Why This Ethereum Rival Is Up 12% Today

The native token of high-speed blockchain Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) surged 12% on Thursday.

What Happened: According to data from Benzinga Pro, SOL rallied to a nine-week high of $124.61. The Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) rival recorded $3.8 billion worth of trading volume in the last 24 hours.

Some catalysts that could be driving the coin’s positive price action are the enhanced demand for Solana-based NFTs and a general trend of Layer 1 blockchains surging.

Related Link: OpenSea Announces Solana NFTs Coming Soon: Here Are The Details And Timeline

According to data from CryptoSlam, trading volume for Solana NFTs surged 80% over the past 24 hours. On Wednesday, the largest decentralized NFT marketplace OpenSea posted a teaser video suggesting that Solana NFTs could be available on their platform as early as April.

The best kept secret in web3 pic.twitter.com/xuZn64cZ4U

— OpenSea (@opensea) March 29, 2022

Meanwhile, other Layer 1 Ethereum rivals also witnessed significant price action on Thursday. Avalanche (CRYPTO: AVAX) rallied 10% to an intra-day high of $101.69. The coin saw a 26% uptick in trading volume, which exceeded $2 billion over the past 24 hours.

The lower cost and faster speed of transactions have led to emerging Ethereum alternatives capturing some market share from the leading smart contract network.

“We’re seeing a rush where there are lots of different blockchains that are competing,” billionaire investor Mark Cuban had said earlier this year.

Cuban, who considers himself more of an “Ethereum-maxi”, doesn’t believe that all Layer 1 blockchains will survive.

“I think the red flag right now is that everybody’s trying to replicate what’s happening on one chain on the other chain … but I don’t see how, even with the best of bridging, how all that is going to be sustainable."

Photo courtesy: Solana