Standard Chartered's head of crypto research, Geoffrey Kendrick, published a report making a bold call: Solana (SOL) could reach $2,000 by 2030, even after the token slumped to around $100. The thesis hinges on SOL evolving from a memecoin-centric chain into a backbone for digital payments.
Near-term target cut, long-term conviction intact
Kendrick trimmed his end-2026 price estimate for SOL from $310 to $250, acknowledging the recent sell-off. Still, he remains bullish on the 2030 target. According to the bank, nearly half of Solana's protocol fees in 2025 came from memecoin trading on DEXes, but on-chain data now shows flows migrating from meme tokens to SOL-stablecoin pairs, signaling new use cases emerging.
Stablecoin volumes crush Ethereum's, micropayments take off
Solana's stablecoin transaction volume already far exceeds Ethereum's, reflecting high-frequency, low-cost activity. A case in point: Coinbase's x402 platform enables AI-powered micropayments via stablecoins, with an average transaction value of just 6 cents. While Base, Coinbase's Ethereum L2, has handled most volume so far, its fees may be too high for long-term sustainability. Kendrick says Solana's gas fees — often below 1 cent — are a better fit. Micropayments, largely infeasible in traditional finance due to fixed fees, could unlock machine-to-machine settlements and usage-based social apps. Solana's tech stack positions it as the backend for such infrastructure.
Institutional inflows accelerate, ETF now holds over 1% of SOL supply
Institutional interest is growing. Since October 2025, the Bitwise BSOL ETF has absorbed 78% of net inflows into SOL-linked ETFs, putting more than 1% of SOL's total supply under ETF management. Digital asset treasury holdings now account for nearly 3% of SOL. Despite the price downturn, institutions are steadily accumulating.
Kendrick's revised roadmap: SOL at $400 in 2027, $700 in 2028, $1,200 in 2029, and finally $2,000 in 2030.