Solana will underperform Ethereum by the end of 2025: Standard Chartered

Standard Chartered believes that Solana will likely underperform Ethereum in the coming years due to its overreliance on memecoins.

Investment bank Standard Chartered sees Solana (SOL) almost doubling by the end of the year. Still, even at those levels, it will likely underperform Ethereum (ETH). On Tuesday, May 27, Geoff Kendrick, Standard Chartered’s Head of FX and Digital Assets Research, shared his insights on Solana over the next two to three years.

Kendrick projects Solana could reach $275 by the end of 2025, up from its current level of $176.72. By 2029, Solana could trade as high as $500. However, this trajectory would still likely see the asset underperform Ethereum. In comparison, Ethereum is forecast to rise to $4,000 by the end of 2025 and to $7,500 by 2029.

Solana is overreliant on memecoins: Standard Chartered

Kendrick bases his insights on Solana’s reliance on memecoin trading. He described this as a “double-edged sword,” noting that while memecoins may boost Solana in the short term, growth in the sector is likely to stall going forward.

“Going forward, I think we are past peak-memecoin,” Kendrick said, adding that while Solana has demonstrated strong technical performance, memecoins now present a risk factor. He noted that the market is “applying a quantifiable discount” to Solana’s application-layer revenue due to slowing growth in this sector.

The total memecoin market cap reached an all-time high in December 2024 at $100 billion. Solana memecoins peaked in January 2025, both coinciding with the latest bull market rally. If memecoin activity starts to decline, this would significantly impact Solana’s activity and revenues.

In March, Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood echoed the sentiment by Standard Chartered, stating that most memecoin will likely become worthless at some point. However, she expressed positive sentiment toward both Ethereum and Solana, stating that these tokens will only strengthen over time.