SOL

• The history of Solana (SOL) is a story of extreme technological ambition, rapid market dominance, and high-stakes volatility. Since its inception in 2017, it has evolved from a whitepaper focused on "Proof of History" to becoming the primary competitor to Ethereum.

1. Foundations (2017–2019)

The project was born out of a whitepaper published in November 2017 by Anatoly Yakovenko, a former software engineer at Qualcomm. He proposed a novel concept called Proof of History (PoH)—a decentralized clock that allows nodes to agree on the passage of time without having to communicate with each other constantly.

• The Team: Yakovenko was joined by fellow Qualcomm veterans Greg Fitzgerald and Stephen Akridge.
• The Name: Initially named "Loom," the project was rebranded to Solana, named after Solana Beach in San Diego where the founders used to surf.
• Early Tech: In 2018, Fitzgerald began the open-source implementation. Early tests showed the network could process 10,000 transactions per second (TPS) in under a second.

2. Launch and the "DeFi Summer" (2020–2021)

Solana’s Mainnet Beta officially launched on March 16, 2020.

• Initial Price: The SOL token was first auctioned on CoinList at roughly $0.22.
• Breakout Year (2021): Known as the year Solana "exploded." The network’s low fees (under $0.01) and high speed attracted NFT creators and DeFi developers fleeing high Ethereum gas fees.
• NFT Boom: The launch of the Degenerate Ape Academy in August 2021 proved the network could handle massive traffic, leading to a massive rally.
• Peak Value: By November 2021, SOL reached its first major all-time high of $259.96, a 12,000% gain from its launch price.

3. Outages and the FTX Crisis (2022)

In 2022, Solana faced its "trial by fire."

• Network Outages: Rapid growth led to several high-profile network stalls. In September 2021 and May 2022, transaction spam from bots (often for NFT mints) crashed the network, forcing validators to restart.
• FTX Collapse: In November 2022, the crypto exchange FTX—Solana’s biggest institutional supporter—collapsed. Since FTX and its sister company Alameda Research held billions in SOL, the price plummeted nearly 94% from its highs, bottoming out around $8–$10.

4. Recovery and the "Saga" (2023–2024)

Contrary to many predictions of its death, Solana staged a major comeback.

• Mobile Strategy: Solana Labs launched the Saga, the first crypto-native smartphone, in April 2023. While sales were slow initially, the phone sold out globally by December 2023 due to exclusive airdrops (like BONK) for owners.
• Institutional Adoption: In September 2023, Visa integrated Solana for stablecoin settlements, citing its high TPS as a key reason.
• Meme Coin Mania: By late 2023 and early 2024, Solana became the "hub" for meme coins, with platforms like Pump.fun driving record-breaking daily active addresses.

5. Current State: New Heights (2025–2026)

As of early 2026, Solana has solidified its position as a "Top 3" non-stablecoin cryptocurrency.

• New All-Time High: In January 2025, SOL reached a new peak of $294, fueled by mainstream adoption and the launch of high-profile memecoins, including the $TRUMP token.
• Solana ETFs: Late 2025 saw the launch of Spot Solana ETFs in the U.S. (like Bitwise’s BSOL), bringing massive institutional inflows ($421 million in the second week alone).
• Hardware Evolution: The second-generation phone, the Solana Seeker, has seen over 150,000 pre-orders, shifting the ecosystem toward "mobile-first" decentralization.

Summary Table: Solana Milestones

Year	Phase	Key Event
2017	Concept	Whitepaper published by Anatoly Yakovenko.
2020	Launch	Mainnet Beta launch; SOL at $0.22.
2021	Explosion	Peak price of $260; NFT "Degenerate Ape" boom.
2022	Survival	FTX collapse; SOL drops to $8.
2023	Recovery	Visa partnership; Saga Phone sell-out.
2025	Dominance	New ATH of $294; Spot ETF launches.
2026	Future	Mobile-first ecosystem with the "Seeker" phone.