Wall Street giant BlackRock met with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Crypto Task Force to discuss staking within crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) and tokenization of securities. The discussion could advance institutional interest in the crypto industry.

According to a May 9 memo published by the task force, BlackRock sought to “[d]iscuss perspectives on treatment of staking, including considerations for facilitating ETPs with staking capabilities.” The company has previously said that Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds, while successful, are less perfect without staking.

Other crypto ETF issuers share that view. On Feb. 15, the New York Stock Exchange proposed a rule change to introduce staking services for Grayscale’s spot Ether ETFs. In April, the SEC delayed a decision on whether to approve or disapprove the rule change. BlackRock and Grayscale are behind the largest Ether ETFs by market capitalization, according to Sosovalue.

Ethereum ETFs as of May 8. Source: Sosovalue

Many blockchains rely on proof-of-stake consensus mechanisms that allow users to lock their native coins for yield. A potential SEC approval of staking for Ether ETFs could lead to future requests among altcoins, including Solana (SOL) ETFs.

Tokenization on the agenda

BlackRock also discussed “tokenization of securities under federal securities regulatory framework.” Securities are traditional financial instruments where the investor expects monetary gain, such as bonds and stocks. Tokenizing securities has many benefits, including faster settlement times, lower costs than with traditional finance infrastructure, and 24-hour markets.

BlackRock already offers a US federal debt tokenized fund called BUIDL, the largest fund with a $2.9 billion market cap. Competing products include Franklin Templeton’s BENJI fund.

Brokerage firm Robinhood is also exploring securities tokenization. The company is reportedly working on a blockchain that would allow retail investors in Europe to trade US securities like stocks.

Magazine: Ethereum is destroying the competition in the $16.1T TradFi tokenization race

Key Takeaways:

Solana’s 15% surge and potential close above the 50-week EMA signal strong bullish momentum, which previously led to a 515% rally in 2024.

The $120 million in liquidity bridged to Solana reflects growing network confidence.

Solana (SOL) price gained 18% this week, signaling rising bullish momentum. The altcoin is approaching a pivotal point, with a potential close above the 50-week exponential moving average (EMA), a level that has historically catalyzed significant rallies.

In March, SOL dipped below the 50-week EMA and briefly dropped under $100 on April 7. Since then, Solana has staged a strong recovery, reclaiming key EMA levels (100W and 200W), with the 50-week EMA (blue line) now in focus.

Solana 1-week chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Historical patterns reinforce a bullish outlook. In October 2023, SOL breached the 50- and 100-week EMAs, consolidating above these levels before rallying 515% by March 2024.

Notably, the relative strength index (RSI) was below 50 during both periods, mirroring the current setup, with the indicator rebounding above 50 after the 50-week EMA flipped to support. If the 50-week moving average holds, the price targets for SOL could be between $250 and $350 by September 2025.

Solana 1-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The daily chart bolsters this narrative. Solana recently closed above the 200-day EMA, with immediate resistance at $180. A break above this level in the coming weeks and turning the range into a support level could potentially ignite a parabolic rally by Q3 2025.

Related: Solana lacks ‘convincing signs’ of besting Ethereum: Sygnum

Users bridge $165 million to Solana

In the last 30 days, over $165 million in liquidity has been bridged to Solana from other blockchains, reflecting growing confidence in the network. Ethereum led with $80.4 million in transfers, followed by Arbitrum with $44 million, per Debridge data. Base, BNB Chain, and Sonic contributed $20 million, $8 million, and $6 million, respectively.

Total transferred amount from other chains to Solana. Source: debridge

Similarly, data from DefiLlama indicates that Solana posted the highest decentralized exchange (DEX) volumes, 3.32 billion, over the past 24 hours. The network currently holds 28.99% of the market share among other chains.

With a 28.99% market share among competing chains, Solana’s dominance in DeFi activity highlights its scalability and user adoption.

Currently, substantial liquidity inflows and strong DEX volumes position Solana for a sustained price breakout.

Related: Chance of Bitcoin price highs above $110K in May increasing — Here’s why

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

The newly launched DOOD token from Ethereum-based NFT project Doodles has seen a steep drop in market capitalization following its May 9 airdrop on the Solana network.

According to data from DEX Screener, DOOD’s market cap fell from over $100 million shortly after launch to around $60 million at the time of writing.

Overall, the much-anticipated airdrop was “[d]efinitely underwhelming,” a crypto commentator said in a May 9 X post. 

DOOD token performance on May 9. Source: DexScreener

Related: Doodles NFT sales surge 97% ahead of DOOD token airdrop

Falling NFT values

Joining the trend, NFTs in Doodle’s flagship collection sharply dropped in value on May 9.

The collectibles are down roughly 60% to less than 1.5 Ether (ETH) per NFT from about 3.5 ETH on May 8, according to OpenSea. As of May 9, the NFTs are collectively worth around $31 million, according to data from CoinGecko.

The price of Doodles NFTs dropped by roughly 60% after the airdrop. Source: OpenSea

NFT prices often dip immediately after an airdrop, as holders look to capitalize on their allocations by selling into the market. For instance, sales of Doodles’ NFTs surged by some 97% on May 8 in anticipation of the airdrop.

Over the past week, Doodles clocked roughly $2.6 million in total sales volume, up more than 350% from the week prior, according to data from CryptoSlam.

Doodles announced its token launch in February, outlining plans to mint 10 billion DOOD tokens on Solana (SOL) and to eventually bridge them to Base, an Ethereum layer-2.

Doodles is the latest Ethereum-native NFT brand to list a token on the Solana network. It follows Pudgy Penguins, an even larger NFT project that airdropped its PENGU token on Solana in December. 

Similarly to Doodles, Pudgy Penguin’s token dropped by around 50% on the day of its airdrop. 

The PENGU token’s market cap reached an all-time high of roughly $2.8 billion and has since traded down to roughly $900 million, according to CoinGecko.

Magazine: Crypto has 4 years to grow so big ‘no one can shut it down’: Kain Warwick, Infinex