Solana’s decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem has been picking up momentum over the last month. On July 28th, the total value locked (TVL) on the chain breached $10 billion for the first time since December 2021. This movement, added to some upcoming developments, might propel Solana and its native token SOL even further in August, according to Tristan Frizza, Founder of Zeta Markets.

“In this current crypto cycle, SOL has seen an amazing run, bouncing back from its lows of $8 following the FTX collapse last year. Many now consider SOL the third blue-chip cryptocurrency after BTC and ETH, with potentially higher upside,” highlighted Frizza.

Solana-based decentralized exchanges topped Ethereum for the first time in spot monthly trading volume, according to data from DefiLlama. Notably, Solana’s on-chain derivatives volume showed the most significant monthly growth among the largest blockchains by TVL, leaping 105%.

Therefore, the DeFi activity added to partnerships with companies such as Stripe, Shopify, and Circle, and the filing of the first spot Solana exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the US might give SOL a significant boost.

“In particular, the recent launch of Ethereum ETFs might create a ‘buy the rumor, sell the news’ event, potentially driving increased anticipation for Solana ETFs,” said Zeta Markets founder.

Additionally, as reported by Crypto Briefing, the SEC agreed to reconsider the label of security given to certain crypto previously in its lawsuit against Binance, and this includes SOL. Thus, this might increase the appetite for SOL among risk-averse investors, added Frizza.

Lastly, Frizza points out that the Breakpoint convention is in September, and investors might buy SOL in August to speculate on potential price increases during the event. Breakpoint is the largest annual event for the Solana ecosystem, and various developments could boost SOL’s price.

“When it comes to the near-term, Solana is hosting its annual Breakpoint conference this September. Prior and in conjunction with this, the foundation and many protocols building on Solana slate their important releases and announcements strategically. One could expect that there will be a rush to go to market with milestone and strategic announcements from numerous teams, inciting a large sentiment and attention boost to Solana overall,” Frizza concludes.