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- > Bitcoin Below $80k USD as Inflation Looms
- > Solana’s tokenisation integration accelerates
- > Goldman Sachs drops XRP and SOL as exposure shifts
Bitcoin Below $80k USD as Inflation Looms
Inflation has been perhaps the prevailing macroeconomic discourse over the past few years. While most major economies have managed to reduce inflation from its post-covid highs, several Reserve Banks are still grappling with the metric rising faster than their targeted rates.
The United States, one of the most important nations when pricing in global assets, has been fighting sticky inflation for much of the decade. This trend continued in the most recent data release from its Bureau of Statistics, as the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in April rose to 3.8% – up from 3.3% in March.
For context, the US targets an annual inflation rate of ~2%. In fairness, the CPI is just one measure of inflation that the Federal Reserve uses when negotiating fiscal policy, but it is still a sign that the US economy may be running too hot as we enter the midpoint of 2026.
These inflation concerns have rippled through to equities, crypto and the USD, with all three markets falling to varying degrees over the past few days. In particular, some believe that not only could the Fed halt rate drops in 2026 – but they may even turn to rate hikes. Historically, higher cash rates can tighten budgets and reduce discretionary spending, which may impact the appeal of risk-on assets like crypto and stocks.
Bitcoin (-4.5%), Ethereum (-7.1%) and XRP (-8.5%) all faced weekly losses coinciding with the inflation release.
Solana’s tokenisation integration accelerates
Solana bust onto the scene in the 2020s as a multi-faceted Layer 1 with the potential to threaten Ethereum as the de facto leader of DeFi volume. For short bursts, Solana lived up to this mantle, briefly overtaking Ethererum’s protocol in terms of 24h on-chain trading and user activity in late 2023.
This surge coincided with the rise of Solana-based memecoins, fuelled by BONK’s 7,000% annual gains and the debut of Pump.fun, which helped established the network as a hub for many memecoin traders.
However, as the meme craze has cooled off in recent years, Solana has slowly been building a new client base: institutions.
According to a report from Messari, Solana has become a key settlement layer for real-world asset tokenisation. While overall DEX volume in Q1 2026 on-chain fell 50% from Q1 2025, the distribution of assets traded shifted substantially. Whereas memecoins were leading the charge back then, now, volume largely comprises stablecoins and RWAs.
Notably, tokenised asset volume grew 164% quarter-on-quarter, rising to $1.81 billion AUD through the first three months of 2026. This includes approximately $1.71 billion AUD in RWA lending deposits, which ultimately outpaced Ethereum by 9% through Q1 2026.
Meanwhile stablecoin volume rose 60% over that same timeframe, making the network responsible for about half of all stable transactions across L1s.
The past 12 months has also seen institutions enter Solana’s ecosystem, with Visa, Stripe, PayPal just some of the big payment providers who have partnered with the blockchain for on-chain settlement.
BUIDL, the second-largest tokenised US Treasury Fund, grew 106% QoQ on Solana.
That said, memecoin launchpads are still by far the biggest revenue drivers for Solana’s network, making up 25% of all fees captured in Q1 2026.
Goldman Sachs drops XRP and SOL as exposure shifts
Goldman Sachs, one of the largest investment banking firms in the world, has substantially rejigged its portfolio throughout the most recent quarter.
Perhaps the most notable takeaway from its Q1 2026 13F filing was the complete removal of its XRP and SOL ETF holdings. In its previous Q4 filing, the institution noted exposure to $154 million USD worth of XRP products and about $100 million USD worth of Solana ETFs, all of which were absent from its most recent financial update.
Similarly, the firm cut deep into its ETH ETF portfolio, slashing 70% of its previous holdings to now manage approximately $114 million USD worth of iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA).
Despite heading for the exit on altcoins over the past few months, Goldman Sachs remains one of the biggest Bitcoin ETF holders among major financial institutions. An approximate 10% pullback in BTC fund exposure sees the company now managing around $715 million USD worth of the asset class.
Interestingly, Goldman Sachs’ investment moves don’t appear to be a total loss of conviction in the altcoin industry. The bank re-routed some of its financials into blockchain-related companies instead, including a 249% increase in Circle Internet Group and a 205% pickup in Galaxy Digital equity holdings.
The switch-up appears to signal a sentiment shift from one of TradFi’s biggest and earlier adopters of digital assets. Goldman Sachs’ strategy may now be targeting the intersection of institutions and cryptocurrency; valuing the payment rails it provides, rather than the underlying protocols themselves.
Ben Knight
