Solana’s SOL token has surpassed Binance’s BNB token to become the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. In the 24 hours leading up to 1:50 pm UTC, SOL rose by 7.56% and reached a trading price of $112.52, overtaking BNB. According to CoinMarketCap data, SOL’s market cap of $49.36 billion is 1.74% larger than BNB’s $48.5 billion.
The price surge of SOL coincided with the Crypto Fear and Greed Index reaching its highest level since November 2021 when Bitcoin reached $69,000. This spike in the index came a day after Bitcoin surpassed $50,000 for the first time since December 2021.
Despite experiencing an outage on February 6, SOL managed to surpass BNB. The approval of the Pyth DAO Constitution on-chain likely contributed to the rally. This proposal aimed to establish the Pyth DAO Constitution as the decision-making framework for the Pyth DAO, which governs the Pyth Network.
Despite the recent outage, SOL has gained 19.99% in the past seven days and is currently 57% lower than its all-time high of $260.06, which was recorded on November 6, 2021.
Solana Mobile’s Chapter 2 smartphone received 100,000 preorders in less than 30 days, reaching the milestone on February 12. In comparison, it took Solana almost a year to sell 20,000 of its first Solana Saga smartphones. The preorder window for purchasing the new Solana phone for $450 will close on February 14, and shipping will begin in early 2025.
BNB has been facing challenges in gaining traction due to Binance’s ongoing regulatory issues. On February 12, the sentencing date for Binance founder Changpeng Zhao was postponed from February 23 to April 30. Zhao is currently out on a $175 million bond and is residing in the United States.
US officials have also announced a $4.3 billion settlement with Binance and a plea deal with CZ, further contributing to the struggles faced by BNB.