Solana ($SOL) has emerged as the most active public blockchain this week, crossing a major milestone of 30.61 million active addresses in just seven days. This figure surpasses those of long-time leaders Ethereum and BNB Chain.
According to on-chain data from analytics firm Nansen, Ethereum recorded 9.41 million active addresses, while BNB Chain followed with 7.70 million.
The surge in Solana’s user activity is being seen as a clear indicator of changing patterns in how people use blockchain platforms. Experts believe that Solana’s scalability and low transaction fees are encouraging more users to interact with the network regularly.
The Co-Founder of Solana Labs, Anatoly Yakovenko, pointed out the platform’s current trajectory, stating: “Solana continues to lead with over 24 million active addresses, showcasing the growing demand for scalable blockchain solutions”.
This rise in activity has sparked varied reactions across the crypto community. Ethereum developers remain optimistic, highlighting ongoing improvements and upgrades to their ecosystem.
However, supporters of Solana view the latest figures as a strong sign that their ecosystem is expanding in influence and relevance.
In the past week alone, more than 325,000 new tokens have been created on the Solana network.
Additionally, Solana recorded inflows of around $175 million in assets transferred from other blockchains, including $90 million from Ethereum. This movement further underscores growing interest in the platform and its offerings.
Solana’s market performance is also drawing attention. At the time of writing, its native token, SOL, is trading at an average price of $161.68. The cryptocurrency holds a market capitalisation of $84.06 billion and represents 2.59% of the total market dominance.
While SOL has dipped 5.76% over the past week, it has still gained 23.58% over the past 60 days, reflecting long-term resilience despite short-term volatility.
Over the last 24 hours, SOL’s trading volume has increased by a striking 128.23%, indicating heightened investor interest.
Solana leads in DEX volumes
In addition to user growth, Solana has solidified its leadership in decentralised exchange (DEX) activity. The chain posted the highest DEX trading volume for the fifth week in a row, reaching $26.24 billion over the last seven days.
This represents a weekly increase of more than 15%, outpacing Ethereum’s DEX volume of $15.71 billion, which fell by 2%.
Despite overall market volatility—with major cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Solana experiencing 4% and 6% price drops respectively—the activity on Solana-based DEXs remains robust.
According to data from DeFiLlama, Solana-based DEXs processed $2.96 billion in trades over the last 24 hours alone. While BNB Smart Chain had a higher daily volume at $4.36 billion, Solana continues to dominate the weekly charts. The total value locked (TVL) on Solana’s DEXs stands at $3.33 billion.
Ethereum’s DeFi TVL has decreased by 4% over the last seven days, now sitting at $60.23 billion. However, it still reflects a 31% increase over the past month. Solana showed a similar trend, with a 4.12% drop in the last week but a 28% rise over the past month.
Solana’s ongoing strength in DEX activity also comes amid falling prices. SOL’s 30-day performance shows a 17% increase, even though the token has dropped by 8% in the past week. Its 24-hour trading volume has grown by 129%, now standing at $5.26 billion.
Ethereum ($ETH), meanwhile, has gained over 50% in the past 30 days, despite a 6% weekly decline. ETH is trading at around $2,412, with a 24-hour trading volume of $32.8 billion—an increase of 132%.
Community-built apps on Solana are generating remarkable revenues. According to Solanafloor, Solana-based decentralised apps (Dapps) have collectively earned more than all other blockchain apps combined.
The top performer is Axiom, which has generated over $21 million, followed by Pump.fun with more than $8 million in revenue.
Top Ledger reports that Solana-based DEXs have already surpassed $905 billion in trading volume this year—and it’s only May.
A large portion of this came during January, when the crypto market saw a powerful rally. January alone accounted for over $408 billion of the total.
Strong revenue growth but DeFi weakness remains
Solana’s performance in the first quarter of 2025 highlights both its strengths and areas of concern. According to a report from Messari, Solana achieved a total app revenue of $1.2 billion in Q1 2025.
This marks a 20% increase from the previous quarter’s figure of $970.5 million and represents Solana’s highest-performing quarter in the past year. Much of this growth occurred in January, which accounted for nearly 60% of the total quarterly revenue.
“Solana’s economy is booming”, said Crypto Banter in a post on social media platform X.
The revenue increase is mainly driven by popular applications, particularly in the memecoin and wallet sectors. Among them, Pump.fun stands out with a revenue of $257 million.
This platform has played a key role in driving engagement, especially after the launch of the Trump-themed memecoin on 17 January, which led to a noticeable spike in trading activity.
Following Pump.fun, the Phantom wallet took the second spot in terms of revenue, generating $164 million. Phantom remains a favourite among users due to its intuitive interface and compatibility with a wide range of DeFi and NFT applications.
Photon ranks third, with a revenue of $122 million—an increase of 13% compared to the previous quarter.
Despite the growth in application revenue, there is a notable drop in DeFi investment. Solana’s DeFi TVL fell sharply by 64% in Q1 2025, landing at $6.6 billion.
This decline suggests that while more people are using the network’s apps, investors may be pulling back from more speculative DeFi positions in favour of stablecoins and less risky assets.
In contrast, the stablecoin market on Solana has flourished. The total stablecoin value increased by 145% to reach $12.5 billion. USD Coin ($USDC) leads the charge with a 148% monthly gain, valued at $9.7 billion—four times that of Tether ($USDT), which still managed to grow by 154% to $2.3 billion.
Another promising development for Solana is the decline in average transaction fees. In Q1 2025, fees dropped by 24% from the previous quarter, with users now paying around 0.000189 SOL per transaction—equivalent to approximately $0.04.
This cost advantage continues to attract new developers and projects, particularly in sectors like meme coins, DeFi applications, and NFT marketplaces.
Looking ahead, Solana’s biggest challenge will be maintaining this growth momentum while addressing the decline in DeFi activity.
Analysts suggest that if Solana continues its current trajectory, it could not only spur technological innovation but also provoke new regulatory discussions in the blockchain sector.
Solana has positioned itself as a serious competitor in the blockchain space, backed by strong user metrics, impressive DEX volumes, and fast-growing application revenue.
However, its future will depend on its ability to resolve challenges in its DeFi ecosystem and continue leveraging its strengths in speed, cost-efficiency, and usability.
