Standard Chartered's head of crypto research, Geoffrey Kendrick, has revised his price targets for Solana (SOL), cutting his 2026 forecast but maintaining a bullish long-term outlook. Kendrick now anticipates SOL could reach $2,000 by 2030, driven by the network's expanding role in stablecoin-based micropayments, moving beyond its initial memecoin-centric reputation.
Key Takeaways
- Geoffrey Kendrick of Standard Chartered has lowered his 2026 SOL price target to $250 from $310.
- Despite the revision, Kendrick remains optimistic, projecting SOL to hit $2,000 by 2030.
- The shift is attributed to Solana's growing utility in stablecoin micropayments, surpassing Ethereum in stablecoin turnover.
- Institutional interest in Solana is also on the rise, with significant inflows into SOL-related ETFs.
Beyond Memecoins: A New Era for Solana?
Solana, often associated with memecoin trading, is showing signs of evolving into a more robust platform for digital payments. While nearly half of its protocol fees in 2025 originated from memecoin activity, recent data indicates a significant shift towards SOL-stablecoin pairs. This transition suggests the emergence of new, high-frequency, low-cost transaction use cases.
Kendrick highlights that Solana's low transaction fees, often less than a cent, make it an ideal candidate for micropayments. Platforms like Coinbase's x402, designed for AI-driven micro-payments using stablecoins, could find Solana a more viable backend than Ethereum's Layer 2 solutions due to higher fee structures elsewhere. These micropayments have the potential to unlock new internet services, including machine-to-machine transactions and pay-per-use social applications.
Institutional Adoption and Revised Price Targets
Standard Chartered's report also points to increasing institutional interest in Solana. Since October 2025, the Bitwise BSOL ETF has captured a substantial portion of net inflows into SOL-related ETFs, bringing over 1% of the total SOL supply under ETF management. Furthermore, digital asset treasuries now hold nearly 3% of SOL.
Kendrick's updated long-term projections include:
- $400 by 2027
- $700 by 2028
- $1,200 by 2029
- $2,000 by 2030
This optimistic outlook suggests a belief that Solana's underlying technology and expanding ecosystem can support a significant increase in value as its utility diversifies.
