Solana Surges Ahead as Ethereum Struggles to Maintain Its Position

Solana's blazing speed and low fees continue to attract defectors from Ethereum's congested network—while ETH maximalists white-knuckle their bags.

Layer-1 Showdown: SOL Outpaces ETH

Solana's throughput hits new highs as developers flee Ethereum's gas wars. Meanwhile, ETH 2.0's 'soon™' upgrades remain stuck in proof-of-stake purgatory.

Ethereum's Make-or-Break Moment

The smart contract pioneer must deliver scaling solutions before impatient traders write it off as digital legacy tech—no matter how many JPEGs its NFT market moves.

Closing Thought: Watch the flippening chatter grow louder as Solana eats Ethereum's lunch (and bankers still don't understand either).

Kraken, Arrington, and others eye franchise support

The list of possible partners doesn’t stop at Pantera. Kraken, Arrington, RK Capital, and Borderless Capital are also considering participation, not just through capital but also with help on validator services, custody solutions, and fundraising plans.

These aren’t soft partnerships. These are the kinds of groups that bring infrastructure into play, especially in areas like staking and long-term treasury maintenance.

The timing of this expansion is not random. The whole space is being flooded with treasury activity. Companies are spinning up crypto treasuries or jumping into SPACs to mirror MicroStrategy’s strategy of hoarding Bitcoin on the balance sheet.

Bitmine isn’t alone. SharpLink Gaming recently kicked off its own ether treasury strategy in May, with ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin stepping in as board chairman. Then there’s Bit Digital, which pulled the plug on its bitcoin mining operation to lean fully into ETH staking instead.

DeFi’s move puts all of that focus directly on Solana. They aren’t just buying tokens; they’re accumulating and staking SOL, and they’re buying validators—the computers that secure and run the Solana blockchain. This is how staking works.

The more SOL they hold and stake, the more rewards they collect. The company recently published its first public SOL-per-share target, saying it’s aiming for 1 SOL per share by 2028. That goal starts from its current count of 857,749 SOL spread across 18.8 million shares, which brings the present figure to 0.0457 SOL per share.

DeFi CEO Joseph Onorati said this setup is their way of scaling globally without touching share dilution. “We’re exporting our framework for Solana treasury accumulation, while bringing global partners into the DFDV orbit, all aligned through economics, staking, and shared infrastructure. The opportunity is massive,” Joseph said.

Solana gains momentum while Ethereum tries to hold ground

Price movement helps make the case. Solana is now trading NEAR $175.56, right around the neckline of a long-developing cup and handle pattern that started forming back in early 2025. That pattern began building off a $120 base and has now pushed the asset to critical resistance around $176 to $178. The last 12 months have seen a 7% increase, with almost 10% growth in just the past month, according to Coin Metrics.

But what might be more important than price is what’s happening in the real-world asset (RWA) space. Solana’s RWA activity is growing faster than Ethereum’s in 2025. RWAxyz data shows that Solana’s RWA total has risen from $173.8 million in January to $553.8 million, up 218% year-to-date and 22% in the past month. That’s a massive gain, especially compared to Ethereum’s slower growth.

To be fair, Ethereum still holds the lead in terms of total value. It controls $7.7 billion of the $13.5 billion worth of tokenized RWAs currently live on public networks. Solana’s share is still smaller, but with the pace it’s growing, it’s a threat to that lead. Ethereum’s RWA value has only climbed 81% this year, from $4.3 billion to $7.7 billion. Solana’s already more than tripled its number and isn’t slowing down.

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