Solana rockets 13% to new yearly high, led by WIF memecoin frenzy

Solana (SOL $124) has become the latest altcoin to mint new yearly highs amid a wider crypto rally, with activity on the blockchain spurred by a scramble to buy up the dogwifhat (WIF) memecoin. 

In the last 24 hours, Solana has posted a 13.3% gain, rising rapidly from $108 to reach a new yearly high of $124.17 at the time of publication, per CoinGecko data.

The price of Solana has grown 13.3% in the last 24 hours. Source: CoinGecko

Preceding the Solana rally was a frenzy of buying activity for the Solana-based memecoin dogwifhat (WIF), which has seen its price rise 55% from $0.52 on Feb. 27 to $0.82 at the time of publication.

Launched on Dec. 14 last year, WIF is a memecoin that features a picture of a Solana developer’s dog wearing a knitted hat. Since its inception, WIF has gained more than 50,000%.

Solana, however, still remains down 52% from its all-time high of $259.62, which it reached on Nov. 6 in 2021.

Solana wasn’t the only large-cap cryptocurrency to reach new highs for 2024, with both Binance’s BNB token (BNB $415) and Dogecoin (DOGE $0.13) token notching respective highs of $427 and $0.12 roughly 2 hours before Solana.

Bitcoin (BTC $62,808) has been leading the market’s gains as institutional inflows into the recently approved spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) continue to strengthen following their approval on Jan. 11.

The ten ETFs generated a record-breaking $7.7 billion volume on Feb. 28.

On the same day, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF attracted more than $612 million in inflows, the largest single-day inflow of any ETF to date.

Bitcoin ETF inflows have been growing steadily since inception fin January. Source: Farside

Bitcoin is currently changing hands for $62,413, up 21% in the last week and 44% in the last month.

Ethereum has also posted its highest price of 2024, reaching a local high of $3,492 on Feb. 28.

Several market pundits are looking to the upcoming Ethereum spot ETF as a catalyst for its growth in the coming months, with many predicting that ETH’s price action could chart a similar path to Bitcoin in the lead-up to its spot ETF products being approved.