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Solana aims to rebuild its ecosystem after the crash of 2022, which wiped out value locked.
- Solana expects hype and a potential bull market in the new year.
- NFT airdrops will be one of the drivers of mass adoption.
- The SAGA phone is still awaiting shipments, but will be one of the stories for 2024.
Solana may be making a return as one of the important hubs for Web3 features. The network hosts NFT, games, DeFi and more, and is one of the easiest cheap ways to distribute Web3 assets. However, using Solana still has pitfalls, caused by malicious actors.
SOL and its ecosystem was also the latest asset to be added to the Trezor hardware wallet. This move will tap both new owners and older crypto and blockchain users.
https://twitter.com/Trezor/status/1737487949137129769
Here are three factors to watch out for Solana in 2024. Even with a price boom and new projects, Web3 is still in the discovery stage and safe usage requires awareness of risks.
Solana Airdrop Scams
Solana is one of the networks with multiple airdrops coming fast and often. The potential to receive an asset for free and potentially gain on resale attracts thousands to those airdrop events.
Airdrop attacks are thus becoming more aggressive, and are linked to stealing NFT and other assets. Wallet draining usually happens in situations where the end user must approve transactions, and a smart contract then steals all of the wallet contents.
Solana wallets provide transaction simulations to update balances. However, a request may appear to manually approve a transaction. End users must be aware of risky apps requiring manual approval.
beware of airdrop phishing scams on Solana!
scammers employ anti-simulation techniques to prevent wallets from showing balance changes. victims unknowingly lose their assets by signing malicious transactions.
they have already stolen ~$290K in the past few days! pic.twitter.com/cpoexY4EyN
— Scam Sniffer | Web3 Anti-Scam (@realScamSniffer) December 16, 2023
Wallet drainers are still in the wild, and startups are now aiming to bring tools for singling out risky apps. So far, only unofficial lists exist of potential drainers on Ethereum, Solana and other networks.
The threat has not stopped airdrops coming, and there are still predictions 2024 may be the Solana year.
https://twitter.com/MMOSH_Pit/status/1737263619362947362
Solana Bull Market: Pros and Risks
Based on social media hype, Solana may expect a bull run in 2024, setting the stage for prices above $100 once again. SOL is above $75 toward the end of the year, and is close to getting into the top 5 of coins and tokens.
The Solana ecosystem is also gaining value into its L1 protocols, potentially boosting the SOL market price due to higher demand.
Highly possible that, Solana again pushes strong narratives around high-performance L1s like Sui ($175M TVL) and Aptos ($85M TVL) in 2024.
Nascent ecosystem currently, but both their foundations with high LM incentives/emissions will be pushing hard at least – let's see! pic.twitter.com/2aXOzC3XEd
— Yash Agarwal (@yashhsm) December 20, 2023
At the end of 2023, the Solana Total Value Locked (TVL) returned above $1B. The new trend is still far from peak value locked at the end of 2022, but shows capabilities of recovery. Analysis by Messari is also puting Solana among bullish networks, with growth potentially outpacing the growth of ETH.
Messari disclosed its analyst positions in the 2024 trend report: they are generally bullish on Bitcoin, Solana and AI tokens. Most of them hold SOL or related tokens, followed by AI tokens such as OLASAKTTAORNDR. Messari is bearish on ETH in the report, but most analysts…
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) December 20, 2023
However, a bull market move may also give rise to corrections and significant losses in the case of hacks and exploits.
Solana SAGA Phone
Solana is yet another blockchain project to create its own phone brand. After the Finley and Samsung’s attempt to make a phone with a native wallet, SAGA is Solana’s upcoming device to handle the entire ecosystem.
The SAGA phone can make or break Solana’s reputation. The promises for this device are high, but there are also skeptics and detractors. In the meantime, there are challenges and lucky draws to win a SAGA when the device comes out.
In any case, the launch and deliveries of the SAGA phone will be one of the major narratives around Solana. The device was first mentioned back in 2022, and has been a long time in the making. The goal is to sell a Web3 phone with easier access to NFT marketplaces, game wallets, airdrops and DeFi.
Solana has risen above the list of L1 networks, and competes for visibility. It is one of the most populated ecosystems and has plans to increase mass adoption in 2024. Despite this, Solana still lacks the influence of Ethereum, which is making its own moves and may continue to lead the Web3 space in 2024.
