading activity and, at times, higher prices. In Q4 2024, a rise in positive social sentiment and active transactions went hand in hand for ADA. However, the environment is slightly different right now.

Data from Cardanoscan.io showed a stark difference between the number of active transaction counts from early November 2024 and now. In Q4, the average transaction count remained above 100,000 for most of November and December, but currently, it is roughly down 70%, with the number of transactions coming in at 26,437 on March 18.

Regardless of the weak onchain activity, Michael Heinrich, CEO of 0G Labs, told Cointelegraph that Cardano’s strength lies in “lobbying” its community. Speaking on ADA and XRP’s inclusion in a US Digital Asset Stockpile, Heinrich said,

“They have time in the game: these tokens have been around for a while, they’re liquid, and they’re unlikely to spring any sudden surprises.”

Related: Cardano’s ADA lands spot in US Digital Asset Stockpile — Will it generate value?

ADA to rally 20% before the end of March?

Irrespective of the underwhelming onchain data, ADA price has been receptive to positive news in the past.

The altcoin has maintained a position above the 0.50 Fibonacci retracement line despite ADA being in a downtrend since its 2024 high of $1.32. This indicates that ADA’s high-time frame (HTF) chart remains on a technical uptrend.

Cardano retained support from the ascending trendline (black line) while oscillating between its parallel channel. Currently, the immediate resistance lies at the upper range of the channel at $0.78, which is supported by the 200-day exponential moving average (200-DEMA, orange line). A positive candle close above the 200-DEMA on the daily chart indicates a bullish shift, potentially triggering a move above $0.78.

The immediate target above $0.78 lies between 0.84 and $0.88, where a daily fair value gap (FVG) is present. A retest of $0.88 marks a 20% return from its current price.

However, historically, Cardano has exhibited prolonged sideways movement, which could limit immediate gains. A break above $0.78 validates further confirmation for a rally, but until then, the altcoin may continue to range between $0.78 and $0.70.

Related: Bitcoin is just seeing a ‘normal correction,’ cycle peak is yet to come: Analysts

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Blockchain For Impact (BFI), a charity established by Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, has committed $90 million to advance biomedical research, driving healthcare innovation, and enhancing climate resilience — a development that could spur blockchain’s adoption for charity initiatives.

The Polygon co-founder’s BFI plans to allocate an additional $200 million to support the growth of healthcare startups, expand biomedical research, and strengthen the public health systems.

BFI has backed several impactful projects in India’s healthcare sector, including Solar-Powered Public Health Centers (PHCs), a floating hospital in Assam to aid communities in flood-prone areas, the UNICEF Healthcare Innovation Partnership, and relief funding during the COVID-19 crisis. Their further initiatives will place a greater emphasis on healthcare innovation and research.

Incorporating blockchain technology can make philanthropic efforts more transparent and accountable thanks to the ledger’s verifiability, according to Sandeep Nailwal, Founder of Blockchain for Impact and co-founder of Polygon.

Nailwal told Cointelegraph:

“All donations received by BFI can be tracked through blockchain. While the final transfer to non-profit programs happens through a bank, every financial step is transparently displayed on our website. All financial data can be visualized, and we publish NGO details, allowing anyone to independently verify the disbursements.”

“Separately, the $68 million we channeled for COVID-19 relief in India, including $15 million to the Government of India through UNICEF for 128 million syringes during COVID-19, followed the same approach,” said Nailwal, adding:

“Anyone, be it donors or communities, can see where the money goes. This shows up in the results: 96% of healthcare workers say care has improved, and vaccine wastage dropped 83% because refrigeration is steady.”

According to The Giving Block’s report, BFI exemplifies the rapid growth of crypto philanthropy, with its $90 million in donations representing 9% of all cryptocurrency contributions tracked globally in 2024.

This surge aligns with the transformative potential of digital donations to enhance transparency and efficiency in fund allocation. The same report reveals that over 70% of the top 100 US-based charities now accept crypto.

Related: Crypto giving exceeded $1B in 2024 — Report

Global charities are embracing crypto donations

Charitable organizations are increasingly embracing cryptocurrency donations, thanks to the transparency of the blockchain ledger, which makes donations publicly traceable and reduces the transaction fees of charitable transactions compared to fiat-based donations.

