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Solana began the New Year on a high, gaining 14% over the last 24 hours.
Analysis of the 15-minute SOL chart showed a distinct lack of price action until 07:00 (GMT) on the first working day of 2023.
A massive 20% spike occurred at this point, leading to a peak price of $12. However, the next candle closed at $11.18, giving up approximately half of those gains.
Nonetheless, the price action was sufficient to rank SOL as the second biggest gainer in the top 100, marginally behind Lido, which saw 14.6% gains over the same period.
2022 – a terrible year for Solana
Since the FTX collapse, Solana had been caught in the firing line due to its association with the disgraced exchange and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF).
FTX is said to hold 58 million SOL tokens and was a significant supporter of the Solana ecosystem through a myriad of developments, including the building of the Serum DEX.
Peak-to-trough movements during the turmoil amounted to a 79% drawdown, which posted a local bottom of $8.04 on Dec. 29. Similarly, 2022 losses came in at -96%, capping a terrible year for SOL investors.
Throughout the FTX saga, the issue of VC influence, in particular greed and short-termism, cropped up, casting a negative light on all projects with significant VC control.
Will 2023 be a better year?
Recently, several influencers and investors have come out in support of Solana.
@TheEliteCrypto warned that “the free fall [in price] may not yet be over,” but echoing Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, he also thinks the future is bright for Solana.
In addition, @585.ETH posted a screengrab of NFT sales volume by blockchain, showing that, second to Ethereum, Solana had the highest sales volume for non-fungibles, despite the tribulations of recent weeks.
“Just a reminder apart from Ethereum and despite all of the fud, Solana has more Nft volume than all other chains combined.”
A significant turning point came when Buterin tweeted his approval of the embattled project on Dec. 29. The Ethereum co-founder praised the Solana development community and said, with the VC influence “washed out, the chain has a bright future.”
“Now that the awful opportunistic money people have been washed out, the chain has a bright future.“
However, not everyone is convinced, @rovercrc tweeted that “SOL is the next EOS.”