Another Ethereum Killer Falls? Vitalik Buterin: Hope Solana has a fair chance to develop, Arthur Hayes: SOL will have a good buying opportunity

Once hailed as the "Ethereum killer" and highly anticipated public blockchain, Solana has experienced a significant drop in its coin price and Total Value Locked (TVL) this year due to frequent outages and the bankruptcy of its backer FTX, drawing heavy criticism from the crypto community. However, despite the backlash against Solana, there are still those who remain optimistic about its future development, with Ethereum founder Vitalik also calling for a fair chance for Solana's growth.

The Once Glorious Solana, Price Plummeting

Earlier this year, Solana experienced multiple instances of downtime. According to data from the Solana official status page, there have been dozens of incidents of performance degradation or network interruptions this year. However, after a technical upgrade by the Solana team, similar issues have not recurred in the latter half of the year.

Nevertheless, the lack of support from FTX poses a significant challenge for Solana. Since its inception, Solana has received support and endorsement from the former CEO of FTX, SBF. In January last year, SBF expressed willingness to buy SOL at an unlimited price of $3, initiating a frenzy that drove SOL's price to a peak of $258.

However, after FTX's bankruptcy, Solana is now akin to Fantom network without Andre Cronje, which may not only lead to reduced financial support but also significantly decrease its visibility. There have been recent instances of DeFi protocols and NFT projects choosing to migrate to other networks.

According to DeFi llama data, Solana's TVL has dropped by 86% from the beginning of the year until FTX's bankruptcy, and a further 78% decrease since then, resulting in an overall decline of 97%.

The price of SOL has also been on a downward trend, plummeting from $170 at the beginning of the year to below $10, with the price at $9.5 at the time of writing. The graph clearly shows a significant drop in price after FTX announced bankruptcy, whereas before that, the price of SOL remained above $30.

Some Continued Support and Concern for SOL

Despite the prevailing pessimism about Solana's future development, there are still some prominent industry figures on Twitter voicing support for them.

For instance, Ethereum founder Vitalik mentioned today that some smart people have told him that Solana has a serious and intelligent development community, and now that the bad money speculators have been washed out, this chain will have a bright future.

Vitalik finds it challenging to discern as an outsider, but he hopes the Solana community will have a fair chance to grow and thrive.

Some smart people tell me there is an earnest smart developer community in Solana, and now that the awful opportunistic money people have been washed out, the chain has a bright future.

Hard for me to tell from outside, but I hope the community gets its fair chance to thrive🦾🦾

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) December 29, 2022

Additionally, Chris Burniske, a partner at the crypto venture capital firm Placeholder, stated on Twitter that those who are currently mocking Solana will regret not buying SOL at $10 once Solana regains its vitality. He also shared with the community a previous discussion he had with Vitalik on why they support Solana.

Chris Burniske believes that Solana has its unique hardcore enthusiasts and nerdy culture, bringing a different kind of innovation compared to the Ethereum and Cosmos communities. In terms of the ecosystem, dApp developers consist of both Web2 and Web3 components, enabling them to understand backend encryption technology and create front-end interfaces that can interact with the mainstream. Moreover, the network issues that were previously criticized have made progress in terms of cost, reliability, speed, and decentralization due to the efforts of engineers.

1/ Still longing $SOL while haters spinelessly pile onto the downside momentum. When @solana recovers, it's not me that will be haunted by the thought, "Instead of jeering, I could have been buying $SOL ~$10."

— Chris Burniske (@cburniske) December 30, 2022

Aside from ecosystem development, Arthur Hayes, the co-founder of BitMEX, is optimistic about the future price increase of SOL. While acknowledging that SOL is essentially a garbage coin, he believes that amidst the mainstream financial media's relentless criticism, there will be good buying opportunities for SOL at certain moments.

"No coin has ever gone up or down in a straight line." Arthur Hayes remarked.

Even though $SOL is a complete and utter shitcoin, at some point it will be a buy if the mainstream financial press is dunking on it. Like on the <TOP> news section.

Nothing ever goes up or down in a straight line. pic.twitter.com/3BFPcJhzPF

— Arthur Hayes (@CryptoHayes) December 28, 2022