Beyond just the US, charities across the globe embrace crypto donations, including large charities like the UK Red Cross and Singapore Red Cross. Save the Children, a leading international nonprofit organization, disclosed that they had received $8.6 million in crypto donations so far.

As cryptocurrency adoption grows, so does the need for secure and compliant solutions for nonprofits. The Given Block announced its partnership with Gemini on March 13. The organization thinks artificial intelligence can help make crypto in philanthropy more secure.

Crypto donations have the potential to enhance charitable revenue. A report from Fast Company found that nonprofits with a strong track record of transparency experienced a 53% increase in contributions on average the following year compared to organizations lacking such transparency. As donation transparency improves, donor willingness to contribute also increases.

As the crypto market continues to grow, crypto donations are expected to be increasingly accepted by more organizations. The Giving Block estimates crypto donations in 2035 would be approximately $89.27 billion.

Additional reporting by Zoltan Vardai.

Magazine: Crypto is changing how humanitarian agencies deliver aid and services

Victims of address poisoning scams were tricked into willingly sending over $1.2 million worth of funds to scammers, showcasing the problematic rise of cryptocurrency phishing attacks.

Address poisoning, or wallet poisoning scams, involves tricking victims into sending their digital assets to fraudulent addresses belonging to scammers.  

Pig butchering schemes on Ethereum have cost the crypto industry over $1.2 million worth of funds in the nearly three weeks since the beginning of the month, wrote onchain security firm Cyvers in a March 19 X post:

“Attackers send small transactions to victims, mimicking their frequently used wallet addresses. When users copy-paste an address from their transaction history, they might accidentally send funds to the scammer instead.”

Address poisoning scams have been growing, since the beginning of the year, costing the industry over $1.8 million in February, according to Deddy Lavid, co-founder and CEO of Cyvers.

The growing sophistication of attackers and the lack of pre-transaction security measures are some of the main reasons for the increase, the CEO told Cointelegraph, adding:

“More users and institutions are leveraging automated tools for crypto transactions, some of which may not have built-in verification mechanisms to detect poisoned addresses.”

While the higher transaction volume due to the crypto bull market is a contributing factor, pre-transaction verification methods may stop a significant amount of phishing attacks, said Lavid, adding:

“Unlike traditional fraud detection, many wallets and platforms lack real-time pre-transaction screening that could flag suspicious addresses before funds are sent.”

Related: August sees 215% rise in crypto phishing, $55M lost in single attack

Address poisoning scams have previously cost investors tens of millions. In May 2024, an investor sent $71 million worth of Wrapped Bitcoin to a bait wallet address, falling victim to a wallet poisoning scam. The scammer created a wallet address with similar alphanumeric characters and made a small transaction to the victim’s account.

However, the attacker returned the $71 million days later, after he had an unexpected change of heart due to the growing attention from blockchain investigators.

Related: Ledger users targeted by malicious ‘clear signing’ phishing email

Phishing scams are a growing problem for the crypto industry

Phishing scams are becoming a growing threat to the crypto industry, next to traditional hacks.

Pig butchering scams are another type of phishing scheme involving prolonged and complex manipulation tactics to trick investors into willingly sending their assets to fraudulent crypto addresses.

Pig butchering schemes on the Ethereum network cost the industry over $5.5 billion across 200,000 identified cases in 2024, according to Cyvers.

The average grooming period for victims lasts between one and two weeks in 35% of cases, while 10% of scams involve grooming periods of up to three months, according to Cyvers data.

In an alarming sign, 75% of victims lost over half of their net worth to pig butchering scams. Males aged 30 to 49 are most affected by these attacks.

Phishing scams were the top crypto security threat of 2024, which netted attackers over $1 billion across 296 incidents as the most costly attack vector for the crypto industry.

Magazine: Down to $200 one day, Pixels founder had $2.4M the next: Luke Barwikowski, X Hall of Flame

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s multi-year enforcement action against Ripple is finally coming to an end, according to the company CEO.

