Solana, PUMP, BNB Chain, and SUI are building through the altcoin downturn. Solana's Agave upgrade targets faster slots and lower storage costs. PUMP gained 30% in a week. BNB's Layer-1 roadmap aims for 100K TPS.
The altcoin market is broadly under pressure. Several projects are still shipping code, expanding use cases, and launching new products. Solana, PUMP, BNB Chain, and SUI are drawing attention from traders looking for projects that keep building during the downturn.
Solana is preparing its Agave 4.2 upgrade. Feature activations are expected during the week of August 17. The first testnet step should reduce slot times from about 400 milliseconds to 350 milliseconds, with a longer-term target of 200 milliseconds. Storage costs are also expected to fall by around 90% through several stages, giving developers more room to build larger applications.
Payment activity on the network is growing. July reportedly became a record month for Solana crypto-card spending, reaching around $69.5 million. Santiment also reported $8.8 million in daily net ETF inflows, the strongest since May 12. Michaël van de Poppe said SOL needs to hold the $73.50–$74 support area. Targets toward $120 remain intact if that level holds, he said.
PUMP has gained more than 30% over the past week and nearly 90% over the past month. Pump.fun continues generating revenue, with 50% being used to buy back and burn PUMP tokens. On August 7, the platform introduced callouts, social trading features, zero-fee trading, and cross-chain USDC support. The aim is to increase platform activity.
Around 6.87 billion PUMP tokens were scheduled to unlock on August 12. The fresh supply could create selling pressure and offset some of the support from platform activity and token burns. Van de Poppe believes PUMP is starting a strong run similar to HYPE's move last year. He expects on-chain activity and trading interest to grow further.
BNB Chain reduced block time from around 750 milliseconds to 450 milliseconds during the first half of 2026. Benchmark throughput reached about 5,200 transactions per second. Its next-generation Layer-1 roadmap targets more than 100,000 TPS. BNB Chain is also developing native privacy and researching quantum-resistant security. The new Layer-1 testnet is planned for late 2026, followed by mainnet potentially in early 2027.
BNB was included in a digital-asset index launched by S&P Dow Jones Indices and Penta Capital. That index also includes ETH, SOL, TRX, and HYPE. One analyst said BNB is consolidating around $600, with $610–$612 as key resistance. A strong daily close above $612 could trigger a new move higher. Failure could lead to another test of $590.
SUI is expanding payments through gasless stablecoin transfers. Users can send supported stablecoins without holding SUI for transaction fees. Reports citing CertiK data put SUI stablecoin transfer activity at around $65 billion after activity surged from June 10. Bots, trading systems, and repeated transfers can contribute to that figure, so volume alone does not confirm new-user growth. The system could also support payments made by AI agents.
SUI remains below its $5.35 all-time high. Van de Poppe sees a strong bullish divergence in SUI. He expects SUI to move back above $1 if development continues.
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