Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin seemingly helped Solana recover single-handedly today, Dec. 29, as he praised the project on Twitter.
Buterin wrote in a tweet:
Some smart people tell me there is an earnest smart developer community in Solana, and now that the awful opportunistic money people have been washed out, the chain has a bright future.
Hard for me to tell from outside, but I hope the community gets its fair chance to thrive
The price of Solana (SOL) sat close to $9.44 for much of today. It then fell 13.2% to $8.19 in a matter of hours. Following Buterin’s tweet, the price rose 24.8% to $10.22.
Mike Dudas, co-founder and former CEO of The Block and founder of 6th Man Ventures, observed that the asset’s price chart resembled the “V” in Buterin’s first name. “This formation is generally referred to as The Vitalik,” he quipped.
The value of Solana’s SOL token has fallen dramatically over the past several weeks, likely due to Solana’s relationship with the failed exchange FTX. In November, the asset crashed 55% and was one of the month’s worst-performing tokens.
The lead-up to SOL’s latest crash appears to have begun around Dec. 28. That day, rumors emerged that former FTX CEO Sam-Bankman Fried would sell off a large quantity of SOL tokens. It is unclear whether any such sell-off took place.
Solana was initially created to compete with Ethereum and has been branded an “Ethereum killer.” Despite Solana’s competitive nature, it shares similar goals with Ethereum, which may explain Buterin’s endorsement of the project today.
Both blockchains support programmable smart contracts, allowing for developers to create custom tokens, DeFi applications, and NFTs. Solana’s original strategy involved aiming for a high throughput: Solana supports upwards of 50,000 transactions per second, while Ethereum supports 17 transactions per second.
Solana’s native token, SOL, is currently the 19th largest cryptocurrency by market cap. The asset has a capitalization of more than $3.6 billion.
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