Solana Flips Shiba to Regain Footing Post-FTX — Is MATIC Next?

Solana is close to reclaiming its position in the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market value, but has Polygon’s native token in its way

article-image

Source: Lucas Agr/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

Solana (SOL) is eyeing a return to the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market value — now trading only 25% below its price point recorded just before FTX imploded.

SOL sank more than 70% in the months following the Sam Bankman-Fried scandal, as markets rejected crypto associated with the disgraced alleged fraudster.

The trend had inspired markets to value memecoin shiba inu (SHIB) more than SOL for most of the past few months. 

Solana’s ecosystem meanwhile hoped to distance itself from Bankman-Fried, historically one of the network’s loudest proponents and primary backers.

Click play to watch SOL and SHIB duke it out

But SOL had spent most of January well ahead of SHIB — now valued at more than $9 billion compared to SHIB’s $6.4 billion. 

SOL is currently whiskers shy of the top 10 by market cap, around $600 million short of polygon (MATIC) and $1.6 billion ahead of polkadot (DOT). The token sat ahead of both before its association with Bankman-Fried dragged it downward.

Solana has easily outperformed most top assets year to date, jumping from under $10 to nearly $24 — returning around 140%. 

Still, it’s lagging behind bellwethers bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) since the end of October (FTX would file for bankruptcy two weeks later). BTC is up 11% while ETH is flat.

MATIC appears to have benefitted from the SBF scandal

MATIC, the native token of Polygon — considered a direct rival to Solana — is up nearly 19% over the same period.

SOL overtaking MATIC to regain its original position would effectively mark the end of Bankman-Fried’s influence over the network.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Featured.png

Research

Helium stands at a pivotal moment in its evolution as a decentralized wireless network, balancing rapid growth, economic restructuring, and global expansion. With accelerated growth in domestic DAUs and Hotspots supporting its network, Helium is leveraging strategic partnerships and innovative proposals to scale internationally. The recent implementation of HIP 138, “Return to HNT,” has unified its token economy under HNT, simplifying participation and strengthening liquidity, while HIP 139’s phase-out of CBRS refocuses efforts on scalable Wi-Fi offload. Meanwhile, governance shifts under HIP 141 raise questions about centralization as Nova Labs consolidates control over the roadmap.

article-image

In 2011, WikiLeaks faced a financial blockade imposed by the US government. It was Bitcoin’s first major test.

article-image

Kado’s founder Emery Andrew spoke to Blockworks about the acquisition and what’s next for the team

article-image

LayerZero’s Bryan Pellegrino chatted with Blockworks about the firm’s next steps and its 10-year runway

article-image

Colosseum co-founder Matty Taylor is seeing “high-performance [Solana] founders showing a lot of interest in private trading technology”

article-image

Executives weigh the growth potential they see in the public stock and private credit/equities arenas

article-image

Players can stake ME, trade tokens and link wallets to climb the leaderboard