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Solana (SOL) logged another week of modest gains as markets latched onto signs of easing geopolitical tensions and as on-chain activity hit fresh milestones.
New research showed Solana posted record stablecoin transfer volumes in February and overtook Ethereum in the number of wallets holding tokenized real-world assets (RWAs).
Still, traditional investors turned cautious. Solana exchange-traded funds (ETFs) posted their first net outflows since February, shrugging off the network’s healthy metrics.
Tepid Recovery
SOL gained this week, but lagged other majors
Crypto markets broadly pushed higher after U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that he expects the conflict in the Middle East to end “very soon.”
The CoinMarketCap 20 Index (CMC20), which tracks a basket of major cryptocurrencies, gained about 4.5% week-over-week (WoW).
Solana, however, underperformed its peers.
According to CoinMarketCap data, SOL rose about 2% WoW, trailing Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), which gained roughly 4% and 3%, respectively.
The broader Solana ecosystem looked softer still.
Total ecosystem market cap fell about 5% WoW to roughly $128 billion, in part because World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a Trump-affiliated project closely linked to Solana, shed around 2.5% of its market capitalization over the same period
Solana also continues to trail rival smart contract platforms BNB (BNB) and XRP (XRP) in total market capitalization, the data shows
TradFi Flees SOL ETFs
Solana ETFs saw net outflows for the first time in weeks
Weaker confidence in SOL also showed up in fund flows.
SOL ETFs posted their first net outflows since February, shedding roughly $17 million collectively since March 5
That marks a reversal from recent weeks, when Solana ETFs consistently outperformed funds tied to other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Still, analysts said a closer look at the holder base offers reasons for optimism, with more established institutional investors continuing to crowd into SOL ETFs.
Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seyffart said the top holder base across SOL ETFs reads like “a who’s who of market makers and crypto investment firms” in a March 9 post on X.
On-Chain Activity Strengthens
Solana stablecoin transfers hit $650M in February
Despite cooling trader interest, Solana’s network activity continued to strengthen.
Grayscale Investments research showed Solana processed about $650 million in on-chain stablecoin transfer volume in February, the highest of any blockchain network and roughly double the previous monthly record.
RWA adoption also kept climbing this week.
In posts on X this week, Solana cited RWA.xyz data showing the network had overtaken Ethereum for the first time in the number of wallets holding RWAs, while Token Terminal said Solana’s RWA market cap had increased about tenfold over the past year.
Solana-native Kamino Finance said in a March 9 post on X that it is now the largest RWA platform in decentralized finance, citing a $570 million market size.
Tokenized equities infrastructure expanded as well.
According to a March 6 X post, Kraken’s tokenized equities unit xStocks launched xChange, an on-chain trading engine for tokenized stocks across Solana and Ethereum.
Kraken said the venue supports more than 70 tokenized equities backed 1:1 by shares held in custody, with prices designed to track the underlying public stocks.
Standard Chartered analysts reportedly said in a February research note that Solana is shifting away from meme coin trading toward an on-chain economy increasingly driven by RWAs and institutional users.
Still, retail-driven on-chain trading remained strong in February, reaching roughly $100 billion in total volume, according to Solana Foundation marketing chief Vibhu Norby.
Total Solana Ecosystem Market Cap: $128.48B
Top 5 Solana Coins by Market Cap:
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Source: coinmarketcap.com