Panama-based cryptocurrency derivatives trading platform Deribit announced in a recent tweet that it will soon add support for Solana (SOL) trading.
The first European options with SOL will go live on the exchange on May 9. The platform will offer daily, weekly and monthly options.
Solana futures will launch as early as this Friday, according to the announcement.
The addition of SOL options is significant since it highlights growing institutional interest in the cryptocurrency. It is worth noting that institutional traders account for the majority of the company's customer base (roughly 80%).
Prior to that, it only offered options in Bitcoin and Ethereum, the two largest cryptocurrencies by market cap with the highest level of liquidity.
Alex DovbnyaLast year, SOL emerged as Wall Street's favorite Ethereum alternative. As reported by U.Today, Bank of America predicted that Solana could become the leading payment protocol due to its high transaction throughput, competing with such legacy companies as Visa.
Solana is also gaining traction in the non-fungible token (NFT) sector. Earlier this month, leading NFT marketplace OpenSea added support for the network.
After seeing immense price gains in 2021, this year has been underwhelming for the SOL token, which is also the case for the broader cryptocurrency market. The token is currently trading at $99 on major spot exchanges. It is down 61% from its record high.
Arman Shirinyan
Vladislav Sopov
Dan Burgin
U.Today Editorial Team