Standard Chartered Cuts Near-Term Solana Forecast, Sees $2,000 by Decade's End

Standard Chartered has slashed its 2026 Solana terms people portion raising semipermanent forecasts, saying the blockchain volition predominate micropayments and stablecoin transactions arsenic it moves beyond its meme coin-dominated past.

The planetary banking radical chopped its year-end SOL forecast to $250 from $310, but raised projections for consequent years, estimating the token could scope $2,000 by end-2030, according to a probe enactment from Global Head of Digital Assets Research Geoff Kendrick shared with Decrypt.

The revised outlook comes arsenic Solana trades astatine $101, down 18% implicit the past week and implicit 48% year-to-date, according to CoinGecko data, a steep diminution from its all-time precocious of $293 deed past January pursuing the motorboat of President Donald Trump's Official Trump (TRUMP) meme coin connected the network.

"Flows connected Solana's decentralised exchanges are starting to displacement from memecoins towards SOL-stablecoin pairs," Kendrick wrote successful the note, adding that these stablecoins "are turning implicit 2 to 3 times faster than stablecoins connected ETH, demonstrating a antithetic usage case."

The slope present forecasts that SOL volition scope $400 by end-2027 (up from a anterior $350 target), $700 by end-2028 (up from $475), and $1,200 by end-2029 (up from $500).

The caller end-2030 people marks the archetypal clip Standard Chartered has published a Solana terms projection that acold retired successful its probe coverage.

Kendrick explained that Solana's "ultra-low-cost, accelerated and reliable transaction model" positions it to predominate sectors requiring high-volume, low-transaction-cost solutions—particularly micropayments enabled by AI-driven protocols similar x402, wherever mean transaction sizes are conscionable $0.06.

When asked what cardinal indicators helium volition way to corroborate that micropayments are becoming Solana’s adjacent ascendant usage case, Kendrick told Decrypt helium is watching 2 superior metrics: “Volume of stablecoin transfers connected Solana” and “Velocity of stablecoins connected Solana.”

With Solana's median state interest astatine $0.0007 compared to Base's $0.015, the web tin economically process transactions excessively tiny for accepted concern systems oregon adjacent astir different blockchains to grip profitably, the expert said.

“AI-driven micropayments utilizing stablecoins are starting to show that the ‘order of magnitude’ outgo simplification connected Solana tin alteration wholly caller markets to develop,” Kendrick wrote successful the note, but helium cautioned that achieving standard successful these emerging sectors “may instrumentality time.”

Standard Chartered expects Solana to underperform Ethereum done 2027 earlier catching up arsenic micropayment markets mature.