This morning, Solana (SOL) woke up as the fourth most valuable cryptocurrency after surpassing Binance’s BNB Chain (BNB) in capitalization. The surge happened as the United States elected Donald Trump as its next president – an outcome expected to favor cryptocurrencies.
According to data Finbold retrieved from CoinMarketCap on November 6, Solana is now the fourth most valuable cryptocurrency. With a $87,16 billion market cap, SOL positions behind Tether’s USDT valued above $120 billion.
Rank 3 to 6 (USDT, SOL, BNB, USDC) by market capitalization. Source: CoinMarketCap / Finbold
Solana flips BNB in market cap
Notably, Solana conquered this position previously belonging to BNB, now with $83.80 billion and 4.55 times less volume. While SOL saw $272.96 billion in exchange volume in the last 30 days, BNB had only $59.96 billion. In comparison, Tether’s USDT had $4.23 trillion in monthly volume.
Looking at a historical chart, SOL has been approaching BNB in market capitalization since its launch. In December 2023, Solana nearly passed BNB at around $35 billion each, although Binance’s native token kept its leadership.
Market Cap SOL vs. BNB, monthly chart. Source: TradingView / Finbold / Vinicius Barbosa
What’s next for Solana?
Solana has consolidated itself as the go-to blockchain for highly speculative decentralized finance trades due to low transaction fees. In particular, the ecosystem became popular for attracting the self-called “degens” – traders essentially gambling large sums of money with memecoins.
Nevertheless, the Solana ecosystem had also attracted institutional investors’ interest in the past, slowed down by harmful US regulations. These regulations took over in the last year, led by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler.
The “law by enforcement” decisions under the Gensler administration punished Solana and other altcoins while highly favoring Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and stablecoins. Donald Trump, however, promised to fire Gary Gensler as soon as he takes the presidency, which may change this scenario.
More competition for SOL and other cryptocurrencies
On that note, the cryptocurrency commentator “qw” believes Trump’s victory can open the door to a more competitive environment. This, in his opinion, could make Solana flip Ethereum in market cap – making BNB the first step for that.
“if trump wins, eth loses its regulatory moat, accelerating the timeline for soleth flippening”
– qw
Yet, Solana may also face strong competition from newer technologies and other promising Ethereum rivals like MultiversX (EGLD), Sui Network (SUI), Avalanche (AVAX), Aptos (APTO), and more.
In closing, Trump’s victory may have started a new cycle in the cryptocurrency market, previously dominated by BTC and ETH. The expected new reality will likely change the crypto landscape, and projects will tightly compete for market share moving forward.
Some analysts have been warning about an incoming “altcoin season,” building positions against the Bitcoin Dominance Index (BTC.D). SOL could massively benefit from an “Altseason,” but it is not guaranteed to keep its recently conquered place as the market’s fourth most valuable cryptocurrency.
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