Most venture capital and hedge funds expect Solana (SOL) to reach at least $600 in this bull cycle, according to the “Q4 2024 Crypto Investment Manager Survey” by MV Global.
Almost a third of the survey respondents believe SOL will breach the $600 ceiling, while 23.2% see this price area as the asset’s all-time high. The same percentage see SOL stuck between $150 and $300 in this bull cycle, which the survey participants believe will happen in the second half of 2025.
One liquid fund analyst stated that SOL and Ethereum (ETH) will outperform Bitcoin (BTC) in this cycle, although SOL will have a much more significant upside. He added:
“It’s a straightforward way to capture the upside of multiple verticals like DePIN and Memecoins.”
Meanwhile, a venture capital fund analyst stated that SOL outperforming ETH is “so consensus it scares.” Additionally, 75% of the survey participants believe SOL will outperform crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in this cycle.
Not bullish enough
The survey interviewed 76 top liquid funds and venture allocators in the crypto market. Half were venture capital funds, and 21.7% were hedge funds. Roughly 56% of the participants manage between $10 million and $50 million.
MV Global highlighted that “the lack of upside conviction” was surprising, particularly in Bitcoin’s case. Most survey respondents believe BTC will peak between $100,000 and $150,000, below predictions from institutional researchers such as VanEck and Standard Chartered.
The last six months of sideways action are the key factor for quenching investors’ sentiment, with the recent upside tail much less priced.
The survey reveals that nearly 57% of the respondents believe Bitcoin will peak in 2025, with 45.7% seeing a new all-time high in next year’s second semester.
‘Alt season’ for a few
The survey also questioned the 76 participants about the possibility of a massive price increase for altcoins in this cycle. Almost 70% of the respondents firmly believe in an alt season, but only for a few selected altcoins.
A large venture capital partner told the survey:
“There are 100x more tokens than last cycle. It’s really hard to see all of these moving with a beta to BTC like they did in.”
Tokens related to the artificial intelligence (AI) narrative are among the preferred by the survey respondents, with 43% of them keeping an eye out for this altcoin vertical.
Decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) comes in second, with 14.3% of the participants manifesting interest. Native tokens for DeFi applications are considered a good investment by 11.4% of the high net-worth asset managers.
On the other hand, gaming is the least favorite altcoin sector, as 27.5% consider it the ” worst performer” in this cycle.
A liquid fund managing partner said:
“You don’t need to have crypto companies create a game or a gaming studio. Integration is the best path forward. Don’t try and build the next Call of Duty but have Call of Duty adopt crypto.”
Layer-2 blockchains’ native tokens are also among the survey participants’ least favorite digital assets, with 24.6% considering this a potential underperforming sector.
Lastly, asset managers for high-net-worth funds are still cautious about meme coins. Despite 43% declaring investments in tokens within this sector, only 10% used more than $10,000 from their respective funds to get exposure to this narrative.