Solana
Updated
Summary
SOL is the native token of Solana, a high-speed general-purpose blockchain used heavily for trading, stablecoins and consumer apps. SOL pays fees: half of each 5,000-lamport base fee is burned, while priority fees go entirely to validators. New SOL is issued to stakers on a schedule that started at 8% a year, falls 15% a year and floors at 1.5%; it was about 3.75% in July 2026, when 68% of supply was staked. About 589 million SOL circulate, worth roughly $61 billion on 2026-10-14. Since October 2025 SOL has been held by U.S. spot ETFs that stake it, and the SEC lists it among its digital-commodity examples.
Key numbers
SOL price (USD): $104.23 (as of 2026-10-14). Source: metamask.io
SOL market capitalization: $61.40 billion (as of 2026-10-14). Source: metamask.io
SOL circulating supply: 589.21 million SOL (as of 2026-10-14). Source: metamask.io
Share of total supply staked (epoch 1000): 68.0% (~426.9M SOL; 73.6% of circulating) (as of 2026-07-10). Source: jpool.one
Annual inflation rate (schedule: 8% start, -15%/yr, 1.5% floor): 3.75% (as of 2026-07-10). Source: jpool.one
Base fee per signature / share burned (priority fees: 0% burned, SIMD-0096): 5,000 lamports / 50% (as of 2026-10-15). Source: solana.com
US Solana ETFs: cumulative net flows (Farside): $1,572 million (as of 2026-10-14). Source: farside.co.uk
Stablecoin supply on Solana (Solana account / DefiLlama dollar-pegged): $17.3B / $16.57B (as of 2026-09-25). Source: solanacompass.com
Tokenized real-world assets on Solana: > $4 billion (as of 2026-08-23). Source: kucoin.com
Forward Industries (largest public SOL treasury) holdings: ~8.16 million SOL (as of 2026-09-21). Source: solanacompass.com
Jito Q2 2026 tip revenue measure (TOV), change vs Q1: ~$9.9 million, about -50% (as of 2026-08-10). Source: solanacompass.com
Stake on Firedancer-family clients (top 500 validators): ~15.8% (as of 2026-10-13). Source: solanacompass.com
Timeline
2026-10-14 — US spot SOL ETFs record an eighth straight day of net outflows (-$1.29 million); SOL is down more than 13% in October. (Source: fxstreet.com)
2026-10-13 — Anza schedules the Alpenglow mainnet switch for 2026-10-21; Firedancer clients are not supported during the migration. (Source: solanacompass.com)
2026-09-25 — Solana stablecoin supply reaches a record $17.3 billion, per the Solana account. (Source: solanacompass.com)
2026-09-21 — Forward Industries reports about 8.16 million SOL, the largest public Solana treasury. (Source: solanacompass.com)
2026-09-15 — Transaction V1 activates at epoch 1035, raising maximum transaction size from 1,232 to 4,096 bytes. (Source: solana.com)
2026-09-15 — Senate cloture on the CLARITY Act (H.R. 3633) fails 49-50. (Source: senate.gov)
2026-08-24 — US spot SOL ETFs hit a record $1.22 billion of cumulative net inflows after a $33.5 million day. (Source: solanacompass.com)
2026-08-23 — Tokenized real-world-asset value on Solana passes $4 billion for the first time. (Source: kucoin.com)
2026-06-16 — Helius publishes the SIMD-550 case for doubling SOL's disinflation rate to -30% a year. (Source: solanacompass.com)
2026-03-17 — SEC interpretation, joined by the CFTC, names Solana among 16 digital-commodity examples and clears protocol staking. (Source: fintechweekly.com)
2025-12-12 — Jump's full Firedancer validator client goes live on Solana mainnet. (Source: theblock.co)
2025-10-30 — Grayscale's GSOL begins trading on NYSE Arca as a spot Solana ETF with staking. (Source: forklog.com)
2025-10-28 — Bitwise's BSOL, the first US ETP with full direct SOL exposure, begins trading on the NYSE and stakes its holdings. (Source: theblock.co)
2025-07-02 — REX-Osprey launches SSK, the first US ETF pairing Solana exposure with staking rewards. (Source: rexshares.com)
2025-03-13 — SIMD-0228, a market-based inflation cut, fails to reach its supermajority. (Source: coindesk.com)
2025-02-13 — SIMD-0096 is reported live: validators keep 100% of priority fees, ending the 50% priority-fee burn. (Source: thedefiant.io)
Key actors and links
Solana network (actor:solana-network): Native network; its fees, stake and uptime drive SOL's protocol economics.
