Here's the latest news for Solana (SOL):
🚀 Major Launch: SKR Token (January 21, 2026)
Today marks the official launch of the SKR token by Solana Mobile at 2:00 AM UTC. This is one of the biggest mobile crypto airdrops of the year:
- Purpose: Governance and incentive token for the Solana Mobile ecosystem (Seeker smartphone & decentralized app store)
- Supply: 10 billion fixed supply, with 20-30% allocated for airdrops
- Eligibility: Snapshot already taken for early Seeker adopters
- Impact: Over 9 million transactions and $2.6 billion in volume during Seeker Season
💰 Price Action & Market Position
Current Status (as of January 21, 2026):
- Price: Trading between $128-$135 (down from ~$200 highs in late 2025)
- Key Support: $110 level - critical "make-or-break" zone
- Resistance: Heavy selling pressure at $140-$145
- Staking Ratio: Record 70% of circulating supply now staked, showing strong long-term conviction
⚠️ Warning Sign: Stablecoin supply on Solana dropped by ~$2.7 billion (17%) over the last 30 days, potentially signaling cooling liquidity.
🏦 Institutional Adoption Surge
- Morgan Stanley filed SEC applications for spot Solana ETFs in January 2026
- Western Union announced plans to launch USDPT stablecoin on Solana in H1 2026
- ETF Inflows: ~$41 million entered SOL ETFs over 8 consecutive weeks
- Partnerships with Fireblocks and Legacy Mesh unified global USDT liquidity
🔧 Network Upgrades & Performance
Alpenglow Upgrade (Expected Q3 2026):
- Will reduce transaction finality from ~12 seconds to under 1 second
- Near-instant, irreversible transactions
Firedancer Client:
- Production version now active on mainnet nodes
- Significantly increases throughput and diversifies codebase
DDoS Resilience: In December 2025, Solana survived a massive 6 Tbps DDoS attack (one of the largest in internet history) with zero downtime and sub-second confirmations.
📊 Ecosystem Health
- Daily Active Wallets: Approaching 2.9 million
- Monthly Active Addresses: Exceeding 50 million
- TVL: ~$10 billion in DeFi (down from $12.2B peak in Sept 2025)
- Developers: Over 17,700 active developers as of November 2025
🎯 Price Predictions for 2026
Analysts project several scenarios:
- Bearish: $80-$120 (20-25% probability)
- Base Case: $140-$180 (50-55% probability)
- Bullish: $200-$320 (20-25% probability)
Key catalysts include Alpenglow launch, potential U.S. spot ETF approval, and continued institutional adoption.
Bottom Line: Solana is showing structural strength with record staking, major institutional partnerships, and successful network stress tests. However, short-term price action remains cautious with declining stablecoin liquidity and resistance at $145. The SKR token launch today could drive renewed on-chain activity.