“This is it — the moment we’ve been waiting for. The SEC will drop its appeal — a resounding victory for Ripple, for crypto, every way you look at it,” Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse wrote on X on March 19.

“I’m finally able to announce that the case has ended; it’s over,” Garlinghouse said in the attached video to the X post.

The end of a long-running legal battle between Ripple and the SEC comes four years after the US securities regulator sued the company over an alleged $1.3 billion unregistered securities offering in December 2020.

Garlinghouse announces the news at the Digital Asset Summit

Garlinghouse’s announcement on the end of the SEC-Ripple case came amid the Digital Asset Summit in New York.

“Just a few minutes ago, right before I walked up here, I posted on X that we can now announce that the SEC is no longer pursuing their appeal in the Ripple case,” the CEO stated.

“We’re now closing a chapter in crypto history,” Garlinghouse said in the video on X, adding that “it’s time to make the United States the crypto capital of the world.”

“Ripple’s main message is about gratitude”

In the statement, Garlinghouse praised the new SEC leadership and executive and legislative branches of the US government for “seeking a rational and constructive way forward on crypto.”

The CEO emphasized that his main message is about gratitude, stating:

“It’s gratitude to everyone who stood by us, to every Ripple employee, to the incredible legal team here at Ripple, led by the best chief legal officer in the business. To all the gratitude, certainly to the XRP family, to our customers, to our partners.”

Garlinghouse expressed confidence that Ripple’s legal victory sends an “ominous sign for innovation around cryptocurrency in the United States” following years of “intimidation and terror” from Gary Gensler-headed SEC.

XRP spikes about 9% amid the news

Ripple-issued XRP (XRP) has recorded significant action amid the news, with its price surging about 9% in the first hour following the announcement, according to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView.

By publishing time, XRP is the third largest crypto asset by market capitalization, at $146 billion.

XRP price surged 9% following SEC’s backdown. Source: TradingView

The news has also triggered a broader rally in crypto markets, with multiple tokens reacting with minor gains in the first hour following Garlinghouse’s statement.

Additional reporting by Turner Wright.

Magazine: Classic Sega, Atari and Nintendo games get crypto makeovers: Web3 Gamer

Major cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com came under fire following an allegedly manipulated vote leading to a massive token burn reversal on Crypto.com’s Cronos blockchain.

Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek took to X on March 19 to highlight the firm’s financial and regulatory stability amid the ongoing controversy over the 70 billion Cronos (CRO) token re-issuance.

Essentially canceling the 70 billion CRO token burn announced in 2021, the vote on bringing back the tokens has triggered outrage from the community, with many commentators criticizing the CEO for not addressing the issue in his new thread on X.

“So you made $1 billion profit but needed to mine 70 billion CRO instead of using those funds to buy some off the market and help your core community remain positive,” one commentator wrote.

“The largest token burn in history”

Disclosed in February 2021 in a now-deleted post on the Crypto.com blog, the 70 billion CRO token burn was called the “largest token burn in history” with a goal to “fully decentralize the network” at the CRO mainnet launch.

“Aligned with our belief, and with the CRO chain mainnet launch just around the corner, we are fully decentralizing the chain network,” the blog post said, announcing an immediate burn of 59.6 billion tokens.

Following the immediate 59.6 billion CRO burn, 0.4 billion of the remaining tokens were directed to monthly burns, while another 5.9 billion CRO was sent to block rewards, and 0.9 billion CRO was allocated to Particle B for chain ecosystem development.

Why reverse the burn?

In four years following the burn, a Cronos blog post on March 2 announced a vote on the creation of a Cronos Strategic Reserve by reversing the 2021 token burn.

“In 2021, 70 billion CRO were burnt in one of the most significant burn transactions in history. Under today’s proposal, an equal number of tokens will be re-issued on Cronos POS into a Cronos Strategic Reserve escrow wallet, bringing the total supply back to the initial supply of 100 billion CRO,” the announcement said.

Launched on March 3, the vote received lots of negative feedback from the community on social media, with many posters urging that the CRO re-issuance was the “opposite of what this community wants.”

Related: Binance announces community voting mechanism for token listings

“I hope that people vote against this, this is a terrible idea,” one commenter said.