Cryptocurrency (theme:cryptocurrency): A major crypto asset by market cap.
High-throughput institutional/consumer execution (theme:high-throughput-execution): Solana is the graph's reference high-throughput chain; Alpenglow targets ~150 ms finality.
Smart-contract execution platforms (theme:smart-contract-execution-platforms): SOL competes with ETH as gas and staking asset of a general-purpose platform.
Smart-contract/high-beta sleeve (theme:smart-contract-high-beta-sleeve): SOL fell more than 13% in October 2026.
ETFs (theme:crypto-etfs): Spot SOL ETFs (~$1.57B net inflows) are a direct demand channel.
SEC (actor:sec): Named Solana a digital-commodity example on 2026-03-17.
CFTC (actor:cftc): Joined the 2026 interpretation; would gain spot authority under CLARITY.
CLARITY Act (policy:clarity-act): Would put SOL's commodity status into statute; stalled since 2026-09-15.
U.S. Senate (actor:us-senate): Rejected CLARITY cloture 49-50 on 2026-09-15.
USDC (asset:crypto-usdc): About $8.4B of USDC sits on Solana without adding SOL demand beyond fees.
Stablecoins (theme:stablecoins): Solana hosts a record ~$17B of stablecoins; adoption, not holder value by itself.
Tokenization (theme:tokenization): Over $4B of tokenized assets on Solana, including ~$611M of tokenized equities.
Fee/staking-capture token-value variant (theme:fee-staking-capture-variant): SOL is a fee/staking-capture token: holders earn issuance, fees and tips by staking.
Token-specific value capture (theme:token-value-capture): The graph's caveat that network adoption is not token value; SOL is a test case.
Why it matters now
SOL's 2025-2026 story is access plus engineering. Spot ETFs launched from 2025-10-28, most of them staking, and had drawn about $1.57 billion of net inflows by 2026-10-14. On 2026-03-17 the SEC, joined by the CFTC, named Solana a digital-commodity example and said protocol staking is not a securities transaction. Forward Industries holds about 8.16 million SOL. On-chain, stablecoins reached a record $17.3 billion and tokenized real-world assets passed $4 billion. Transaction V1 went live on 2026-09-15, and Alpenglow, a consensus rewrite targeting about 150 ms finality, is scheduled for 2026-10-21.
The mechanism that links this to holders is narrow. Base-fee burn is small, priority fees and Jito tips go to validators and stakers, and issuance still dilutes non-stakers. MEV is shrinking: Jito's Q2 2026 tip revenue fell about 50%. Demand is cyclical too: SOL fell more than 13% in October to about $102, and ETFs logged eight straight days of outflows to 2026-10-14. There has been no network-wide halt since 2024-02-06, but Alpenglow is a large change. CLARITY failed cloture 49-50 on 2026-09-15, so SOL's status rests on an interpretation, not a statute.
Risks and open questions
Bull case: Access demand is real: US spot ETFs drew about $1.57 billion net and most stake their SOL, and Forward Industries alone holds about 8.16 million SOL. The SEC/CFTC interpretation names SOL a digital commodity and clears protocol staking. Solana already hosts about $17 billion of stablecoins and over $4 billion of tokenized assets. If Alpenglow's faster finality draws more paid trading and settlement, fees and tips to stakers rise, and a SIMD-550-style cut would slow issuance.
Bear case: Most growth sits beside SOL, not in it: stablecoins and RWAs need SOL only for small fees. Base fees are tiny, priority fees and tips go to validators, and Jito's tip revenue fell about 50% in Q2 2026. Staking yield is mostly issuance (~3.75% a year), which dilutes non-stakers. ETF demand is cyclical: eight straight outflow days to 2026-10-14 and SOL down more than 13% in October. Alpenglow is a large consensus change, and the legal win is an interpretation, not a statute.
