Solana News Today: Despite 38% Price Drop, Solana ETFs Draw $613M as Institutions Prioritize Fundamentals

Whale Stakes $7M in Solana As ETFs Hit $613M Despite 38% Price Drop

A growing institutional appetite for Solana (SOL) is reshaping the crypto landscape, with a $7 million whale stake and a record $613 million in ETF inflows underscoring the network's appeal despite a 38% price drop year-to-date. VisionSys AI, a publicly traded firm, recently announced a $2 billion Solana-focused treasury strategy, joining a wave of listed companies allocating capital to the fast-growing blockchain. The initiative, managed in partnership with Marinade, a leading staking operator with $2.2 billion in total value locked, aims to acquire $500 million in SOL within six months, leveraging high staking yields to generate returns.

Solana ETFs have become a focal point of this momentum, with 21 consecutive days of net inflows as of late November, surpassing the performance of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs. Despite a 29% decline in SOL's price from $195 to $137 during this period, institutional demand has remained resilient, with cumulative inflows reaching $621 million. Bitwise's BSOL ETF alone accounted for 89% of total inflows, highlighting its dominance in the nascent product category. This divergence between price and capital flows reflects a broader shift in investor sentiment, as institutions prioritize Solana's network fundamentals-high transaction speeds, developer activity, and staking yields-over short-term volatility.

The price weakness, however, has raised concerns among traders. Solana's technical structure remains fragile, with the token struggling to reclaim key support levels. Open interest in futures contracts has declined from $10 billion in mid-November to $7.2 billion, signaling reduced speculative activity. Analysts warn that without a sustained rally above $140, the price could retest $120, a level that previously acted as a floor earlier in the year. Meanwhile, Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs have seen contrasting trends, with Bitcoin ETFs recording a $151 million outflow on November 24 and Ethereum ETFs losing $262 million in cumulative redemptions over eight days.

The Solana Foundation's "Hello Wall St." campaign, launched in October, has amplified institutional interest by emphasizing the blockchain's real-world applications in payments and asset tokenization. This marketing push coincided with the ETF launches, which positioned Solana as a high-capacity infrastructure solution with lower costs than Bitcoin. Despite the price decline, Solana's $2.85 billion in annual revenue from network activity and trading outpaces Ethereum's slowing economic engine, which has seen a 45% drop from its August peak https://finance.yahoo.com/news/solana-2-85b-revenue-explosion-161931312.html.

Forward-looking indicators suggest the ETF inflows could stabilize the price in the medium term. Solana's staking yield remains above 6%, attracting yield-seeking portfolios amid broader crypto market weakness. Additionally, the network's user base and transaction volumes continue to rank among the top layer-1 blockchains, according to Dune Analytics https://en.coinotag.com/solana-etf-hits-21-day-inflow-record-despite-price-drop-signaling-potential-long-term-confidence. While short-term volatility persists, the institutional adoption of Solana ETFs and treasury strategies indicates a growing recognition of the blockchain's scalability and utility.