Solana (SOL) has lost nearly 60% of its value since mid-September, sliding back toward the $100 level as the broader crypto market cools.

But while traders focus on the short-term plunge, one major bank is looking years ahead.

Standard Chartered believes Solana’s current weakness could be temporary and that the network could ultimately surge to $2,000 by 2030, driven not by memecoins, but by something far more practical: stablecoin micropayments.

So is this just another bullish forecast or is Solana quietly evolving into real payment infrastructure?

The Short-Term Reality: Forecast Cut, Price Under Pressure

Standard Chartered’s head of crypto research Geoffrey Kendrick trimmed his near-term expectations.

• 2026 target reduced to $250 (from $310)
• SOL currently near $100
• Down ~60% in recent months

The downgrade reflects ongoing market weakness and Solana’s exposure to speculative trading activity, particularly memecoins.

But Kendrick says focusing only on price misses a bigger shift happening under the hood.

From Memecoins to Money Movement?

For much of 2024–2025, Solana’s identity revolved around:

• memecoin launches
• DEX speculation
• short-term trading bursts

At one point, nearly half of Solana’s protocol fees came from memecoin activity.

That narrative is now changing.

According to Standard Chartered, trading flows are rotating toward:
SOL–stablecoin pairs

And stablecoin turnover on Solana is now outpacing Ethereum, signaling something different:

Not speculation payments.

Why Micropayments Could Be the Real Catalyst

Here’s the core thesis.

Traditional finance struggles with tiny transactions because fees eat the value.

Sending $0.05 or $0.10 simply doesn’t make sense when payment processors charge fixed costs.

Solana changes that.

With gas fees often under one cent, the network enables:

• machine-to-machine payments
• AI-driven transactions
• pay-per-use apps
• micro-tipping
• streaming payments

One example cited is Coinbase’s x402 platform, which supports AI-based stablecoin payments averaging just six cents per transaction.

These types of transactions would be impractical on higher-fee chains.

Solana’s speed + low cost make it a natural backend.

If micropayments scale, Solana isn’t just another Layer-1 it becomes internet payment infrastructure.

Institutions Are Quietly Accumulating

Beyond utility, institutional demand is also rising.

Standard Chartered notes:

• The Bitwise Asset Management BSOL ETF captured 78% of SOL ETF inflows
• ETFs now hold 1%+ of total supply
• Corporate treasuries hold nearly 3% of SOL

This suggests larger players are treating SOL less like a speculative token and more like a long-term infrastructure bet.

The Price Path Standard Chartered Sees

Kendrick’s updated projections:

• 2026 → $250
• 2027 → $400
• 2028 → $700
• 2029 → $1,200
• 2030 → $2,000

That implies nearly 20x upside from current levels if adoption plays out.

It’s not a straight line higher.
But the bank sees the current downturn as consolidation, not collapse.

The Big Question

Solana’s future likely hinges on one thing:

Can it move beyond hype cycles and become real financial infrastructure?

If activity remains memecoin-heavy, upside may stay limited.

If stablecoin payments, fintech apps, and AI-driven transactions scale, demand for block space and SOL could rise significantly.

That’s the bet Standard Chartered is making.

Final Take

Right now, Solana looks weak.

But historically, major infrastructure plays often bottom before their use cases become obvious.

The question investors are asking:

Is SOL just another altcoin correction…
or the early stage of a payments network that could power the next wave of internet finance?

Standard Chartered clearly believes it’s the latter.