The so-called Ethereum killer, Solana, remains the darling of big players. According to a report by Coinshares, Solana funds marked their 27th week of inflows this year, while Ethereum remained the least-loved altcoin among institutions.

Solana Thrives With Inflows Surge

This year has been particularly favourable to Solana in terms of demand from institutional investors.

Coinshares’ data shows that besides Solana, very little activity was witnessed in the broader altcoin market. SOL has enjoyed roughly 27 weeks’ worth of inflows, with just four weeks of outflows in 2023. The past week was no different, with institutional players purchasing $5 million worth of Solana. As per Coinshares, this has allowed SOL to retain the title of most-loved altcoin this year.

The Solana influx can be attributed to successful tie-ups with prominent financial institutions like payments behemoth Visa to provide real-time low-cost payments. Solana Labs has also collaborated with Shopify and Circle, the issuer of USDC, to provide stablecoin settlement to individual vendors. 

Solana has also displayed one of the best TVL performances in recent months. Data from DefiLlama shows Solana’s total value locked just clocked a new high of the year of over $337 million.

The network’s native token, SOL, has also registered its strongest week since July. The crypto coin saw a 26.5% rise over the past week, per CoinGecko. Subsequently, SOL has usurped Dogecoin (DOGE) and Cardano(ADA) to become the seventh-biggest cryptocurrency by market valuation. 

Ethereum Continues To Lag Behind

Notably, Bitcoin funds have also seen institutional inflows over the past week. The premier crypto added $20.4 million over the past seven days, boosted by an array of factors, including the recent chaotic deadlock over government funding and rising concerns about U.S. government debt prices.

Although Ethereum is still the dominant blockchain for decentralized finance and smart contracts, its investment products have struggled to garner momentum from institutions as it continues to be the least-loved altcoin in 2023. According to Coinshares, ether-focused funds registered outflows of $1.5 million last week, continuing a seven-week selling streak. This is despite the upcoming launch of ether futures exchange-traded funds (ETFs).