SOLdier on!

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It’s been a tough week navigating the crypto market, but at least we’ve got a long weekend ahead. With the market de-risking ahead of PCE data, macro has taken the driver’s seat again. Still, pockets of opportunity remain, and SOL has been the clear standout, up 12% over the past week.

On Monday’s 0xResearch podcast episode, we touched on SOL’s outperformance and had our analysts share the projects they’re most excited about. Plenty of alpha was dropped so this is definitely one you won’t want to miss.

Research Review: Kaito, Lending Markets, Aerodrome and Fluid

Takeaways from Monday’s 0xResearch episode:

• Market sentiment remains fragile, with post-Jackson Hole optimism giving way to renewed uncertainty ahead of PCE data. The team emphasized that sector rotations, particularly into AI tokens and Solana dapps, may create pockets of opportunity despite overall volatility.

• Kaito stands out among AI tokens as one of the few with real revenues and sticky demand for its leaderboards. The business model has already proven sustainable with an estimated $20.8 million in ARR. Its tokenomics, including buybacks and staking rewards, create a strong alignment with token holders. With the launch of its Capital Launchpad, Kaito is positioned not just as another AI narrative play, but as a protocol with fundamentals and catalysts that could drive a meaningful re-rating.

• Aave continues to dominate DeFi lending, with nearly twice the deposits and loans of the next seven protocols combined. Competitors are gaining traction in niches: Morpho with Coinbase-Base partnerships, Euler v2 through looping stablecoin strategies, Maple via institutional credit products, and Kamino on Solana. The consensus is that lending is not winner-take-all — but distribution and liquidity remain critical.

• Aerodrome is emerging as the liquidity hub on Base, boosted by Coinbase DEX integration that channels millions of users directly onchain. At times, ETH/USD liquidity on Aerodrome rivaled Coinbase’s own spot market. Risks remain around emission-heavy tokenomics and Solana’s hypercompetitive AMMs.

• Fluid’s growth thesis centers on expansion and buybacks. Already dominating stablecoin swaps, Fluid is expanding to Solana and rolling out DEX v2 with concentrated liquidity pools to capture volatile pairs. Proposed buybacks will further align incentives with token holders.

• Solana rotation could be the next major catalyst as speculation builds around DAT raises and ETF approvals with staking enabled. ETH underperformance may be linked to capital positioning for Solana flows, with Fluid and Kamino highlighted as potential beneficiaries.

Find the full livestream on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and X.

This summary was generated with assistance from AI tooling.

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