Solana Catches Tailwinds With Reddit Co-Founder’s Bet

Solana is off to a running start in November. So far, the No. 5 cryptocurrency has risen 19% this month and seems to have the wind at its sails for more potential gains. Solana investors might want to thank Alexis Ohanian for some of that recent momentum.

The Reddit co-founder at a Solana conference unveiled a new venture-fueled partnership focused on “the next generation of social” for Web 3.0. He says it will be “ushering in the Davids who will beat the Goliaths” in an apparent shot at Big Tech. The partnership is between Ohanian’s venture firm 776 and the blockchain project’s venture capital arm, Solana Ventures.

 

Today I announced on stage at @solanaconf that @sevensevensix will be joining forces with @solana to support the next generation of social with a new $100M initiative. With the power of community, #Web3 is ushering in the Davids who will beat the Goliaths https://t.co/o25sEn1sja

— Alexis Ohanian 7️⃣7️⃣6️⃣ (@alexisohanian) November 9, 2021

Web 3.0 Push

Seven Seven Six and Solana’s venture division inked a $100 million deal to invest in “the next generation of decentralized social media,” according to the announcement. They will back Web 3.0 projects, or those dedicated to a decentralized version of the internet that is based on open source software.

The venture firms will largely target projects that are built on Solana, which could attract more developers to the platform. But they won’t limit themselves to a single blockchain. Instead, they will also consider outside projects, according to Solana Labs’ head of communications, Austin Federa, cited by Reuters. Seven Seven Six and Solana Ventures will split it down the middle and each commit a cool $50 million to the investment vehicle.

Ohanian was dubbed the “Mayor of the Internet” by Forbes, and his endorsement of Solana should go a long way.

Crypto Fund Inflows

Ohanian is betting on Solana at a good time, as the cryptocurrency just notched a fresh all-time high of $260 in recent days.

The crypto bull market is in full swing. Investors directed $8.7 billion into crypto investment products and funds year-to-date, a 30% increase over full year 2020, according to a recent CoinShares report. While most of those inflows were into bitcoin funds and products, Solana has a knack for attracting capital too.

In the final week of October, Solana products saw inflows of $15 million. This compares to $5 million for Cardano and just over $6 million for Polkadot in the same period.  For the month of October, Solana funds and products saw inflows of just over $36 million.

CoinShares Chief Strategy Officer Meltem Demirors expects the crypto bull run to continue. She is quoted by The Information as saying the bitcoin price could  potentially hit $100,000 by year-end.