Is Solana undervalued? SOL up 35% in Q3, but still trails Ethereum

Solana is up over 35% so far in Q3, putting it among the top-performing assets in the high-cap category but trailing dramatically behind Ethereum.

The latter has gained almost 60% during the same period, which is a substantially bigger gain and explains why the SOL/ETH ratio is down by more than 13% in the past three months.

That said, SOL’s 35% gain alongside a 13% decline in the SOL/ETH ratio implies that ETH’s outperformance is at least partially responsible for the rift, but not entirely. Instead, SOL is still holding strong in “absolute” terms, which underlines the idea that the asset may be undervalued.

Yet, one critical heavyweight seems to be moving against this trend.

On X, DeFi Development Corporation (NASDAQ: DFDV) announced that it has expanded its treasury of Solana to 2.39 million SOL, gaining 55,491 SOL since the 27th of August.

The company has raised a $300 million funding facility through CHAD preferred shares, which are expected to buy more SOL.

Looking at the key technicals, this buying does not seem to be entirely conventional. The stock of DFDV is up more than 77% in Q3, marking its best quarterly gain since Q2 2025. This rally implies that the market already factors in the increased exposure of the company to SOL.

So, if DFDV were to continue its ascent, it would create a feedback loop between rising stock demand and increased SOL accumulation.

In this regard, the DFDV’s SOL accumulation could be indicative of a larger DAT buying trend. However, the question still is whether more and more companies will follow this trend.

If this happens, then increased corporate demand could give Solana a key catalyst to catch up with Ethereum [ETH].

Strong developer activity adds to Solana’s DAT case

Solana’s [SOL] on-chain growth is giving the DAT narrative a stronger fundamental base.

As per on-chain data, Solana has seen more than 1.49 million token launches on-chain in the past seven days, representing the largest weekly increase ever recorded.

With the rise of apps and transactions on the network, demand for the blockspace can only increase, thus positively impacting SOL’s demand.

Another catalyst is the Transaction V1 upgrade, which is now live on mainnet. As illustrated below, this upgrade allows 3.3x larger transactions, thereby enabling Solana to support more complex applications such as ZK proofs.

Combined with the increased number of token launches, these factors clearly indicate a “strategic” rise in Solana’s developer activity.

This provides the DFDV’s SOL accumulation with an additional fundamental foundation.

That said, the network’s growth is not over yet. According to SolanaFloor, Circle has already minted $2.25 billion in USDC on Solana this week alone. This means that the increased supply of USDC will add liquidity to the network and contribute to the higher trading volumes.

And together with the on-chain development, it could push the demand for SOL even further.

In short, Solana’s active development and liquidity growth are giving DATs more reasons to accumulate SOL. DFDV, therefore, could be an early example of this trend, with a potential for other companies to join in soon.

This creates the prospect of a much wider DAT accumulation cycle ahead for Solana.

Final Summary