Lucía Peña
Standard Chartered Bank has released a new outlook on Solana (SOL), forecasting a significant long-term price increase but expecting it to trail behind Ethereum (ETH) in the near future. According to the bank, Solana could reach $500 by 2029, rising from its current price near $175. However, the bank believes Solana’s growth will be less robust than Ethereum’s over the next two to three years.
Geoffrey Kendrick, the bank’s Head of Digital Assets Research, attributed this expected underperformance to Solana’s heavy reliance on memecoin activity, which, while highlighting its technical strengths, doesn’t offer sustainable growth.
“Solana excels in high-speed, low-cost transactions, making it the go-to network for memecoin trading,” Kendrick explained in a report shared Tuesday. “However, the memecoin sector has likely peaked, and the market is now discounting future earnings from that area.”
Solana’s Current Valuation May Not Reflect Its Potential — Yet
Kendrick noted that Solana appears undervalued based on Standard Chartered’s market cap-to-blockchain GDP ratio, especially when compared to BNB, which is trading at a premium due to its integration with Binance. He defines blockchain GDP as the aggregate revenue produced by decentralized applications running on the network.
“A drop in usage combined with a discounted valuation creates short-term challenges,” Kendrick warned, suggesting that SOL could continue to face muted performance until new use cases begin to flourish.
Real Utility on the Horizon — But Still a Few Years Away
Looking forward, the bank sees significant promise in Solana’s ability to support next-generation sectors like decentralized finance (DeFi), social platforms, and DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks). However, Kendrick believes these industries need another 2–3 years to mature, especially as projects from the 2021 DeFi boom continue to develop.
“Solana may experience a period of lower activity and subdued investor interest until these sectors begin contributing meaningfully to its on-chain economy,” he added.
Price Projections: $275 by 2025, $500 by 2029
Despite its near-term hurdles, Standard Chartered remains bullish over the long haul. Kendrick projects:
-
SOL to hit $275 by end-2025
-
SOL to climb to $500 by 2029
-
The ETH/SOL price ratio to rise from 14 to 17 by 2027, signaling Ethereum’s relative dominance in the short term
Broader Crypto Market Forecasts from Standard Chartered
Kendrick’s report also includes bold predictions for other major cryptocurrencies and digital assets:
-
Bitcoin (BTC): $200,000 by 2025, $500,000 by 2028
-
BNB: $2,775 by 2028
-
XRP: $12.50 by 2028
-
Avalanche (AVAX): $250 by 2029
-
Ethereum (ETH): Revised target of $4,000 by 2025
-
Stablecoins: Total market projected to reach $2 trillion by 2028
