Solana (SOL-USD) is navigating choppy crypto waters and rolling out essential updates to ease network congestion, while its whales dive deep for meme coin treasures. Here’s a look at how Solana is addressing its technical challenges and the activity of its biggest holders.
Upgrading Under Pressure
Recently, Solana launched a critical update, v1.17.1. The update addresses the severe network overload that emerged amidst a surge in meme coin transactions. It’s part of a broader strategy to enhance network stability and efficiency, with additional improvements promised in the forthcoming v1.8. After three days of testing, the patch has been green-lit for use by mainnet beta validators, providing a much-needed breather from the congestion that led to a transaction failure rate peaking at 75%.
The Solana Foundation has acknowledged that unprecedented demand for block space spurred the congestion issues. Austin Federa, Solana Foundation strategy lead, emphasized that developers have been relentlessly working to outpace the demands that, until now, eclipsed their efforts. This approach seems to be paying off, as evidenced by a 2.1% uptick in SOL’s price and a significant 6.4% increase in its total value locked, now at $3.8 billion.
Whale Watching: Big Buys in a Bearish Sea
As Solana shores up its technical infrastructure, some of its largest stakeholders are making moves in the meme coin market. In the wake of a market-wide dip, blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain identified sizable quantities of meme coin tokens such as Slerf (SLERF), Book of Meme (BOME), and Jeo Boden (BODE) being bought.
This accumulation contrasts with the behavior of other whales who opted to panic-sell during the market’s downturn, shedding nearly $14 million worth of assets at or near the bottom. These differing strategies highlight the varied approaches to navigating the volatile crypto waters and emphasize the dynamic nature of cryptocurrency investment behaviors.
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