Solana 
$219 has been on a major growth spree in the last year, especially during the recent bull run. The token is up 206.17% year-over-year, reaching its all-time high of $263.83 in November. However, several tokens are challenging SOL’s dominance among high-performance blockchains.
The most promising among these are Sui, XRP, and a new TON-based DeFi token. These tokens are growing fast, and challenging Solana in several key metrics.
Sui Challenges Solana, Reaches ATH
First among the potential Solana challengers is the “Solana-killer” Sui. This high-performance blockchain, developed by former Meta employees, benefits from a strong infrastructure and a chain that’s friendly to both users and developers. These factors have been behind its recent growth.
In mid-December, Sui reached its all-time high of $4.93, after an impressive year. Year over year, Sui is up 671.98%, outperforming most major crypto assets in that period, including Solana. Now, the token is ranked in 16th place in terms of market cap, and its position will likely increase further.
The token also recently ventured into Real World Assets (RWAs). Notably, on December 13, Sui announced a partnership with Ant Digital Technologies, a subsidiary of Ant Group. Together with the Chinese tech giant, an affiliate of the Alibaba Group, Sui will work on tokenizing China’s solar assets.
https://x.com/SuiNetwork/status/1867575456356348020
The partnership with a major corporation is a testament to the growing recognition of Sui’s potential for real-world applications. Partnerships like these showcase its potential to eventually overtake Solana in that field.
XRP Overtakes Solana On Regulatory News
Ripple (XRP) 
$3 has been one of the biggest surprises in the current market cycle. The token reached its multi-year high of $2.86 in early December and even overtook both Solana and USDT. XRP is now the third biggest token by market cap, trailing only after Bitcoin 
$104,627 and Ethereum 
$3,482.
While XRP overtook Solana by market cap, it is still relatively cheap compared to its potential. This is because XRP is a key player in cross-border payments for businesses. This market is currently valued at $190 trillion and is expected to grow to $290 trillion by 2030. In comparison, XRP’s market cap is currently just $150 billion.
In this market, XRP has competitors, including the biggest crypto asset, Bitcoin. However, even if Bitcoin takes the lion’s share of this market, the total crypto market cap is just $3.76 trillion. This is just a fraction of the potential B2B payments market, meaning that XRP has a long way to go.
Elluminex Promises To Bring TON To The Next Level
TON blockchain is another high-performance Solana challenger. This blockchain also has the added benefit of Telegram integration. Telegram has the potential to bring Web3 to its 1 billion users, an advantage that no other chains have. Now, TON is expected to go into overdrive, thanks to its own DeFi hub, Elluminex.
Last year, TON was the fastest-growing blockchain in terms of users and volume. However, it is still trailing many more established chains and is just in 15th place by daily volume. However, this is all expected to change soon, as TON gets its own DeFi hub.
Elluminex is launching a DEX on TON, that hopes to bring unparalleled liquidity to the TON blockchain. This DEX will support seamless transfers to over 40 blockchains while enabling users to retain custody over their funds. The platform will also serve as a key launchpad for new TON tokens. This will help developers launch new projects and further boost its ecosystem.
