The last week of the year was quiet. With the holidays in full swing, trading slowed down and prices mostly moved sideways. That said, the Solana ecosystem kept building in the background, and some important trends started to stand out.

Price Action — Nothing Exciting, Nothing Bad

SOL spent the whole week bouncing between $120 and $130. It dipped a bit mid-week and finished closer to $128–129, with small daily gains. No big pumps, no scary crashes.

Pretty boring, uh?

• Meme coin hype cooled off hard toward the end of the year
  
  
• Trading volume dropped as people logged off for Christmas
  
  
• Overall, the crypto market was sleepy
  
  

Even so, the foundation stayed strong. Institutions kept buying SOL through ETFs, and on-chain activity didn’t fall apart.

Some analysts think SOL could drop to $100 if support breaks. Others think $125 holds and we bounce higher in 2026. Long-term predictions are all over the place — from conservative to extremely bullish — depending on adoption.

Ecosystem Health — Quiet but Strong

Behind the scenes, Solana finished 2025 in great shape:

• Estimated $1.4B+ in annual network revenue, higher than Ethereum
  
  
• Stablecoin supply hit new highs (around $17B)
  
  
• Big real-world usage: companies like Visa are settling billions on Solana
  
  
• ETFs brought in $766M+ over multiple weeks
  
  
• Public companies continued adding SOL to their balance sheets
  
  
• No network outages, strong developer growth
  
  

In short: boring price, very healthy chain.

New Launches — Slow but Steady

Even during the holidays, projects kept shipping:

• Prediction markets expanded (Phantom and Solflare rolled out new features)
  
  
• AI + DeFi tools launched and upgraded
  
  
• Stablecoin and real-world asset projects gained traction
  
  
• New experiments like creator portfolios, asset bundles, and pop-culture prediction apps
  
  
• Major milestones like Kamino deposits crossing $130M
  
  

Nothing went viral, but everything pointed toward a bigger theme:

Internet Capital Markets (ICM) — Solana positioning itself as the place where fundraising, trading, and capital formation happen fully on-chain.

This is less “casino energy” and more “financial infrastructure,” which takes longer — but scales bigger.

Memecoins — Basically Asleep

Memes took a holiday nap.

• Pump.fun still dominated launches, but volume was low
  
  
• No major runners or viral coins
  
  
• BONK and WIF had tiny bounces, nothing special
  
  

Degens were offline. Simple as that.

Privacy Coins Stole the Spotlight

One of the biggest narrative shifts: privacy outperformed memes in 2025.

Zcash (ZEC) went on a serious run:

• Big daily and monthly gains
  
  
• Shielded (private) transactions surged
  
  
• Privacy became a hot topic as regulation and data tracking increased
  
  

Solana has strong scaling tech (like ZK Compression), but no native privacy layer yet, which sparked discussion about whether that’s a missing piece long-term.

Sir Mert & Builder Energy

Helius CEO Mert stayed active:

• He shipped small, useful consumer tools like Orb and the latest Sol Price tracker that also doubles as a prediction market with integrated Kalshi options.
  
  
• Continued improving Orb Markets
  
  
• Talked openly about building long-term infrastructure
  
  

No hype pumps or tokens, but steady credibility. The community trusts builders who ship quietly.

Overall Vibe Heading Into 2026

This was a calm, almost boring week — and that’s not a bad thing.

Solana feels like it’s moving from:

• meme chaos → real financial infrastructure
  
  
• hype cycles → institutions + RWAs + capital markets
  
  

Price is sleepy, but usage and inflows suggest strength underneath. If a new meme wave hits, privacy narratives expand, or major upgrades land, things could heat up fast.

About Your Question: Accumulate or Wait?

I can’t tell you what to do — but here’s the neutral framing:

• If someone believes in long-term adoption, boring weeks are usually when fundamentals matter most.
  
  
• If someone is focused on short-term price action, sideways markets often test patience and risk management.
  
  

What matters most is time horizon, not this one quiet week.