In its new report, 2025 Look Ahead, Fidelity makes clear Solana's potential to take on Ethereum and the huge competition in the tokenization and stablecoin sector.
The investment firm Fidelity has recently published its report «2025 Look Ahead», where it takes an in-depth look at the current state and future prospects of the digital asset market. In this report, Fidelity has singled out Solana as the most serious contender to Ethereum, while still acknowledging the latter’s fundamental strengths.
This vision has generated a lot of interest in the crypto community, as it raises a debate about the future of blockchain platforms and their impact on the digital financial ecosystem. The competition between Ethereum and Solana has intensified, and the analysis of Fidelity provides valuable insight into understanding the dynamics of this ever-changing market.
Solana: a competitor with potential, but with challenges
In its report, Fidelity has acknowledged Solana’s rapid growth, especially in terms of revenue, market capitalization, and total value locked (TVL). However, the firm has also noted that a significant portion of Solana’s revenue comes from memecoin trading, a trend it considers cyclical and which tends to decline during bear markets.
This reliance on memecoins raises questions about the long-term sustainability of Solana’s growth. In comparison, Fidelity highlights that Ethereum’s fundamentals are less dependent on speculation and could therefore be more stable in the long term. This view does not imply that Solana has no potential, but rather that its growth is more tied to short-term trends.
In addition, Fidelity has highlighted that planned upgrades for both networks, Solana with its Firedancer and Ethereum with its Prague/Electra, could influence the competitive landscape. Firedancer promises a significant increase in Solana’s transaction speed, which could improve its value proposition.
On the other hand, the Ethereum upgrade is focused on improving functionality, scalability, and security, but without generating the same level of enthusiasm in the community in terms of direct impact on the value of the cryptocurrency. This difference in the perception of the benefits of the upgrades could have an impact on the performance of both cryptocurrencies in the short term.
Fidelity's vision for the Solana ecosystem
Fidelity has analyzed Solana’s role in several key sectors of the cryptocurrency ecosystem, including decentralized finance (DeFi), stablecoins, and tokenization. In the DeFi sector, Solana has gained ground thanks to its speed and low transaction costs, making it an attractive option for users looking for alternatives to Ethereum.
However, Fidelity has also noted that Solana’s reliance on memecoin trading could lead to volatility in the DeFi sector, as these assets are highly speculative and can experience significant price fluctuations.
As for stablecoins, Fidelity has acknowledged their growing importance in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, but has warned that they are not yet a perfect product. The firm expects additional measures to be implemented to address counterparty and compliance risks, improve cross-chain interoperability, and facilitate integration with traditional payment systems.
In this sense, Fidelity sees stablecoins as a key component for the tokenization of real-world assets, a sector that it believes has great potential for the future. Tokenization, according to Fidelity, could be the “star application” of 2025, as it allows traditional assets to be represented on the blockchain, which facilitates their commercialization and increases their liquidity.
Comparative analysis between Ethereum and Solana
Fidelity’s report not only highlights Solana’s strengths, but also underlines Ethereum’s advantages, especially in terms of solid fundamentals. Ethereum boasts strong development activity, a high total value locked (TVL), and a large stablecoin supply.
These factors, according to Fidelity, make Ethereum less dependent on speculation and more stable in the long term. In addition, the firm has pointed out that Ethereum's accessibility through exchange-traded products (ETPs) gives it a clear advantage over Solana.
However, Fidelity has also admitted that Solana could see more momentum in the short term due to its Firedancer upgrade, which promises a significant increase in transaction speed. This upgrade could lead to increased interest in Solana, especially among investors looking for quick returns.
In this regard, Fidelity has noted that Solana’s relative performance could provide a significant boost to Ethereum in the long term, similar to how Solana’s previous underperformance fueled its growth in 2024. This outlook suggests that competition between the two platforms could be beneficial to the ecosystem at large, as it drives innovation and continuous improvement.
Stablecoins: Beyond Speculation
In its analysis, Fidelity has also put a significant spotlight on stablecoins, highlighting their growing adoption and crucial role in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Stablecoins, whose value is pegged to a fiat currency such as the US dollar, are primarily used to facilitate the trading of digital assets, but are also gaining ground in other sectors such as remittances and cross-border payments. Fidelity has noted that stablecoins offer access to dollar-valued tokens in a global economy that demands this currency, and that they also allow for faster and cheaper global payments.
A clear example of the utility of stablecoins is their use in remittances. In many countries, sending money through traditional channels can be expensive and slow. Stablecoins offer a more efficient alternative, as they allow money to be sent quickly and cheaply through the blockchain. In addition, stablecoins are also being used as a way to protect against the volatility of cryptocurrencies, as their value is more stable than that of other digital assets.
Fidelity has also noted that stablecoins could play an important role in the tokenization of real-world assets, as they could serve as a medium of exchange for these assets. For example, if a company decides to tokenize its stocks or bonds, stablecoins could be used to facilitate their buying and selling on the blockchain. This view suggests that stablecoins could become a fundamental component of the financial system of the future.
Causes and consequences of Solana's rise
Solana’s rise as an Ethereum contender can be attributed to several factors. First, its blockchain architecture, designed to offer high transaction speeds and low fees, has attracted many users and developers looking for alternatives to Ethereum.
Solana’s so-called “scalability” – its ability to process a large number of transactions per second – is a key factor in its success. Secondly, the Solana community has been very active in promoting the platform, which has generated a lot of interest in the project. Lastly, the rise of memecoins in 2024 has boosted Solana’s growth, as many of these coins have been launched on its blockchain.
However, this growth has also brought some consequences. Solana’s reliance on memecoin trading could lead to volatility in its ecosystem, and competition with Ethereum could intensify in the coming years.
Furthermore, the Firedancer upgrade, while promising to improve Solana’s performance, could also bring new technical and security challenges. In this regard, it is important for Solana investors and users to keep an eye on the evolution of the platform and its ability to sustain its long-term growth.
The future of cryptocurrencies according to Fidelity
Finally, Fidelity’s report not only focuses on the competition between Ethereum and Solana, but also offers an overview of the future of cryptocurrencies. The firm believes that mass adoption of these digital assets will grow in 2025, and that it is still “not too late” for investors to enter this space.
Fidelity believes we are entering a new era for digital assets, one that could last for several years, if not decades. This era could see digital assets permeating various sectors, including industries, technologies, fields, balance sheets, and even nations.
It also highlighted the potential of tokenization of real-world assets, which it believes could be the “star application” of 2025. Tokenization, according to the firm, will allow traditional assets to be represented on the blockchain, which will facilitate their commercialization and increase their liquidity.
Additionally, Fidelity has also noted the growth of decentralized finance (DeFi), which it expects to continue to innovate in 2025, with the emergence of purpose-built blockchains, decentralized social networks, decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePINs), and crypto-AI areas.
