Standard Chartered: Solana Set to Lag Behind Ethereum Amid Memecoin Overreliance

Hold onto your hats, crypto fans! Standard Chartered just dropped a bombshell: they think Solana's gonna be stuck in the slow lane compared to Ethereum over the next few years, all because it's too hooked on those wild memecoins.

The investment bigwigs at Standard Chartered are calling it—Solana (SOL) could nearly double by year's end. But hold up, even at that pace, it's still gonna be playing catch-up to Ethereum (ETH). On May 27, Geoff Kendrick, the head honcho of FX and Digital Assets Research at Standard Chartered, spilled the beans on Solana's future over the next two to three years.

Kendrick's crystal ball says Solana could hit $275 by the end of 2025, starting from its current $176.72. Fast forward to 2029, and he's betting on $500. But here's the kicker: even with those numbers, Solana's still gonna be trailing behind Ethereum, which is expected to skyrocket to $4,000 by 2025 and a whopping $7,500 by 2029.

Solana's Memecoin Mania: A Double-Edged Sword

Kendrick's not mincing words—Solana's got a memecoin problem. He's calling it a "double-edged sword." Sure, those memecoins might give Solana a short-term boost, but he's warning that the party's gonna fizzle out.

"We've hit peak-memecoin, folks," Kendrick declared. While he's giving props to Solana's tech chops, he's waving the red flag at memecoins as a major risk. He's saying the market's already started to knock down Solana's app-layer revenue because this memecoin craze is cooling off.

The memecoin market went wild, hitting a record $100 billion in December 2024. Solana's memecoins reached their peak in January 2025, riding that bull market wave. But if the memecoin buzz starts to die down, Solana's gonna feel the hit on its activity and cash flow, big time.

And guess what? Back in March, Cathie Wood from Ark Invest echoed Standard Chartered's vibes, saying most memecoins are gonna end up in the trash. But she's still bullish on both Ethereum and Solana, predicting they'll come out stronger as time rolls on.