As Ethereum price swings, the crypto market remains a hotbed of strategy and opportunity for big investors. In April 2025, Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital made a bold move, selling 65,600 ETH for $105.48 million and buying 752,240 SOL for $98.37 million between April 8 and 22.
This move, reported by Watcher Oracle on April 22, 2025, reflects a growing institutional preference for Solana’s high-performance blockchain amid Ethereum’s ongoing struggles.
As Ethereum price craters and Solana’s ecosystem thrives, Galaxy Digital’s move may signal a broader trend in the crypto investment landscape.
A Strategic Reallocation? ETH For SOL
Galaxy Digital’s portfolio adjustment was precise and deliberate. On-chain data shows the firm deposited 65,600 ETH, valued at approximately $105.48 million, to Binance, with transactions spanning April 8 to April 22, 2025.
At the time, ETH was trading at around $1,607.93 per token. Concurrently, Galaxy withdrew 752,240 SOL, worth $98.37 million, from Binance, with SOL priced at approximately $130.77.
This reallocation indicated a strategic pivot away from Ethereum. This has been under pressure, toward Solana, which is gaining momentum as a scalable alternative.
Solana’s rise as a top tier blockchain is rooted in its technicals. It processes thousands of transactions per second at low costs. In this aspect Solana outperforms Ethereum, which has long struggled with network congestion and high fees.
In April 2025, Solana’s Total Value Locked (TVL) reached a 22-month high of $7.42 billion per DefiLlama data. This growth reflected robust activity in Solana’s DeFi ecosystem. It also saw a surge in active addresses and decentralized exchange (DEX) volume, surpassing Ethereum’s metrics.
The meme coin frenzy on Solana’s network has further boosted its visibility and adoption. A key driver of Solana’s institutional appeal is the launch of spot Solana ETFs in Canada in 2025.
These ETFs, which include staking features, allow investors to earn yields on their SOL holdings. This reduced opportunity costs and enhanced returns.
For hedge funds like Galaxy Digital, these staking incentives, combined with Solana’s scalability, make it an attractive investment compared to Ethereum’s inflationary environment.
Ethereum Price and Mounting Challenges
Ethereum, once the undisputed leader in smart contract platforms, is facing a challenging 2025. Its price has collapsed from a high of nearly $4,100 in December 2024 to around $1,600 by April 2025, marking a 61% decline.
This drop is driven by a combination of external and internal factors. Macroeconomic uncertainty, particularly US President Donald Trump’s trade war policies and new tariffs, has battered risk assets, with Ethereum among the hardest hit.
On-chain data from CryptoQuant reveals a decline in Ethereum’s daily transaction count and DeFi engagement on its base layer, despite growth in Layer 2 solutions.
Ethereum’s TVL remains formidable at $46.7 billion in April 2025, dwarfing Solana’s $7.42 billion. However, its growth has stagnated, and persistent scalability issues continue to hamper its performance.
These challenges have prompted some institutional investors, including Galaxy Digital, to redirect capital to faster, more cost-effective networks like Solana.
Investors Still Stick to Ethereum
Despite Ethereum’s struggles, not all investors are turning away. Glassnode data shows that Ethereum whales—addresses holding between 1,000 and 10,000 ETH—have been accumulating, increasing their holdings from 12 million ETH in early 2024 to 13.5 million ETH by April 2025.
The Whale Net Position Change indicator has remained positive throughout Q1 and Q2 2025, suggesting long-term confidence among some large holders.
Institutional investors are increasingly looking beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum to layer-1 blockchains that offer superior performance and growth potential. Solana, with its high throughput, low costs, and expanding DeFi and NFT ecosystems, is well-positioned to capture this interest.
The introduction of staking-enabled Solana ETFs in Canada further enhances its appeal, offering a model that could inspire similar products in other markets.
