The cryptocurrency market faces renewed pressure as Solana (SOL) dropped below its stable $177 trading range, reflecting broader concerns about global economic stability.

The correction coincides with increasing geopolitical tensions that have rattled financial markets worldwide, forcing investors to reassess risk exposure across digital assets.

Despite the pullback, Solana’s ecosystem continues to expand with R3’s strategic pivot to integrate with its blockchain, signaling growing institutional interest in the platform’s capabilities for tokenizing real-world assets.

Technical Analysis Highlights

• SOL price dropped from stable $177 range to find support at $170.41, representing a 4.5% correction.
• Dramatic volume spike to 1.26M occurred during midnight hour when prices fell below $172.
• Support levels established at $170.67-$171.66 have held thus far.
• Price attempted recovery toward $174 level before facing resistance.
• In the last hour, SOL declined from $172.93 to $172.00.
• Significant price drop occurred at 08:00, briefly touching $171.92 before recovering.
• Volume spiked to 29,372 units during this minute, suggesting institutional selling pressure.
• Temporary support found at $171.80-$171.85 range around 07:30-07:31.
• Local high of $172.35 reached at 07:36 during recovery attempt.
• Price continues to consolidate near $172 support level.

External References

• «Solana (SOL) Price Flexes Bullish Momentum, Analysts Eye Major Breakout Beyond $250«, Coin Edition, published May 23, 2025.
• «Can Solana Break the $180 Resistance? Here’s What SOL Price Will Be Worth in 2025!«, CoinPedia, published May 24, 2025.
• «Solana MACD Curling Up – Is This The Prelude To A Breakout?«, NewsBTC, published May 24, 2025.

A U.S. judge has overturned the fraud and market manipulation convictions of Avraham Eisenberg, the crypto trader accused of draining $110 million from the now-defunct decentralized finance protocol Mango Markets.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian ruled that prosecutors failed to prove Eisenberg made false representations to the platform.

He also moved to acquit Eisenberg of wire fraud charges. The investor manipulated the price of Mango’s native token MNGO with massive trades by more than 1,000% in 20 minutes before getting the protocol to allow him to borrow and withdraw $110 million in various cryptocurrencies, backed by the inflated collateral.

Eisenberg’s defense argued that the platform, which operated through smart contracts, allowed anyone to transact freely and that he simply exploited a vulnerability. The judge agreed, stating that Mango’s permissionless structure meant that there “was insufficient evidence of falsity” from prosecutors regarding Eisenberg’s representation to Mango Markets.

Eisenberg was arrested in December 2022, and while this case collapsed, he is still currently serving a four-year sentence handed out after he pleaded guilty to the possession of child sexual abuse material.

“From the beginning, we said this case was fatally flawed,” his attorney Brian Klein of Waymaker LLP said. “We are very pleased for Avi that the judge granted our motion and dismissed the case.”

If you’ve ever wanted to have your Solana wallet on your wrist while flexing your wealth, Swiss watchmaker Franck Muller is making that a reality.

The watch market is stepping into the Web3 ecosystem with a Solana-inspired, limited-edition series of watches that contain an embedded unique QR code to directly link to the user’s Solana address.

The company’s Solana-inspired watch collection is limited to 1,111 units that will set buyers back 20,000 Swiss francs (around $24,300).

While the watches feature a unique design that could appeal to Solana ecosystem participants, their launch comes at a time when, unfortunately, flaunting crypto-related wealth is becoming risky.

The cryptocurrency industry has seen dozens of physical attacks just this year, with a notable case seeing the daughter and grandson of Pierre Noizat, CEO of crypto platform Paymium, being targeted in a daytime attempted kidnapping. The attack was filmed and shared on social media.

While that kidnapping attempt failed, an earlier one in the same city saw the father of a crypto millionaire get abducted. Police managed to rescue the man, but not before his finger was severed.

Earlier this year, the co-founder of hardware wallet maker Ledger, David Balland, along with his wife, was abducted from his home and saw similar treatment. The couple was later rescued by authorities, and a ransom that had been paid out was seized.

There have been many other similar attacks in recent months.

Franck Muller is pitching the collection as a «phygital» (physical-digital) symbol of identity and ownership in the crypto age. While the watch is certainly a piece of crypto mythos, it may be a collectible that investors may not want to show off.

Read more: ‘Major Wake-Up Call’: How $400M Coinbase Breach Exposes Crypto’s Dark Side