Solana (SOL) has been unable to return above $180 since the end of May, raising doubts about whether the price surge in 2025 is still feasible. Demand for leveraged Long positions on SOL has sharply declined, negatively impacting market sentiment.
On Monday, the funding rate on perpetual SOL contracts turned negative, indicating that demand for Short positions is higher. This change is relatively rare and signals a lack of confidence from optimistic investors.
Solana faces increasing competition from L2.
Some analysts argue that SOL's competitive advantage is threatened by the rapid expansion of the layer-2 ecosystem on Ethereum.
Meanwhile, others emphasize Solana's integrated user experience, which is also seen as a bright spot on the platform. Although SOL has seen a decline after the memecoin frenzy, new use cases have emerged.
Jito, currently Solana's largest decentralized application (DApp), holds 17.92 million SOL in total value locked (TVL), marking a 12% increase since January.
By providing a staking service that optimizes MEV value and integrating decentralized financial services, Jito demonstrates that Solana continues to innovate and is not reliant on token launch platforms.
Solana also boasts a staking rate of 66.5%, meaning the available supply of SOL tokens for sale on exchanges is decreasing. In comparison, less than 30% of Ether is participating in staking on Ethereum, while Cardano's ADA has a staking rate of 58%.
The current annual staking yield of SOL is 7.3%, providing strong incentives for their holders.
Solana's Q2 revenue far exceeded that of Ethereum and Tron.
According to a post on X from SolanaFloor, Solana leads all blockchains in network revenue for the third consecutive quarter.
In Q2 2025, Solana generated $271.8 million in revenue, 64% higher than Tron and double Ethereum's figure of $129.1 million.
Solana's dominance is also reflected in DApp activity, with users spending $460 million in fees over 30 days. This reflects a healthy ecosystem, encouraging developers to engage in building the platform.
Despite criticisms regarding failed transactions and a high level of centralized activity, this is a result of intentional design decisions and represents optimization opportunities rather than structural weaknesses.
Vlad Tenet, CEO of Robinhood, stated that building on Solana has been dismissed due to concerns about MEV, adding that they want 'full control of the validator'.
User X forrestnorwood from Conduit notes that both Coinbase and Robinhood have 'chosen maximum control, prioritizing the ordering of transactions on their own L2'.
If those claims are true and major institutions continue to overlook Solana, this could limit SOL's growth momentum. These concerns indicate waning interest in leveraged SOL positions, related to the strategy of incentivizing the use of rollups with Ethereum's extremely low data fees.
An important question for SOL holders is whether Ethereum will ultimately abandon its pricing model and compete equally with other platforms. Currently, the likelihood of SOL recovering to $180 remains very slim.