Solana Is Faster and Cheaper Than Ethereum -- So Why Isn't It Winning?

Ever since its launch back in 2020, Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) has been touted as "the next Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH)." Yet Solana has never lived up to its top billing, despite being faster and cheaper than Ethereum.

Take this year, for example. Solana is down 32% in 2026, and is now trading at an eye-popping 71% discount to its all-time high from January 2025. So why isn't Solana winning?

Theory 1: Solana and meme coin mania

In the minds of many investors, Solana is still associated with the meme coin mania of 2024. At the time, it was fashionable to talk about the "meme coin supercycle," and Solana was the go-to blockchain for minting and trading meme coins. Celebrities were minting new meme coins on Solana, and even President Trump decided to launch a meme coin there.

Image source: Getty Images.

Unfortunately, meme coins reached their peak in December 2024 and never recovered. At its peak, the meme coin market was valued at $150 billion. Today, it's worth less than $40 billion, and most meme coins are down big from their 2024 highs. So, understandably, some investors have never forgiven Solana for the role it played in meme coin mania.

Theory 2: An investment in mobile crypto never paid off

Another possible explanation is that Solana's push to become a mobile-first blockchain never paid off. Back in June 2022, Solana announced the launch of a new mobile phone device (the Saga) and a new mobile strategy. The Saga was supposed to change everything but never did.

At a sky-high price of $999, the Saga could never compete with other mobile phones in the market. Admittedly, Solana did come up with a lower-priced alternative, but the idea of building a mobile crypto ecosystem never caught on with investors.

Theory 3: Solana ETFs never reached a critical mass

While eight spot Solana ETFs now trade in the U.S., they have never achieved the same level of momentum or traction as the spot Bitcoin ETFs launched in January 2024. The launch of new spot Solana ETFs was supposed to attract a flood of new institutional money, and that hasn't happened.

The total assets under management (AUM) of the spot Solana ETFs are currently just $1.1 billion. By way of comparison, spot Bitcoin ETFs pulled in $100 billion in less than 12 months.

Is Solana a buy, sell, or hold?

While there are plenty of reasons to be bearish on Solana right now, it's not time to abandon Solana quite yet. The world's seventh-largest cryptocurrency is pivoting away from meme coins and into stablecoins. And it's significantly ramping up its presence in decentralized finance (DeFi), while seeing a surge in on-chain activity. Solana is still faster and cheaper than Ethereum, so it should continue to siphon developers and users away.

For that reason, I'm still adding to my Solana position. I'm convinced that Solana will be a better long-term investment than Ethereum.

Dominic Basulto has positions in Ethereum and Solana. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Ethereum and Solana. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.