Layer-1 blockchain Solana is celebrating its fifth anniversary since launching Mainnet in 2020. Over the years, transaction volumes have made it one of the most active blockchain networks and one of the few cryptocurrencies proposed to include in US digital asset reserves.
Since the first Solana block was built on March 16, 2020, the network has processed nearly $1 trillion in value with over 400 billion transactions and decentralized exchanges.
sauce: Solana
Here are some of the Solana Ecosystem’s most notable milestones since Solana Labs CEO Anatoly Yakovenko and Solana co-founder Raj Gokal opened it to the public in 2020.
Solana was born in the same way as the Covid-19 pandemic hit
The origins of Solana can be traced back to the second half of 2017, when Jacovenko released a white paper outlining how to timekeep a blockchain called “proof of history,” but Solana did not begin until March 2020.
Fast, Low Cost Tier 1 The launch of the Solana blockchain, supported by crypto-centric venture capital firm Multicoin Capital, led Solana’s funding round, bringing about $20 million worth of private token sales in July 2019.
sauce: okx
Additional funds were poured in quickly, and within 20 months of launch, Solana was hailed as a potential “Ethereum Killer” as it soared to a market capitalization of $77.8 billion during the peak of the Bull Cycle from 2020 to 2021.
Solana was a fierce hit before the 2022 Bear Market collapse, but it bounced back
The 2022 Bare market, coupled with the catastrophic collapse of crypto exchange FTX, reduced Solana’s market capitalization to $3 billion.
The former Sambankmanfleet company has purchased approximately 58 million Solana tokens (currently worth $7.4 billion) from Solana Lab and the Solana Foundation. Solana was a “more serious” layer 1, where FTX was supporting Scale, Fortune said in an April 2022 report.
FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on November 11, 2022, and is in the process of unlocking hundreds of millions of dollars of Solana Tokens from FTX’s wallets for hundreds of millions of dollars. Solana prices fell to $8.30 on December 29, 2022.
Despite the set-up, 2023 marked the beginning of Solana’s impressive comeback. This led to a 50-fold increase in market capitalization from $3 billion to over $140 billion by January 19, 2025.
Memecoin Craze takes Solana adoption to the next level
One of the biggest reasons behind Solana’s comeback was the crypto memo coin epidemic that took place between late 2023 and 2024.
Several Solana Memecoins, such as Bonk (Bonk), Dogwifhat (WIF), Fartcoin (Fartcoin), and Pudgy Penguins (Pengu), rose to billions of dollars in market capitalization in early 2024.
Pump.Fun alone has raised more than $540 million in revenue over the last 12 months, surpassing Ethereum at one point in time at a time.
Solana is home to many of the largest memokines by market capitalization. sauce: Co Ringecko
However, Solana Memocoin attracted less attention than the official Trump (Trump) token launched on January 17th by the inner circle of current US President Donald Trump.
Trump Memecoin is short-pressing Solana’s total deficient fiscal (defi) to $14.2 billion, tracking only Ethereum, Defilama data shows.
Happy 5th birthday @solana 🥳
Congratulations on 5 years of building and shipping the biggest technology to decorate our industry 🫶
Manlet above 🎉 pic.twitter.com/clkv3eepn9
– pump.fun (@pumpdotfun) March 16, 2025
The Solana blockchain has also become the third largest adopter of Stablecoins behind Ethereum and Tron.
Solana announces its first major crypto phone
In May 2023, Solana released its first major crypto phone called “Solana Saga.”
Sales of Android devices with built-in crypto wallets began slowly, but surged after 30 million Bonk Airdrops attracted Memecoin enthusiasts.
Solana also unveiled the new Shinier Solana “Seeker” smartphone last September, further promoting MemeCoin transactions and token rewards.
Most reviewers say Solana phones don’t have the technical capabilities of the iPhone or Google Pixel, but Solana has seen over 140,000 pre-sale on two products.
The Solana Seeker phone currently costs $500.
Solana Seeker phone hardware specifications. sauce: Solana Mobile
However, Solana has been suffering from several network outages over a five-year span. In some cases, block production for 20 hours has been stopped.
Solana Balidators have been forced to restart their network several times when network activity surges.
A new independent validator client called Firedancer will be appearing live on Solana’s mainnet sometime in 2025 to deal with the misery of diversity among Solana clients. It is touted as a great solution for “QUIC”. This is a data transfer protocol developed by Google that could not process transactions in Solana dozens of times.
Solana will be included in Trump’s digital asset stockpile
The Trump administration has said Solana is included in the digital asset stockpile confirmed through the executive order on March 7th. This is the youngest cryptocurrency on the list.
Digital asset stockpiles use cryptocurrencies that were initially confiscated in government criminal cases.
Related: Solana’s proposal to reduce inflation by up to 80% will not pass
According to Crypto Analytics Firm Arkham Intelligence, the US does not seem to have Solana. However, the White House said it would complete an audit of crypto assets holdings.
Trump initially announced that Solana would become a reserve asset for the US on March 2nd.
sauce: Donald Trump
However, he later founded a Bitcoin-only reserve and digital asset stockpile. This appears to include Solana in addition to ether (ETH), XRP (XRP), and Cardano (ADA).
The price of the Solana is $128.17. It is the sixth largest cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of $64.5 billion. Solana is down 56% from an all-time high as the broader market continues to overcome the fear of a recession and weakens market sentiment these days.
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