Santiment: Solana growth gives hope despite misery

Santiment data shows that new wallet creation is increasing even as prices fall, indicating that network curiosity has not yet faded away from sentiment.

The mixed signals matter because they show a disconnect between declining market sentiment and activity metrics that indicate users have not left the chain.

Security patch delays and infrastructure concerns

A February 19 report from Santiment noted that a major source of recent frustration for the Solana community stems from a critical security crisis in January. Customer administrators urged validators to upgrade to Agave/Jito v3.0.14 after disclosing vulnerabilities that could crash nodes and threaten consensus integrity.

Tim Garcia of the Solana Foundation urged operators to update quickly, but reports at the time said more than half of validators were still running on older versions, exposing the chain to potential risks.

This operational friction surfaced again in February when a network disruption diverted U.S. traffic through Europe and Asia. While infrastructure providers like DoubleZero noted that such redirection is a normal part of Internet networking, for validators operating a high-speed chain, milliseconds matter.

These events have forced the market to pay more attention to how smoothly Solana’s decentralized validator set can respond to pressure, as that response directly impacts the uptime and safety of funds flowing through DeFi.

The uncertainty is reflected in the price of SOL, which fell 25% in a week to around $96 earlier this month, with analysts such as Ali Martinez warning that losing the $100 zone could open a path to $74 or even $50.

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At the time of writing, the asset was trading around the $84 level, down around 35% in the past month and over 51% year-over-year. Shorter time frames show mild relief, with gains of almost 3% in 24 hours and around 6% in seven days, according to CoinGecko data.

Technical indicators remain mixed. Some traders say a breakdown around $80 confirmed a bearish chart pattern, while others say to see a shorter-term setup that could push prices back to $114 if resistance clears. Santiment added that the deeply negative funding rates indicate that many traders are betting against SOL, a situation that sometimes comes right before a short squeeze.

Activity growth contrasts with declining hype

Despite the price pressure, Santiment reported rising daily portfolio creation in February. This metric tracks new addresses interacting with the network and suggests continued user interest even in the face of weakening sentiment.

Exchange data also shows that outflows have exceeded inflows in recent weeks, a sign that some holders are removing tokens from trading platforms rather than preparing to sell.

Nevertheless, the current mood stands in contrast to previous cycles that defined Solana’s culture. According to Santiment, traders are still referencing past events such as the rise of NFTs, the launch of meme coins and stock market-related shocks that once dominated online discussion.

More recently, app builder Zora moved a new product from Base to Solana, charging around 1 SOL per creation, sparking debate over incentives but also signaling continued developer interest.

Ultimately, Solana’s is a layered picture: Prices and online attention have fallen since late 2025, but new wallets, active builders and crowded short positions show that participation has not disappeared.