Morning Minute: Solana’s New Path to ATH

Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt. Subscribe to the Morning Minute on Substack.

GM!

Today’s top news:

• Crypto majors rip after a soft PPI print; BTC hits $114,000
• Forward Industries closes $1.65B raise to buy SOL; SOL at $225
• Avalanche plans to raise $1B for AVAX DATs, to buy from Avax Foundation at discount
• Linea debuts the LINEA token, opens at $1.7B FDV
• Meteora teases first of its kind airdrop coming in October

⚡ Solana’s Setup: Seven-Month Highs and a Path to New ATHs

Solana just printed a seven-month high.

And its fresh new narrative may be enough to drive it to new ATHs in 2025.

📌 What Happened

SOL climbed ~4% Wednesday to nearly $225, its highest level since February, and is up about 25% over the past month.

Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan says the same forces that powered Bitcoin and Ethereum’s rally (ETF inflows and corporate/treasury accumulation) are now lining up for Solana, setting the stage for an “epic end-of-year run.”

Here’s a glimpse at what’s happening for Solana right now:

• Treasuries are buying SOL: Public companies focused on Solana have accumulated large positions through 2025, and Forward Industries just closed a $1.65B raise to build a SOL treasury
• ETFs in the queue: The SEC is weighing spot Solana ETFs from multiple issuers (including Bitwise), along with staking ETFs, with approval expected in Q4 (as soon as October)
• Apps are firing: Solana’s leading apps (Pump Fun, Raydium) are introducing buybacks to their respective tokens based on protocol volumes, setting up flywheels that are driving volumes and token prices higher. Plus a major ecosystem airdrop with Meteora’s MET token comes next month.

It’s a very nice setup.

🗣️ What They’re Saying

“For the last 18 months, the recipe for strong returns in crypto has been clear: Take one part exchange traded products (ETP) inflows, add strong corporate treasury purchases, and voilà-you get big returns… All the ingredients are there for an epic end-of-year run for Solana.” – Matt Hougan, CIO, Bitwise

🧠 Why It Matters

This is one of those trades that feels too easy to be true.

But SOL has nearly the exact same setup as BTC and ETH before it.

Institutional flows have been the primary force driving crypto majors price action over the past 18 months. And now it’s Solana’s turn.

They’ve got ~$3B in SOL TreasuryCo’s incoming and ETFs coming Q4 (though it should be noted that BlackRock isn’t in the mix, the highest volume ETF facilitator).

And a strong ecosystem, with apps like Pump Fun driving top-5 revenue numbers across all of crypto.

It’s certainly not a done deal by any means.

The TreasuryCo’s could end up being underwhelming. The ETFs might not catch much volume in the early months. Leading apps might sputter.

But with many thinking Bitcoin will make sweeping new ATHs in Q4 2025 (I’m in this cohort), it’s not a big stretch to think SOL will also make a run.

And it has real drivers.

Time to pay attention, if you haven’t already…

🌎 Macro Crypto and Memes

A few Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:

• Crypto majors are very green after a surprising soft CPI print; BTC 1.5% at $114,000, ETH +2% at $4,430, XRP +2% at $3.01, SOL +2% at $225
• MNT (+11%), AVAX (+8%) and PUMP (+8%) led top movers
• The Bitcoin ETFs saw $741.5M in net inflows on Wednesday, their highest day since July 16
• Crypto mining stocks IREN, CIFR and CORZ all posted 10%+ gains on Wednesday after Oracle jumped 40%
• Solana (SOL) hit a 7-month high as Bitwise’s CIO argued the ingredients are in place for an “epic” year-end run
• The SEC delayed a decision on whether BlackRock’s spot Ethereum ETF can include staking and also pushed back rulings on Franklin Templeton’s proposed Solana and XRP funds
• Gemini set a higher internal share price ahead of its planned IPO, implying a valuation that could top $3B
• Chainlink said it is working with additional U.S. agencies to bring more government data and processes on-chain, with an eye toward election-related use cases
• Binance and Franklin Templeton announced a collaboration to develop new digital-asset products for a broad investor base
• The SEC set a November decision date for Grayscale’s Hedera Trust, adding to its stack of pending crypto fund reviews
• The Hong Kong Central Bank shared plans to relax requirement for banks holding crypto
• VanEck plans to apply for a Hyperliquid staking ETF

In Corporate Treasuries

In Memes

• Memecoin leaders are green led by DOGE; DOGE +4%, Shiba +2%, PEPE +2%, PENGU +1%, BONK +2%, TRUMP even, SPX even, and FARTCOIN +4%
• MURICA (+38x) was a top meme mover of the day

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

Here’s a rundown of major token, protocol and airdrop news from the day:

🤖 AI x Crypto

Section dedicated to headlines in the AI sector of crypto:

• Overall market cap up 1% at $13.9B, leaders were green
• FARTCOIN (+1%), VIRTUAL (+1%), TIBBIR (+16%), aixbt (+3%) & ai16z (+2%)
• LEA (+40%), nuit (+26%) and TIBBIR (+15%) led top movers

🚚 What is happening in NFTs?

Here is the list of other notable headlines from the day in NFTs:

• ETH NFT leaders were mostly even; Punks -1% at 48 ETH, Pudgy -1% at 10.25, BAYC +3% at 9.35 ETH
• Decal by XCOPY +35% was a notable mover
• Abstract NFTs were mixed, led by Gigaverse ROMs (+7%)
• Gondi processed a 750,000 USDC loan for 365 days with an effective 22% APR, against a basket of 2 Lost Robbies and 1 Skull of Luci