Solana’s native token, SOL (SOL), faced a sharp 8% rejection after briefly touching $147 on March 25. For the past three weeks, SOL has struggled to reclaim the $150 level, which is leading traders to question whether the bullish momentum that was originally driven by memecoin speculation and the rise of artificial intelligence sectors has come to an end.

Some analysts argue that SOL price could significantly benefit from the eventual approval of a Solana spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States, as well as the expansion of tokenized real-world assets (RWA) on the Solana network, including stablecoins and money market funds. 

Others, like Nikita Bier, co-founder of TBH and Gas startups, believe Solana has “the fundamental building blocks for something to break out on mobile.”

Source: nikitabier

Bier highlighted the constructive regulatory environment from US President Donald Trump and the long-term impact of the memecoin frenzy, which introduced “millions” of new users to Web3 wallets and decentralized applications (DApps). Essentially, Nikita Bier believes Solana is well-positioned due to its streamlined onboarding experience for mobile users.

The lackluster Bitcoin reserve announcement hurt all cryptocurrencies

Despite the potential for establishing a “consumer-grade” marketplace for DApps, most traders suffered losses as the memecoin mania faded and onchain volumes plunged. This decline has led investors to question whether SOL has the strength to reclaim levels above $150. Beyond the waning interest in DApps, Solana is also facing growing competition from other blockchains.

Additionally, the realization that the US government would not purchase altcoins for its strategic reserve and digital asset stockpile was a major disappointment for some investors. On March 6, President Trump signed a bill allowing budget-neutral strategies for the US Treasury to acquire Bitcoin (BTC), while altcoins in government possession could be strategically sold. In fact, there was no explicit mention of Solana or any other altcoin in the Digital Asset Stockpile executive order.

Some may argue that the Solana ecosystem extends far beyond memecoin trading and token launchpads, as total value locked (TVL) has grown across liquid staking, collateralized lending, synthetic assets, and yield platforms. However, Solana’s fees and DApp revenues have continued to decline. Reduced onchain activity reduces SOL’s appeal to investors, thus limiting its upside potential.

Solana 7-day DApp revenues (left) and chain fees (right), USD. Source: DefiLlama

Solana DApp revenues totaled $12 million in the seven days leading up to March 24, down from $23.7 million just two weeks earlier. Similarly, base layer fees reached $3.6 million in the same period, a sharp drop from $6.6 million in the seven days ending March 10. Interestingly, this decline occurred while the total value locked (TVL) remained stable at 53.2 million SOL.

Related: Specialized purpose DEXs poised for growth in 2025 — Curve founder

Solana is no longer the dominant network in DEX volumes

The drop in Solana’s onchain activity is particularly concerning given that BNB Chain surged to the top spot in DEX volumes, despite having 34% less TVL than Solana, according to DefiLlama data.

Decentralized exchanges volume market share. Source: DefiLlama

In terms of volume, Solana dominated the DEX industry from October 2024 to February 2025 but has recently lost ground to Ethereum and BNB Chain. As a result, part of SOL’s price weakness stems from a decline in Solana’s onchain activity compared to its competitors. For instance, trading volume on Hyperliquid increased by 35% over the past seven days, while activity on Pendle surged by an impressive 186%.

Although fundamentals do not indicate an imminent rally above $150, the Solana network uniquely combines an integrated user experience with a degree of decentralization that has proven successful. For example, while BNB Chain and Tron offer similar scalability, neither has had a wallet or DApp rank among the top 10 on the Apple App Store—unlike Solana’s Phantom Wallet in November 2024.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

US Senator John Kennedy grilled prospective Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Paul Atkins about a potential pardon for Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried during the Senate Banking Committee’s March 27 nomination hearing.

The Louisiana Republican directed a series of questions about the former FTX CEO toward Atkins and probed the prospective SEC chairman about donations Bankman-Fried’s family made to Stanford University.

