Fidelity calls Solana a ‘serious competitor’ to Ethereum

Over the long term, Ethereum’s strong fundamentals matter more than Solana’s speed and low costs, according to a Fidelity report.

As the bull market develops, investors will pay closer attention to this, the analysts noted.

For the blockchain of the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, the firm highlighted high developer activity, TVL and the supply of stablecoins.

Solana’s total value locked and revenues are growing faster than Ethereum’s, but the latter metric is largely tied to memecoin trading. Analysts view this as a cyclical trend that will fade in a bear market.

Unlike Solana, Ethereum’s fundamentals are less dependent on speculation, making the asset more stable over the long term.

“Short-term price fluctuations are often driven by narratives. Throughout 2025, Solana may remain a serious competitor, given the expected upgrades to both networks,” the report says.

The Firedancer upgrade in Solana is aimed at a substantial increase in transaction speed, while Pectra in Ethereum targets improvements in functionality, scalability and user security.

According to the analysts, Ethereum’s hard fork will stir less excitement in the community, as it does not directly affect the cryptocurrency’s value proposition.

Fidelity noted Ethereum’s advantage in accessibility for TradFi-investors via ETFs. The SEC could either strengthen that position by adding a staking option to the product, or level the playing field by registering a Solana-based fund.

In November, revenue from dapps on the Solana network reached a record $365 million, and cryptocurrency trading volume hit $243 billion (also an all-time high).

The phenomenon is driven by the frenzy around memecoins. ForkLog’s editors included this topic among the key events and trends of 2024.