Solana and Polkadot Ride High as Altcoin Season Heats Up: Markets Wrap

“The increase of altcoins’ price is attributed to anticipation for blockchain upgrades, as well as to other major factors, from institutional adoption to decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs),” said Delio’s Head of Strategy Oleg Smagin.

article-image

Source: AnalyticsInsight

share

key takeaways

  • MetaMask said its monthly active users have grown by 19x since July 2020
  • Offchain Labs, an Ethereum scaling solutions developer, secured $120 million in Series B funding

Altcoins continue riding high on Tuesday including Solana (SOL) and Polkadot (DOT) which have shot up over 60% in value over the past month.

Solana is trading at $111.83, ahead 0.89%, according to Messari. SOL reached an all-time high of $114.19 on Monday afternoon amid the continued billowing demand for non-fungible tokens, also called NFTs.

Polkadot (DOT) jumped 24% in the morning, trading at $31.71. Later in the day the token cooled off at $30.08, as of press time. DOT has a return on investment (ROI) of 63.99% in the last 30 days. 

Ethereum outperformed bitcoin on Tuesday. The largest crypto by market capitalization shed 3% on-day while ETH made gains of 2%.

More money poured into crypto projects today. Offchain Labs, an Ethereum scaling solutions developer, secured $120 million in Series B funding, Blockworks reported. The funding will go towards expanding staff and further developing their mainnet, Arbitrum One.

DeFi

  • Uniswap (UNI) is trading at $29.51 with a total value locked of $4,901,587,465 advancing 6.3% in 24 hours at 4:00 pm ET. 
  • Terra (LUNA) is trading at $32.03, down -9% with trading volume at $1,167,630,907 in 24 hours at 4:00 pm ET.
  • DeFi:ETH is 32% at 4:00 pm ET.

Crypto

  • Bitcoin is trading around $47,283.54, down -2.81% in 24 hours at 4:00 pm ET.
  • Ether is trading around $3,408.57, advancing 1.99% in 24 hours at 4:00 pm ET.
  • ETH:BTC is at 0.072, up 4.83% at 4:00 pm ET.

Insight

“The increase of altcoins’ price is attributed to anticipation for blockchain upgrades, as well as to other major factors, from institutional adoption to decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs),” Delio’s Head of Strategy Oleg Smagin said. “In addition, as the recent network upgrade of Ethereum is done, it is natural that investors turn attention toward rival blockchains with similar functionality. If the boom in decentralized finance and non-fungible tokens continues, not only Ethereum, but also altcoins like Solana would keep gaining against BTC dominance.”

Polkadot (DOT) trading over the past month. Source: Messari

Equities

  • The Dow declined -0.05% to 35,383.
  • S&P 500 fell -0.07% to 4,525.
  • Nasdaq shed -0.02% to 15,262.
  • VIX advanced 3.21% to 16.71 at 4:00 pm ET.

Commodities

  • Brent crude jumped to $72.96 per barrel, shedding -0.61%.
  • Gold made gains of 0.29% to $1,817.4.

Currencies

  • The US dollar rose 0.02%, according to the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index.

Fixed Income

  • US 10-year treasury yields 1.307% as of 4:00 pm ET.

In other news…

MetaMask, a popular wallet used by DeFi traders, said that it has reached over 10 million monthly active users, up from 500,000 users in July of last year. As the total value locked in DeFi nears $90 billion, the surging user numbers signal further adoption of the decentralized ecosystem at-large, Blockworks reported. 

We are looking out for

  • OPEC+ meeting will be on Wednesday

That’s it for today’s markets wrap. I’ll see you back here tomorrow.

Want more investor-focused content on digital assets? Join us September 13th and 14th for the Digital Asset Summit (DAS) in NYC. Use code ARTICLE for $75 off your ticket. Buy it now.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 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.

recent research

Research Report Templates (1).jpg

Research

With $13B in tokenized assets, strong institutional partnerships, and a clear first-mover advantage in the RWA space. The platform's methodical approach to regulatory compliance, coupled with its hybrid public-private architecture, positions it uniquely to capture significant market share in the emerging tokenization landscape. While current fee generation primarily stems from metadata transactions, the planned launch of Figure Markets, major exchange listings, and comprehensive market-making initiatives in 2025 could serve as powerful catalysts for growth.

article-image

Perena is built on the premise that as stablecoins proliferate, liquidity could fragment, and stablecoins aren’t useful if they aren’t liquid

article-image

From hackathons to trading tools and DAO governance, AI agents are redefining how we build and innovate

article-image

CME’s large bitcoin contracts are so big that investors are turning to micro bitcoin contracts

article-image

The third-largest stablecoin is going multichain for the first time in its seven-year history

article-image

Nano Labs’ news release notes confidence in bitcoin being “a reliable store of value amidst its rising global adoption”

article-image

Several big companies report third quarter earnings this week, likely moving markets