Senator John Kennedy questions prospective SEC chairman Paul Atkins. Source: Senate Banking Committee

Kennedy then urged the SEC to take action to prevent any potential pardons on behalf of SBF. Kennedy added:

“There should not be two standards of law and punishment for people in America. And every time you come to this committee, I am going to pounce on you like a ninja to find out what the SEC has done because I don’t think the SEC has done a damn thing.”

“I read in the paper that the Bankman-Frieds were trying to get a pardon. They are crooks, and I expect the SEC to do something about it,” the Senator continued.

Reports emerged in January that SBF’s parents, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, were seeking a pardon for their son from recently-elected US President Donald Trump following his high-profile pardon of Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht.

Paul Atkins answers questions at his nomination hearing. Source: Senate Banking Committee

Related: Ex-FTX CEO moved to transit facility after interview

Presidential pardon “unlikely” for SBF

SBF is unlikely to secure a pardon for several reasons that differentiate the case from that of the Silk Road founder, according to White Collar Support Group executive director William Livolsi.

In the case of Ulbricht, the charges were victimless crimes tied to the operation of a contraband marketplace as opposed to causing billions in investor losses.

Livolsi added that the sentence imposed on Ulbricht of two lifetimes behind bars plus an additional 40 years without the possibility of parole and the public campaign promise made by then-candidate Trump to pardon Ulbricht set the situation apart.

Tucker Carlson interviews SBF from prison. Source: Tucker Carlson

Despite this, SBF has attempted to cozy up to Republicans in several interviews with independent media outlets, including a February interview with The New York Sun and an interview with Tucker Carlson on March 2025.

The Carlson interview was not sanctioned by prison authorities, leading to SBF being thrown into solitary confinement following the interview and moved from a prison facility located in New York to Oklahoma.

Magazine: Legal issues surround the FBI’s creation of fake crypto tokens

GameStop shed nearly $3 billion in market capitalization on March 27 as investors second-guessed the videogame retailer’s plans to stockpile Bitcoin (BTC), according to data from Google Finance. 

On March 26, GameStop tipped plans to use proceeds from a $1.3 billion convertible debt offering to buy Bitcoin — an increasingly popular strategy for public companies looking to boost share performance. 

GameStop’s announcement came a day after it proposed building a stockpile of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and US dollar-pegged stablecoins. 

Investors initially celebrated the news, sending shares up 12% on March 26. Shareholders’ sentiment reversed on March 27, pushing GameStop’s stock, GME, down by nearly 24%, according to Google Finance. 

GameStop’s stock reversed gains on March 27. Source: Google Finance

Related: GameStop buying Bitcoin would ‘bake the noodles’ of TradFi: Swan exec

Chilly reception

Analysts say the chilly reception reflects fears GameStop may be seeking to distract investors from deeper problems with its business model. 

“Investors are not necessarily optimistic on the underlying business,” Bret Kenwell, US investment analyst at eToro, told Reuters on March 27. 

“There are question marks with GameStop’s model. If bitcoin is going to be the pivot, where does that leave everything else?”

The sell-off also highlights investors’ more bearish outlook on Bitcoin as macroeconomic instability, including ongoing trade wars, weighs on the cryptocurrency’s spot price. 

Bitcoin is down around 7% year-to-date, hovering around $87,000 as of March 27, according to Google Finance.

Bitcoin’s “price briefly jumped to $89,000 but has now reversed its trend,” Agne Linge, decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol WeFi’s head of growth, told Cointelegraph.

Linge added that trade wars triggered by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs remain a concern for traders.

Public companies are among the largest Bitcoin holders. Source: BitcoinTreasuries.NET

Corporate Bitcoin treasuries

GameStop is a relative latecomer among public companies creating Bitcoin treasuries.

In 2024, rising Bitcoin prices sent shares of Strategy soaring more than 350%, according to data from FinanceCharts. 

Founded by Michael Saylor, Strategy has spent more than $30 billion buying BTC since pioneering corporate Bitcoin accumulation in 2020, according to data from BitcoinTreasuries.NET.NET. 

Strategy’s success prompted dozens of other companies to build Bitcoin treasuries of their own. Public companies collectively hold nearly $58 billion of Bitcoin as of March 27, the data shows. 

Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered