Solana overcomes FTX fiasco — SOL price gains 100% in Q1

The cryptocurrency market had a tumultuous start to 2021. One of the many digital assets to make headlines was Solana (SOL), the blockchain project that nearly gained 100% in dollar terms in the first quarter of the year. The asset was surrounded by controversy in the lead-up to its meteoric run, as its ties to FTX and its boss caused some alarm in the market. However, that hasn’t stopped the project and its underlying asset from achieving extraordinary heights in the early part of 2021. The project was founded by Sam Bankman-Fried who, at the time of this writing, is the chief executive of FTX trading platform. This drew criticism from some analysts as they deemed the project as FTX sponsored, which naturally rubbed some investors the wrong way. However, that didn’t stop the cryptocurrency from realizing its potential. For a project that started the year with a price of around $4, it had gained around 100% in the first quarter to peak near $8.50. The project has been aided by a growing DeFi demand, as SOL was one of the first to take a foothold in the increasingly-crowded market. More interestingly, the project’s underlying asset had gained significant value in the spot markets, despite the majority of its adoption coming from the decentralized finance industry. The remarkable run has led some to believe that the asset could be one of the more successful projects in 2021. As the market continues to attract more attention and yields more adoption, Solana will certainly be one of the major protagonists in the bull market. In any case, the Solana project has already defied expectations with its strong performance in the first quarter of 2021. Despite the inevitable hurdles that are faced by every project, SOL managed to persevere and make gains. This is a testament to the project’s underlying mantra of being resilient and staying focused on the core mission despite any external pressures. With the crypto market in full swing and more demand for digital assets on the rise, Solana may have proved itself a great success in the early part of 2021.