Last-minute voters approved re-issuance

Despite notable community backlash, the vote results came in favor of a Cronos Strategic Reserve, spurring controversy and speculation over alleged vote manipulation.

“Totally manipulation to come in at the last minute and vote yes, the CDC [crypto dot com] is as centralized as a blockchain can be, and shouldn’t be since there’s no real governance when 70% of the voting power is in the CDC,” one GitHub commentator wrote.

According to Laura Shin’s Unchained sources, Crypto.com allegedly controls 70-80% of the total voting power, essentially removing the need for any governance vote at all.

Following the massive backlash, Crypto.com announced an ask-me-anything event coming on March 25, with the CRO token burn apparently becoming the main issue on the agenda.

“Looking forward to catching up with our community on Tuesday,” Crypto.com CEO said in a March 19 post on X, adding the hashtag “MakeCROGreatAgain.”

Cointelegraph approached Crypto.com for a comment regarding the burn reversal but did not receive a response at the time of publication.

Magazine: Ridiculous ‘Chinese Mint’ crypto scam, Japan dives into stablecoins: Asia Express

Investors’ stablecoin positioning on the Solana network and a key technical chart pattern threaten more volatility for the Solana token, which may see a decisive moment for its price action.

Solana’s transport layer saw “extreme” volatility in trading the Tether’s USDt (USDT) stablecoin, which may indicate that traders are repositioning in search of new investment opportunities.

USDT trading on Solana’s transport layer saw an over 137% surge during the last week of February, after seeing a 61% plunge during the previous week, according to a report by global payments infrastructure platform Mercuryo, shared with Cointelegraph.

The stablecoin trading spikes show an unparalleled level of trading activity that may signal more volatility for the Solana (SOL) token, according to Petr Kozyakov, co-founder and CEO of Mercuryo.

The “frenetic activity” may “indicate that the chain is prone to be more volatile,” the CEO told Cointelegraph, adding:

“However, Solana’s inherent strengths – fast transaction processing, high scalability, and an active trading ecosystem – may also be factors. This is against a backdrop of an ecosystem attracting at times high trading volumes.”

“Notably, DEX’s on Solana, such as Jupiter and Raydium, have ignited significant interest,” he added.

Related: Crypto market’s biggest risks in 2025: US recession, circular crypto economy

Meanwhile, a key emerging technical chart pattern may be decisive for Solana’s price action in the near term.

“Solana Heikin Ashi hourly chart shows a Converging Triangle. Both bullish or bearish moves are possible,” wrote pseudonymous crypto analyst Trader Tardigrade in a March 19 X post.

Related: Bitcoin beats global assets post-Trump election, despite BTC correction

Memecoins, FTX repayments may be limiting SOL price

While some analysts suggest that the current memecoin frenzy has been siphoning liquidity from the Solana token, multiple other factors are influencing SOL’s price action.

Notably, the incoming repayments from bankrupt FTX exchange may limit Solana’s price action, explained Kozyakov, adding:

“The defunct FTX exchange has set up a repayment plan that involves distributing a large amount of SOL tokens to creditors, which can potentially result in selling pressure.”

FTX and Alameda Research-linked wallets unstaked $431 million of SOL tokens on March 4, marking the biggest SOL token unlock since November 2023, Cointelegraph reported.

Although FTX and Alameda unlocked more than $400 million in SOL, the firms may not be able to sell all the tokens in a single transaction. In September 2023, the Delaware Bankruptcy Court approved FTX’s plan to sell digital assets, imposing strict limits on liquidation amounts.

Under the court ruling, the bankrupt exchange can sell digital assets weekly through an investment adviser, with an initial limit of $50 million in the first week and $100 million in subsequent weeks. If FTX seeks to sell more, it must request court approval to raise the limit to $200 million per week.

FTX’s next round of repayments will take place on May 30. Under FTX’s recovery plan, 98% of creditors are expected to receive at least 118% of their claim value in cash. In May 2024, the exchange estimated the distribution’s total value to range between $14.5 billion and $16.3 billion.

Magazine: ETH may bottom at $1.6K, SEC delays multiple crypto ETFs, and more: Hodler’s Digest, March 9 – 15