After a recent events and market turmoil, what things do we need to consider going forward.
Solana has taken a sharp 20% decline today on the 09.11.2022. It is sitting just around $23 and that might not be the bottom. Some are predicting a potential move down to $15 for the once $250 coin. For an ecosystem that had so many positive aspects going for it, the recent drop and lack of confidence is alarming. This begs the question. Should we be bearish for the future, or is there light at the end of the tunnel?
So what events are impacting the recent dip? Well there is the drop in trading in the NFT market. In the last 30 days its top NFT marketplace Magic Eden has shown volumes of only $63.5ml while OpenSea boasts $301ml in the same timeframe for Ethereum NFTs . This volume is not encouraging, however DappRadar did report that there was an 18% increase in new unique buyers during October 2022. There was also the recent distraction of the Aptos blockchain launching and taking some Solana NFT projects over to their ecosystem. The jury is still out whether Aptos will continue to flourish with NFTs and see the volumes that were traded on Solana.
Furthermore, there is also an argument that the NFT market is oversaturated in the Solana ecosystem. There has not been enough excitement generated by new projects until the recent Y00ts reveal by DeGods. This brought some hype and attention back on Solana and bullish sentiment among the NFT enthusiasts. DeGod creator @frankdegods held a space on 08.11.2022, where he and guests commented on the recent events, and wanted to focus mainly on the positivise or bullish aspects of Solana. In fact, if a guest was asked to speak and did not have anything bullish to say, he often muted them or cut them short to move on to someone he said might bring something more positive to the space. However, this did not last long.
It seems even the most expensive current project on Solana is potentially paper handing. Literally within 24 hours of hosting the space @frankdegods announced that they will hold a vote on potentially moving the DeGods and Y00ts projects to Ethereum. What happened to change his mind within those hours? We can only assume. It seems a knee jerk reaction to a potential price drop linked to the FTX exchange fiasco. This does not give confidence for NFTs in Solana going forward, or does it? Does the space need to get rid of these types of builders who would jump ship at the first sign of trouble? It does.
Leading projects need to inspire and innovate within the ecosystem, continue building and instilling confidence in their holders, not jump ship during tough times. According to DappRadar, DeGods is not even in the top 5 of all time sales within Solana, what makes them think they can be more successful on Ethereum?
In my opinion Solana still has some of the best artwork for NFTs and some genuine builders in the space who continue to innovate day in and day out. The recent events might highlight some smaller projects, with better artwork, that have been overlooked due to the hype generated through marketing by DeGods and Y00ts. I am sure there will be more impressive projects than DeGods, that are more positive for the ecosystem and will launch in the near future. This is surely needed to bring back the hype and attention that Solana deserves. That is something to be bullish about. The NFT community within Solana is also one of the more positive aspects within the NFT space.
As for their bigger plans. Well, they did announce only a week ago that they are going ahead with launching the Solana phone Saga in early 2023, making them the first cryptocurrency to do so. The phone would allow users access to Dapps including trading platforms and NFT marketplaces. This is exciting. This is a key in bringing new users into the ecosystem by just purchasing the phone, people who maybe have never had access to cryptocurrency in the past. They also announced pop up Solana stores, and a huge mainstream partnership with Google cloud.
All these things really scream of bullish sentiment and a potential to bring the cryptocurrency into the mainstream. Something no other cryptocurrency has been able to do yet. After the bear market is over, these events will really shape the future for Solana and I for one am bullish about the future.
DISCLOSURE - This is an opinion piece and not financial advice. Please do your own research before investing into any projects. -
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