The crypto bull run is gaining momentum, with all eyes on Bitcoin. However, memecoins are stealing attention, boosting the Solana ecosystem. Memecoins are popular for onboarding new users, as they promise quick or life-changing gains. The thrill of trading them feels like a casino rush, driving their appeal.
Traditionally, bull runs start with money flowing into Bitcoin, then large-cap altcoins, small caps, and finally memecoins and NFTs. This time, it’s different. The run began with Bitcoin, followed by a mix of last cycle’s large caps (Algorand, XRP, Cardano) and memecoins.
While the Base ecosystem seemed ready to lead the memecoin mania, Solana overtook it with the success of PumpFun.
Many crypto “influencers” are even speculating that a utility coin-driven bull run might not materialize this cycle, casting doubt on Ethereum’s potential for significant gains. As we know, smart money often accumulates undervalued or less visible coins with strong narratives and high success potential. Whenever a coin is being shilled on twitter or Youtube, it’s very important to do an extensive research and assess if it’s too late to get in.
Comparing Ethereum and Solana
Let’s compare Ethereum and Solana ecosystems to understand wether Ethereum is underperforming:
As of 20 november 2024
Price
FDV
Volume (24h)
Circulating supply
TVL
Latest revenu
Highest revenu
Transactions
Ethereum
3100$
373b
28b
120M
59b
Around 3M per day
Around 203M per day (2022)
Around 1M per day
Solana
234$
111b
6.9b
474M
8b
Around 5M per day
Around 5.5M per day (2024)
Around 51M per day
We can see that Solana has approximately four times more tokens in circulation than Ethereum. If Solana had four times fewer tokens in circulation to match Ethereum’s supply, its price could be closer to $1,000 (474/120×234=924$). When considering the supply factor, we can see that Ethereum is around 3 times more expensive than Solana (3100 vs 924).
Let’s see if Ethereum’s performance justifies being 3 times more expensive than Solana.
Performance comparison
If we compare the total value locked, we can see that it is 7 times higher on Ethereum than on Solana. This suggests that Ethereum is viewed as a more trusted chain, where institutions prefer to park assets with fewer transactions but larger amounts. The total value locked will increase rapidly as Ethereum gains in value.
The number of transactions on Solana is currently 51 times higher than Ethereum, however the revenue is only around 2 times higher (As of 20 november 2024 – with all the memecoin mania). While this cements Solana as a leader in transaction throughput, we can view this differently as it takes much more effort on Solana to produce the same revenue. We are also not taking into account all the bundled transactions that are validated on Ethereum through the different Layer2 solutions.
Another factor to consider is that Ethereum set a record revenue of $203 million in a single day in 2022, according to DeFiLlama. While this level of revenue may not be repeated anytime soon—especially with the Dencun upgrade and fee adjustments—it sets a significant milestone for Ethereum’s potential compared to Solana.
Memecoin mania
The memecoin mania will likely shift to other blockchains, particularly Ethereum L2s, as they attract fresh users with lower fees and faster transactions. However, this hype will probably fade toward the end of the bull run. Solana will face significant competition for memecoins in the short term and will need to pivot to new narratives, such as AI, to maintain its performance edge. While it’s likely that the memecoin craze will end with many investors losing money and realizing they were shilled on, the overall hype will eventually subside. This gives a direct strategic advantage to Ethereum.
Both Ethereum and Solana are strong projects that are likely to perform well during the bull run. However, it’s important to understand that the capital flowing into crypto can’t chase all projects at once. Money will rotate between different projects, selecting winners and losers, and shifting narratives multiple times along the way. Investors will aim to profit from the highs and lows of each rotation, ultimately exiting when the bull market begins to fade.
This is why it’s crucial not to fall for narratives or become emotionally attached to a project. Conducting your own research is essential to understand why certain narratives are being pushed and fed to you daily, often obscuring other potential opportunities.
