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Friday 18th of July marked the end of Crypto Week in the US, during which the government debated and passed several historic crypto bills. The Clarity Act and the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act passed in the House, now awaiting the Senate’s vote, while the Genius Act was sent to President Donald Trump’s desk and signed the very same Friday. Off the back of this momentous victory for the crypto space, many digital assets surged in value with the fresh injection of optimism. Solana (SOL) was one of them, increasing in value by over 17% in the days following to trade at over $200, the psychologically important milestone that hadn’t been seen since February 2025.
In this article, we’ll offer a debrief of Solana’s back story, protocol and use cases, the rally as Solana gains momentum following Crypto Week, as well as how other assets have reacted to the promising crypto legislation advancements in the US.
What is Solana (SOL)?
Aside from being one of the highest market-cap digital assets in the crypto market, Solana (SOL) is first and foremost a high-performance blockchain designed to support the development of decentralized applications (dApps), NFTs and DeFi protocols. It is well known among crypto experts for its lightning-fast transaction speeds and low fees, which has helped successfully position Solana as strong competition for Ethereum, especially for developers looking for high scalability. The network manages this thanks to its unique hybrid consensus architecture that combines Proof of History (PoH) and Proof of Stake (PoS), which allows it to process thousands of transactions per second, making it one of the fastest Layer 1 blockchains on the market.
Solana was launched in 2020 and quickly became popular among developers thanks to its user-friendly architecture and growing ecosystem of DeFi projects, NFT marketplaces and Web3 applications. The native token of the Solana network is also known as Solana, or SOL, and is used for transaction fees and staking, among other things. Its growing popularity and integration have solidified its place among the top ten performing cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, currently sitting at number six with a market cap of $106.35 B. Solana is seen by many in the crypto space as a cornerstone of the future of blockchain technology, especially as regulatory clarity improves in key regions such as the US.
Solana gains momentum following Crypto Week
Following the US government’s passing of three landmark crypto bills during Crypto Week, the crypto market rallied enthusiastically. Solana was among the top gainers following news on Friday 18th that President Donald Trump had officially signed the Genius Act, a huge step forward in US crypto regulation. But even prior to Crypto Week, market sentiment surrounding Solana was already decidedly bullish fueled by network fundamentals and investor activity. Solana’s staking ecosystem had also drawn fresh interest (roughly $800 million flowed into Solana staking in recent weeks), pushing its Total Value Locked in staking to about $9.95B. Retail investment also spiked (by some 26%) as the asset price rose to nearly $195.
Experts and analysts are keeping their eye on Solana as positive sentiment continues to hold. A popular pseudonymous analyst projected that SOL could surge to $400–$500 in the current bull run based on technical and market trends. Others have forecast Solana as a top performer for 2025, encouraged by the possibility of a spot Solana ETF approval by regulators, adding to the sense that Solana is gaining mainstream momentum. As Solana broke the $200 barrier following Crypto Week, the asset also became a trending topic among crypto communities on social media, as followers noted Solana’s outperformance of larger coins such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The crypto market rallies following Crypto Week
Following the conclusion of Crypto Week, US lawmakers passed a series of bills such as the Genius Act, Clarity Act, and Anti-CBDC legislation, triggering a powerful wave of optimism across the crypto space. Assets across the market were pulled upwards. Bitcoin (BTC) surged to all‑time highs, briefly exceeding $123,000 on 14th of July, and then settling into the $120,000+ range by the week’s end. At the same time, the entire crypto sector reached a total market capitalization of $3.8 trillion, reinforcing the notion that these regulatory advancements mark a significant milestone for the industry.
Ether (ETH), the market’s second-largest token, reached a six‑month high of above $3,675, its highest level since 2nd of February. Analysts have attributed ETH’s rally in part to expectations of accelerated stablecoin activity on Ethereum, as new legislation provided a clearer framework for this space. Ethereum’s network currently holds just over half of stablecoins, built as ERC-20 tokens, and has long served as the dominant infrastructure for stablecoin issuance. As the Genius Act establishes clear legal standards for stablecoin backing, issuance, and compliance in the US, institutional and corporate players now have more confidence to launch or expand stablecoin operations.
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