Altcoins Analysis: Value Below Long-Term Potential

Despite months of weak price action across the crypto market, some analysts believe several large-cap altcoins are trading below their long-term value. The analysis highlights Solana (SOL), Chainlink (LINK), and XRP, citing continued development, institutional interest, and growing network activity despite the broader market downturn.

Solana Still Drawing Institutional Demand

Among the three, Solana is viewed as the strongest recovery candidate.

SOL remains about 75% below its all-time high and has returned to price levels last seen in late 2023. Its monthly momentum has also weakened to its lowest level on record.

Despite the decline, U.S.-listed Solana investment funds, launched in October 2025, recorded inflows on every trading day last month. The funds now manage about $1 billion in assets, with nearly half held by institutional investors, including hedge funds and investment advisers.

Another key development is Alpenglow, Solana’s largest network upgrade to date. Once fully deployed later this year, transaction finality is expected to improve from 12.8 seconds to about 150 milliseconds, significantly reducing settlement times.

However, challenges remain. Solana’s daily network revenue has fallen from about $1.5 million to $314,000, a decline of nearly 80%, as memecoin trading activity slowed.

Retail participation has also weakened. According to on-chain analyst Ali Martinez, wallets holding at least 0.1 SOL declined from 11.84 million to 11.26 million over the past two weeks, a drop of about 5%.

Chainlink Builds While Price Lags

Chainlink is another project the analysis identifies as undervalued.

LINK continues to trade more than 80% below its all-time high, even as its infrastructure expands across traditional finance.

The network enables banks and financial institutions to connect with blockchain networks without replacing their existing systems.

Its partners include SWIFT, which connects about 11,000 financial institutions, along with firms such as UBS and Euroclear. During the first quarter, Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) processed more than $18 billion in cross-chain transaction value.

Institutional access has also expanded through investment products from Grayscale and Bitwise. In addition, roughly 75% of LINK’s total supply is already in circulation, reducing future token dilution.

However, one key challenge remains. Financial institutions can use Chainlink’s infrastructure without directly purchasing LINK tokens. The project also faces growing competition from interoperability networks such as LayerZero and Wormhole -two competing altcoins.

XRP Benefits From Legal Clarity

The analysis also highlights XRP despite its price decline. XRP price is down nearly 43% this year but continues to see broader adoption.

Sagar Shah, Chief Business Officer at Evernorth, said XRP’s long-term value lies in its role in cross-border payments, liquidity, and tokenized assets. According to Shah, adoption—not short-term price movements—will determine the asset’s long-term value.

With the SEC lawsuit largely resolved, XRP now has seven U.S.-listed investment funds, which have attracted nearly $1.5 billion in cumulative inflows since launch.

Ripple’s stablecoin RLUSD has also grown to about $1.6 billion in supply. More RLUSD is now issued on the XRP Ledger than on Ethereum following its expansion into Japan through SBI Holdings. Meanwhile, daily transactions on the XRP Ledger have risen to around 3 million, roughly three times the level seen in mid-2025.

However, RLUSD has also sparked debate within the XRP community.

Stablecoins can perform many of the cross-border payment functions that XRP was originally designed to support, potentially reducing demand for the token. While XRP continues to serve as a bridge asset for currencies without direct trading pairs, its long-term utility will depend on how Ripple positions XRP alongside RLUSD.

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