Is Solana a Buy, Sell, or Hold in 2026?

Much to the chagrin of its holders, including yours truly, Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) lost 37% of its value during the past 12 months. The losses were largely caused by crypto market factors, including the Oct. 10 flash crash, rather than any negative catalysts related to the coin itself. The bad news is that at least one such catalyst may now be on the way, which we will get into a bit later.

The good news is that there are a couple of opportunities in play which could ultimately make for powerful tailwinds. So is this coin worth buying, selling, or holding in 2026? Let's dive in and figure it out.

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The bull thesis just got stronger

Solana is well-known as the fastest and cheapest blockchain to use among the crypto majors. Speed and cheap transactions make it an attractive place to issue or manage tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), particularly for assets that are typically traded frequently and in large volumes, like stocks. Therefore, one major pillar of the investment thesis for buying Solana in 2026 is the idea that it will be the ideal place for equities on the blockchain, thereby leading to large capital inflows to the chain and boosting its value.

Today, about $872 million in tokenized assets trade on Solana, up by about 9.5% from just 30 days ago. At the start of 2025, those assets totaled just $174 million. Every time a tokenized stock, bond, or other asset is traded, it requires holders to spend a small amount of Solana, some of which is burned and removed from circulation. So, the expansion of the tokenized asset base is likely to apply upward pressure on the coin's price over the long run, albeit quite slowly.

The other recent development that's bullish is the approval of Solana spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in late 2025.

The point of the ETFs is that they let investors who don't have crypto wallets get exposure to the coin. Thus far, inflows into the Solana ETFs haven't been earth-shattering. For instance, on Jan. 2, net capital inflows totaled just $9.7 million.

Nonetheless, if other crypto ETFs provide any clues, investors should expect a steady stream of inflows to gradually bolster the price of Solana, with inflows potentially picking up speed over the course of 2026 and beyond. Although it's true that capital inflows can become outflows if sentiment turns bearish, it's undeniable that the coin is now part of a small club in crypto, as most assets aren't remotely accessible whatsoever to the capital that's in the traditional financial system.

There could be a fly in the ointment

One big problem facing Solana in 2026 is that a few of its most important supporting organizations, including key executives at both Solana Labs and the Solana Foundation, have been named as defendants in a class action lawsuit which was expanded in late 2025. The plaintiffs allege that numerous individuals associated with the chain enabled one of the biggest projects in Solana's ecosystem, Pump.fun, to exploit retail investors during the launch of new meme coins, unfairly capturing money from them in what was marketed as a fair launch process.

There isn't much point in speculating about the results of the lawsuit. The issue is that as long as the lawsuit is alive, there's a big risk shadowing Solana. It's obvious that the same risk could also be deadly for one of its major projects, meaning that a negative outcome would likely be a double whammy in terms of its effect on the network.

It's also typically not a great idea to invest in an asset that's facing a significant lawsuit, so this isn't something investors should simply brush off.

The future is still bright, but it's a touch dimmer than before

I will probably still be buying Solana in 2026, albeit at a much lower intensity than I did in the past few years. There aren't any major competitive threats to the chain on the horizon, and I anticipate that the ETF-associated capital inflows, as well as its rising dominance in the real-world asset segment, will eventually send the coin's price higher than it is today.

It's not a great idea to sell this coin. But it's doubtlessly a more understandable proposition than before, thanks to the lawsuit. Although the long-term outlook is still good, investors should expect some short-term turbulence that might be extreme at times. If you choose to dabble, know that you will probably sleep the most soundly at night if you keep your position on the small side.

Alex Carchidi has positions in Solana. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Solana. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.