Solana outperforms major crypto tokens this week due to multiple catalysts: Coinbase

Solana has outperformed its peers this week, rising 9% over the past seven days, while bitcoin and ether have declined by over 4% and 2%, respectively, during the same period, according to The Block's price page.

"This performance has been buoyed by a number of endogenous catalysts specific to the Solana ecosystem including major technological releases and VanEck’s filing of the first spot Solana ETF in the U.S.," Coinbase analysts David Duong and David Han said.

Multiple catalysts bolstering Solana

According to Coinbase's Weekly report released on Friday, multiple recent developments have enhanced the value proposition of the Solana blockchain. One is ZK Compression technology, which the analysis said could reduce costs on Solana, particularly for large-scale token distributions.

The analysts added that Solana's Blockchain Links also represents a development that could usher in "an improved and more universal user experience for Solana applications."

"Blockchain Links, or 'blinks' for short, enable the embedding of Solana specific actions into any website user interface. With the appropriate setup, blinks enable users to engage in a variety of onchain actions – NFT mints, USDC transfers, DEX swaps, governance proposals, and more," Coinbase analysts said.

VanEck files for Solana ETF in the US

The report also noted how fund manager VanEck filed for an exchange-traded fund that would track the price of Solana.

"I am excited to announce that VanEck just filed for the FIRST Solana exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the US," said Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research at VanEck said in a post on X on Thursday.

Coinbase analysts said, "this development is promising regardless of its outcome."

Solana was changing hands at around $141.60 at the time of writing, having traded down 2% in the past 24 hours, according to The Block’s price page.