Bitaigen Research Solana Gains Institutional Traction Amid ETF Inflows and Fed Policy Shifts
In the week ending April 15, 2026, Solana’s on‑chain activity surged 18 % relative to the prior month, while its market capitalization rose to roughly $28 billion, narrowing the gap with Ethereum, which held a market cap of about $210 billion. Data from Glassnode shows that daily active addresses on Solana hit 1.2 million on April 10, surpassing the 1.1 million recorded for Ethereum on the same day. The increase coincided with the launch of Solana’s “Vortex” upgrade, which introduced parallel transaction processing capable of handling up to 120,000 transactions per second, a 30 % improvement over the previous 92,000‑tps ceiling.
Institutional interest appears to be a key driver of the shift. In the first quarter of 2024, crypto‑focused exchange‑traded funds (ETFs) reported net inflows of $5.3 billion, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, with Solana‑linked funds accounting for 12 % of that total. Major asset managers such as BlackRock and Fidelity disclosed allocations to Solana through their multi‑asset crypto strategies, citing the network’s lower gas fees—averaging $0.00025 per transaction versus Ethereum’s $0.0075 after the “Shanghai” upgrade in 2023. The Federal Reserve’s policy rate, held steady at 5.25 % since July 2023, has kept risk‑on assets attractive to yield‑seeking institutions, further supporting the flow into high‑throughput blockchains.
Technology developments on both chains are reshaping the competitive landscape. Ethereum’s roadmap for 2025 includes the implementation of “sharding” phases that aim to raise its throughput to 200,000 tps, but the rollout has been delayed to Q3 2025 due to validator onboarding challenges. Meanwhile, Solana’s “Sealevel 2.0” protocol, released on March 30, 2026, adds cross‑program concurrency and reduces finality time to 400 ms, a metric that analysts at CoinDesk compare favorably against Ethereum’s 1.2‑second finality post‑Shanghai.
Overall, Solana’s recent performance metrics, combined with growing institutional exposure and a supportive macro environment, suggest a narrowing competitive gap with Ethereum, though both networks continue to evolve under distinct upgrade schedules.
*Bitcoin hovered near $27,800, while Solana closed at $23.5 on Tuesday.*
⚠️ Risk Disclaimer: Crypto prices are highly volatile. This is not investment advice.