Real World Assets are physical assets, like real estate, commodities, shares, and artwork, that are represented digitally on a blockchain. By converting these assets into digital tokens, investors can buy, sell, and trade smaller portions. This makes previously exclusive asset classes more accessible. This model of fractional ownership broadens access to high-value assets, enabling individuals to invest in items that would typically necessitate significant capital, which in turn enhances investment opportunities.
Tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) offer several significant benefits, such as enhanced liquidity, increased efficiency, and improved transparency. Traditional assets often suffer from illiquidity, making cash conversion challenging. However, tokenization allows these assets to be traded on digital platforms, facilitating quicker and more accessible transactions. The use of blockchain technology provides clear record-keeping and automates processes with smart contracts. It reduces the dependence on intermediaries, cuts costs, and fosters trust. Furthermore, RWAs create new opportunities for diversifying portfolios, giving investors options to allocate risk beyond conventional stocks and bonds.
Despite these benefits, RWAs come with challenges, including regulatory hurdles, valuation difficulties, and security concerns. Different jurisdictions regulate tokenized assets in various ways, creating compliance complexity, and accurately pricing RWAs remains tricky due to their real-world dependencies. Nonetheless, RWAs have the potential to reshape finance, merging traditional and digital markets, increasing global market access, and providing blockchain with practical, real-world applications that could revolutionize investment practices.
We will look at 3 different projects in the space.
Ondo finance
Ondo Finance is a DeFi platform that bridges traditional finance with blockchain by offering tokenized versions of real-world assets, such as U.S. Treasury bills and corporate bonds. This allows investors to access stable, yield-generating financial products within the crypto ecosystem, providing lower-risk, fixed-income opportunities compared to typical DeFi products. By tokenizing these assets and managing them with smart contracts, Ondo enhances accessibility, transparency, and efficiency for both retail and institutional investors, aiming to create a compliant, stable link between conventional finance and decentralized markets.
Ondo is deployed on several blockchain such as Mantle and Ethereum. The treasury bills native tokens (USDY and OUSG) can be bridged from one chain to another and used in DEFI to earn an additional yield.
Mantra
While Ondo’s goal is to tokenize real world assets into tokens, Mantra offers a layer1 solution customized for RWAs. Its goal is to simplify the adherence to regulatory requirements. Mantra is built using the Cosmos sdk and offers ready made modules that developers can build on or leverage such as a compliance ID which offers a single solution for all Mantra Apps for KYC solutions.
Mantra integrated Ondo‘s USDY token and offers it as a genesis asset throughout the blockchain.
Anzen
Anzen Finance specialize in real-world lending, focusing on integrating real-world assets (RWAs) into the DeFi ecosystem. Its goal is to provide stable, yield-generating opportunities. By connecting blockchain-based lending with traditional financial instruments, like loans backed by U.S. Treasury bills or other secure assets, Anzen aims to offer a safer, more predictable alternative to typical crypto-based lending platforms. Any user can provide liquidity to Anzen which will be used to power real world secured loans. Anzen partnered with Ondo by backing part of its reserve with tokenized security deposits backed by Ondo’s token.
Anzen offer a stable coin USDz on several chains (Ethereum, Arbitrum, base, etc…) that is backed by real loans and other financial assets. USDz can be staked to earn around 15% yield. Anzen also offers different strategic vaults and earn additionnal yields by locking your coins for a period of time.
Anzen has presently an airdrop opportunity. All you have to do is hold USDz to start accumulating points. You can buy it directly from Anzen or swap into it on any dex like jumper. If you use your USDz in DEFI on platforms like Aerodrome or Ionic, you can earn a multiplier on your liquidity.
Do not forget to do an extensive research before diving in, because holding USDz comes with risks. USDz can unpeg from real USD if any of the underlying loans has some default. Using USDz on DEFI platforms adds another layer of smart contract risk, impermanent loss, etc…
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