Falsifiers: - Bull weakens if spot SOL ETFs post a sustained run of net outflows. - Bull weakens if the Alpenglow migration causes a network-wide halt or is delayed past 2026. - Bear weakens if fee and tip revenue paid to stakers rises for several quarters after Alpenglow. - Bear weakens if a disinflation change like SIMD-550 passes governance. - Bull weakens if CLARITY dies with this Congress and a later SEC narrows the 2026 interpretation.
Value accrual gate: SOL holders gain from ETF and treasury buying, from staking rewards (issuance plus priority fees and Jito tips passed through validators), and from a small base-fee burn. Issuance is a transfer from non-stakers to stakers, not new value. Holders do not automatically gain from stablecoin supply, tokenized-asset value or app revenue, because those settle in other tokens and pay SOL only as fees. Upgrades count only if they raise paid fee demand.
What to watch
Alpenglow mainnet switch; watch for a clean handoff and finality data. (2026-10-21); Source: solanacompass.com
Comment deadline for the SEC's proposed Regulation Crypto Assets. (2026-10-20); Source: phemex.com
Governance vote on SIMD-550 (disinflation from -15% to -30% a year). (no scheduled date); Source: solanacompass.com
Senate action on CLARITY, or reintroduction next Congress. (no scheduled date; 119th Congress ends January 2027); Source: news.bitcoin.com
Rotor, the data-propagation half of Alpenglow, and Firedancer's return after the migration. (no scheduled date); Source: solanacompass.com
Whether ETF flows turn positive and fee revenue rises after Alpenglow. (Q4 2026); speculative, no scheduled source
AA inference
Inference (AA): SOL is the graph's main high-throughput general-purpose chain and a comparison point for payment-focused ledgers. Its holder value runs through staking yield (mostly issuance), fee and tip income, and ETF and treasury demand. Stablecoin and RWA growth on Solana should be tracked separately from SOL demand, because those assets settle without needing SOL beyond fees. Alpenglow matters to holders only if faster finality lifts paid fee demand, not because it is faster.
Sources
SOL is the native token; the base fee is split 50% burned and 50% to validators. (Original fact retained; re-verified on the fee-structure page below.) (Source: solana.com, accessed 2026-10-15)
Solana's base fee is 5,000 lamports per signature; 50% is burned and 50% goes to the block-producing validator; under SIMD-0096 100% of the priority fee goes to the validator. (Source: solana.com, accessed 2026-10-15)
Solana inflation started at 8% a year, falls 15% year over year, and has a fixed long-term rate of 1.5%. (Source: solana.com, accessed 2026-10-15)
At epoch 1000 (2026-07-10) about 426.9 million SOL was actively staked, 68.0% of total supply (73.6% of circulating); inflation was 3.75%; 703 active validators; Nakamoto coefficient 19. (Source: jpool.one, accessed 2026-10-15)
Helius's SIMD-550 paper (2026-06-16) proposes raising Solana's disinflation rate from -15% to -30%; no governance vote date was announced. (Source: solanacompass.com, accessed 2026-10-15)
SOL traded at $104.23 with a $61.40 billion market cap and 589.21 million SOL circulating on 2026-10-14. (Source: metamask.io, accessed 2026-10-15)
SOL traded around $102.50 on 2026-10-15, down more than 13% in October; US spot SOL ETFs saw -$1.29 million on 2026-10-14, an eighth straight day of outflows, and -$24.81 million the prior week (SoSoValue). (Source: fxstreet.com, accessed 2026-10-15)
Blockworks data put tokenized-equity supply on Solana near $611 million on 2026-10-13. (Source: fxstreet.com, accessed 2026-10-15)
Farside shows cumulative net flows of $1,572 million for US Solana ETFs (BSOL, VSOL, FSOL, TSOL, SOEZ, MSOL, GSOL) through 2026-10-14. (Source: farside.co.uk, accessed 2026-10-15)
US spot SOL ETFs reached a record $1.22 billion of cumulative net inflows on 2026-08-24 after a $33.5 million day; Fidelity's FSOL had 99.64% of its SOL staked. (Source: solanacompass.com, accessed 2026-10-15)
