Grayscale calls Solana ‘crypto’s financial bazaar’ – Is SOL really a long-term favorite?

ambcryptoPublished on 2025-10-19Last updated on 2025-10-20

Key Takeaways

Why is Solana positioned for long-term growth?

As Grayscale mentioned, Solana’s strong on-chain fundamentals create the “necessary” conditions for its future growth.

Are institutions taking notice?

Nine public companies versus BNB Chain’s two companies signal growing institutional confidence in Solana’s network and tooling.

Grayscale called Solana [SOL] “crypto’s financial bazaar” in its report.

The report highlights everything from network fees and operational scalability to on-chain apps, and a strong on-chain economy, concluding that SOL’s fundamentals create the “necessary” conditions for future growth. 

In essence, Grayscale positions Solana as a top blockchain in the evolving Web3 landscape. With that in mind, could this report spotlight SOL’s relative undervaluation and attract renewed institutional interest?

Breaking down Grayscale’s Solana insights

The report kicked off by showing SOL’s dominance across multiple sectors.

First up: Smart contract platforms. Solana sits alongside Ethereum [ETH], BNB Chain [BSC], and others in this space, but it stands out across all four key metrics, showing that user activity is still strongest on its network.

Why does this matter? Smart contract platforms are a core measure of a blockchain’s capabilities. Solana’s lead here signals that developers are using its tools to build applications and drive on-chain activity.

Solana

Source: Research.Grayscale

In short, it’s a reflection of Solana’s superior infrastructure.

Supporting this, the report points out that Solana’s average transaction fee ($0.02), with a block time (0.4s), is lower than both ETH and BSC, which explains its lead in smart contract execution and on-chain activity.

In fact, Solana recently generated $3.41 million in 24-hour app revenue, outperforming the combined revenue of both ETH and BSC. Given this momentum, could Grayscale’s report signal a key inflection point for SOL?

SOL draws institutional eyes as undervaluation persists

Grayscale’s report clearly underscores Solana’s undervaluation.

Compared to other Layer-1s, SOL’s market cap doesn’t fully capture the strength of its network fundamentals.

On-chain metrics show Solana outperforming BNB Chain, yet its market cap remains roughly 1.5x smaller.

And yet, institutions are starting to show their preference. 

Nine public companies hold 2.5% of SOL’s supply, compared to just two companies holding 0.44% of BNB’s supply, signaling growing confidence in Solana’s developer tooling and ecosystem.

Sol

Source: CoinGecko

In short, the report puts this reality into perspective. 

Even though Solana has lagged in speculative price growth, its strong on-chain fundamentals reinforce Grayscale’s bullish view on SOL, driving institutional investment, even as the token’s price trails some peers.

In this context, the nine public holdings today may also be just the start of a broader wave of institutional adoption across the network, making Solana’s potential to surpass its rivals a long-term possibility.

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