Solana Jumps 17%, Flips BNB Chain Token, as Trump’s Lead Renews ETF Hopes

Solana’s SOL jumped 17% in the past 24 hours as Donald Trump’s lead over Kamala Harris in the U.S. election renewed odds of an exchange-traded fund (ETF) approval for the token soon.

“Markets are still heavily mispricing a republican sweep and upside for the industry is likely much higher than previously anticipated,” Syncracy Capital co-founder Daniel Cheung said in an X post. “SOL ETF likely happens in Q1 2025 putting SOL in a position to flip ETH and even trade at $1000.”

Rennick Palley, founding partner at crypto venture fund Stratos, told CoinDesk in July that SOL was “poised to be the next token with an ETF” as investors widely believe that tokens “won’t be viewed as securities by the Trump admin.”

In early July, the Cboe submitted 19b-4 filings with the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) asking to list VanEck’s and 21Shares’ potential spot Solana ETFs, which were initially filed in late June.

SOL surged over $185 early Wednesday, reaching a market capitalization of over $85 billion that saw it flip BNB Chain’s BNB to become the fourth-largest token behind bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH) and stablecoin USDT.

BTC rose 8.4%, while ETH added 6% in that period. The broad-based CoinDesk 20 (CD20), a liquid index of the largest tokens by market capitalization, rose by 7%.

Coingecko data shows trading volumes crossed $8.8 billion in the past 24 hours, compared to $3.2 billion over the previous 24-hour period.

The surge came as Republican Donald Trump moved closer to becoming U.S. president, leading most key states and grabbing 240 electoral seats of the 270 needed to helm the country.

A Trump win is largely perceived as being bullish for the industry’s long-term growth, where he is expected to ease crypto regulations and improve the business environment for entrepreneurs.