Bitwise's BSOL began trading on the NYSE on October 28, 2025 as the first US ETP with 100% direct SOL exposure, aiming to stake its holdings. (Original fact retained.) (Source: businesswire.com, accessed 2026-10-15)
BSOL launched on the NYSE on 2025-10-28 and drew about $197 million of net inflows in its first week; both BSOL and Grayscale's GSOL stake their SOL. (Source: theblock.co, accessed 2026-10-15)
Grayscale's GSOL began trading on NYSE Arca on 2025-10-30 as a spot Solana ETF with staking. (Source: forklog.com, accessed 2026-10-15)
REX-Osprey launched SSK, the first US ETF combining Solana exposure with staking rewards, on 2025-07-02. (Source: rexshares.com, accessed 2026-10-15)
The SEC's March 17, 2026 release names SOL among examples of digital commodities. (Original fact retained.) (Source: debevoise.com, accessed 2026-10-15)
The 2026-03-17 SEC interpretation, joined by the CFTC, lists Solana among 16 digital-commodity examples and treats protocol staking as not a securities transaction. (Source: fintechweekly.com, accessed 2026-10-15)
Original fact said Transaction V1 activated on 2026-09-09 with Alpenglow slated for October 2026 (superseded on the activation date; see next fact). (Source: 247wallst.com, accessed 2026-10-15)
Transaction V1 (SIMD-0296, SIMD-0385) activated at mainnet epoch 1035 on 2026-09-15, raising maximum transaction size from 1,232 to 4,096 bytes. (Source: solana.com, accessed 2026-10-15)
Anza scheduled the Alpenglow mainnet switch for 2026-10-21; finality is about 12.8 seconds today against a ~150 ms target; Firedancer clients are not supported during the migration; validators will pay a burned 0.8 SOL per epoch admission ticket. (Source: solanacompass.com, accessed 2026-10-15)
Solana Compass counted about 15.8% of stake among the top 500 validators on Firedancer-family clients on 2026-10-13; Rotor is not yet scheduled. (Source: solanacompass.com, accessed 2026-10-15)
Alpenglow (SIMD-0326) passed governance in September 2025 with 98.27% approval. (Source: alchemy.com, accessed 2026-10-15)
Jump's full Firedancer client went live on Solana mainnet on 2025-12-12. (Source: theblock.co, accessed 2026-10-15)
Validators approved SIMD-0096, sending 100% of priority fees to validators instead of 50% burned, with 77% approval on 2024-05-27. (Source: cryptoslate.com, accessed 2026-10-15)
The Defiant reported on 2025-02-13 that the full-priority-fee-to-validators model had gone live. (Source: thedefiant.io, accessed 2026-10-15)
SIMD-0228, a market-based inflation proposal, failed to reach its supermajority on 2025-03-13. (Source: coindesk.com, accessed 2026-10-15)
Jito's Q2 2026 transaction-ordering (tip) revenue measure was about $9.9 million, down about 50% from Q1; protocol revenue fell 45% to $1.28 million; BAM reached about 33% of stake. (Source: solanacompass.com, accessed 2026-10-15)
Solana's last network-wide outage was on 2024-02-06, a halt of under five hours; Solana Compass reported none since as of 2026-08-10. (Source: solanacompass.com, accessed 2026-10-15)
Solana stablecoin supply hit a record $17.3 billion on 2026-09-25 per the Solana account; DefiLlama showed $16.57 billion of dollar stablecoins; USDC on Solana was about $8.4 billion. (Source: solanacompass.com, accessed 2026-10-15)
Solana's tokenized real-world-asset value crossed $4 billion for the first time on 2026-08-23, up from about $1.4 billion in January 2026. (Source: kucoin.com, accessed 2026-10-15)
Forward Industries held about 8.16 million SOL on 2026-09-21, the largest public Solana treasury; DeFi Development Corp held about 2.49 million SOL. (Source: solanacompass.com, accessed 2026-10-15)
Senate cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3633 (CLARITY) failed 49-50 on 2026-09-15. (Source: senate.gov, accessed 2026-10-15)
If CLARITY does not pass before the 119th Congress ends, it would need reintroduction in January 2027. (Source: news.bitcoin.com, accessed 2026-10-15)
The SEC proposed Regulation Crypto Assets on 2026-08-18. (Source: sec.gov, accessed 2026-10-15)
Comments on Regulation Crypto Assets are due by 2026-10-20. (Source: phemex.com, accessed 2026-10-15)