Solana Holds Near $74 as Payments Growth Outpaces Trading Activity

Solana (SOL) is slipping into a short-term consolidation around the mid-$70s even as its payments and tokenized-asset rails show signs of accelerating adoption—highlighting a widening gap between near-term market sentiment and longer-term network utility.

As of Friday 12:40 a.m. ET (04:40 UTC), SOL traded at $74.25, modestly higher over 24 hours but down about 1% on the week. The token’s market capitalization stood near $43.3 billion, keeping it in seventh place among major cryptocurrencies. The move comes amid broader risk-off positioning across digital assets, which has weighed on high-beta layer-1 tokens despite limited chain-specific negative catalysts.

Forbes previously noted a sharp intraday slide last week, with SOL falling from $76.40 to as low as $73.53—about a 3.8% drop—framing the decline as more reflective of macro-style anxiety in crypto markets than any singular Solana-driven headline.

On-chain trading activity, however, has cooled. A recent market note cited a steep contraction in Solana decentralized exchange (DEX) fee totals, down more than 63% over the past 30 days, a sign that speculative flows have faded. Technically, SOL remains well below its 200-day exponential moving average, which was cited around $94.78, while the crypto fear-and-greed gauge referenced in the report sat at 33, in the ‘fear’ zone.

Yet the same data set pointed to an opposite trend in transaction utility: stablecoin payments routed through Solana-based card products are expanding quickly. Analysts said the share of stablecoin payments executed via Solana card programs rose from 5% a year earlier to 21%, while May’s top-up volume reached a record $94.32 million. The shift suggests that even as speculative churn slows, the network is gaining traction for consumer-style payment flows—an important distinction for investors weighing ‘usage-driven’ demand against trading-led cycles.

Crypto.com added that Solana accounted for roughly 95% of tokenized equity trading volume during the period it tracked, processing about $1.29 billion over a week. Separately, MoneyGram’s participation as a Solana validator was cited as another signal that traditional payment and remittance players are increasingly comfortable engaging directly with the network’s infrastructure layer.

Institutional access is also expanding, though flows appear mixed. CoinGecko data cited in the report said spot Solana exchange-traded funds (ETFs) launched in late 2025 have collectively surpassed $1 billion in assets under management, including products from Bitwise and Fidelity. Morgan Stanley is also reported to have filed for a Solana trust product, underscoring continued experimentation with regulated wrappers tied to SOL exposure.

At the same time, the flow picture is not one-directional. European reporting referenced daily inflows of about $2.64 million into Bitwise’s Solana ETF, while E*TRADE’s mid-July rollout of spot SOL trading was described as improving retail accessibility in the U.S. However, CoinGecko also reported that U.S.-listed spot Solana ETFs recently logged net outflows of roughly $8.6 million, pointing to uncertain ‘institutional demand’ in a market still sensitive to broader crypto drawdowns.

Security concerns surfaced this week around cross-chain infrastructure rather than Solana itself. Across Protocol said an exploit involving a cross-chain relayer allowed an attacker to forge 1,627 Solana deposit events, generating roughly $41.7 million in fake deposits across 18 chains. Risk Labs, which operates the relayer, reportedly paid about $4.5 million before halting service; with roughly $0.5 million frozen, estimated net losses were put at under $4 million. Across emphasized that user funds were not impacted and that the issue stemmed from off-chain relayer software, not a flaw in Solana’s smart contracts. Solana transfer functionality was restored via Circle’s CCTP route, according to the report.

Price targets remain notably optimistic among some market watchers, reflecting the view that payments growth, tokenized assets, applications, and ETF demand could converge into a stronger bid. One crypto outlet suggested SOL could reach $160 if those adoption vectors expand in tandem. Changelly projected an average year-end target near $101, while trader Michaël van de Poppe highlighted $77 as a key resistance level and argued that a break above it could open a move toward $125–$130. Bitget’s model-based outlook cited a 2027 projection around $122, contingent on historical pattern repetition.

Meanwhile, Crypto.com pointed to ongoing application-layer development, noting the launch on Solana of an on-chain prediction market platform called ‘World,’ integrated with Chainlink and Phantom. Taken together, the data paints a more nuanced picture: SOL remains down more than 75% from its roughly $295 all-time high, but its ‘payments throughput,’ tokenized-asset activity, and growing set of institutional on-ramps suggest the network’s fundamentals may be strengthening even as short-term price action reflects a cautious market backdrop.