Solana after FTX

On the 15 Nov 2022, I wrote a post about Solana, 
 

What seems like an eternity ago but was only last week (a lot has happened with the crypto space and FTX caused most if not all of it). We were looking at buying some crypto for our portfolio, I like a bargain so when the prices dropped I bought as much of my favorite tokens as I could but held off on SOL.

Solana was on life support. The FTX collapse nuked confidence, validators dropped off, and the price sank into oblivion. Just one week after that post I started buying SOL, I was not sure if it would come back from that, but there were glimmers of light or I was just a little crazy!
A lot has changed over those 2 years, Solana has rebuilt it self into one of the fastest, strongest and diverse eco systems there is. Great DeFi alongside crazy memes, the outages are rare now and there have been major upgrades like the Firedancer validator, they even have the double zero high speed internet in beta for the validators, just to make it even quicker!
Meanwhile, the ecosystem is thriving.

• DeFi. Platforms like Jupiter, Drift and Kamino are seeing real volume.

• NFTs.  Solana’s has NFT marketplaces including Tensor and Drip

• Social. Bulb for reading or writing and Rosen

• DePin. Helium and Render

• Games. Star Atlas and Genopets

• RWA. Many tokenized assets are now available on Solana.

This list is limited but there is so much on Solana.
 
I could show many charts of TVL, usage and revenue as on paper Solana has everything going for it, there are many chains with minimal active users, not a lot of developer activity but Solana is not one of them. I use Solana daily, whether it be for swaps, a little perping (no silly leverage, just for fun and some small gains) or reading/writing on Bulb. I like an easy to use wallet, thank you Phantom, I like an easy to use DeFi platform, thank you Kamino. Want to use a different perp dex? Do I really want to change my USDT or USDC to Polygon USDC, bridge that and then do a perp? No, if my play money is on Solana then it can stay on Solana as there is no real reason to move it!
 
It’s not just crypto native players taking notice,Visa is piloting USDC settlements on Solana, and Shopify integrations are already live. Not to mention the Solana ETF's, which although new, have had some decent inflows and more ETFs are on the way once the US government has gone back to work.
https://farside.co.uk/sol/
 

 
So Solana has everything going for it, it is easy to use, fast and transactions cost fractions of a cent. Solana has become one of the top chains by active developer count, but despite al of this progress Solana's price still does not reflect these fundamentals, honestly it is almost comical. If you were new and doing research on Solana, you would think the only way is up for the $ value of SOL. 
https://coinmarketcap.com/
Blue is fees and green is revenue

 
 
 
So after all that, where am I going with this? Well I started with a sentence about FTX and its collapse and that is still effecting the SOL price even now (A bit like M.Gox and Bitcoin). There are still some unlocks happening and will be until 2028, they are not huge though and they get smaller and smaller, but perhaps this is what is holding back the price of SOL along with the usual market manipulation but that is a whole different article!
 

 
I did have a chance to take profits on my SOL, back in January when it was over $250 but that is on me, got caught in the only way is up euphoria lol. Yes even now I am still up on my SOL holdings so if I had to sell today then so be it but hey we all want to get out as near to the top as we can, (unless your here for the tech!) I do plan on keeping 20% of my SOL, A small percentage of Bitcoin but that is it, everything else will go. I want to start buying again in the bear with a clean slate, no shitcoins, no memes and with a few stocks thrown in.
 
Two years after the FTX collapse left Solana on life support, the chain has made one of crypto’s biggest comebacks. From thriving DeFi platforms to booming NFT markets, Solana has rebuilt itself into a fast, vibrant, and surprisingly resilient ecosystem. Yet, despite real adoption and major partnerships with names like Visa and Shopify, its price still doesn’t seem to reflect its fundamentals. Is Solana still undervalued or are we just early again? What do you think?  
 
As always thank you for reading and please feel free to comment.