Solana, the Layer-1 blockchain, has once again achieved record-breaking network revenues. According to data from Blockworks Research, Solana generated a staggering $8.7 million in economic value from network activity on October 23, surpassing the previous day’s figure of just under $8 million. This includes revenue from various sources such as base fees, priority fees, and tips.
Solana (SOL) has emerged as a formidable competitor to Ethereum, with its SOL token outperforming Ether (ETH) by an impressive 600% since 2023. The total value locked (TVL) on Solana has skyrocketed from under $250 million at the beginning of 2023 to over $6.8 billion as of October 24, as reported by DefiLlama.
In July, Solana surpassed Ethereum in terms of weekly total fees, generating approximately $25 million in weekly revenue compared to Ethereum’s $21 million, according to Blockworks Research. This rise of Solana has been fueled by a frenzy of celebrity coin trading predominantly on Solana-based memecoin platforms like Pump.fun and Moonshot.
Furthermore, SOL is expected to be the next cryptocurrency to be included in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States, following Bitcoin (BTC) and ETH.
On October 21, the Solana-based decentralized exchange Raydium surpassed the Ethereum network in 24-hour revenue. Raydium recorded $3.4 million in fee revenue, surpassing Ethereum’s $3.35 million, as reported by DefiLlama. This comes as Ethereum is still recovering from a significant decline in revenue after the network’s March Dencun upgrade resulted in a 95% reduction in transaction fees.
Despite these challenges, the Ethereum network is projected to generate up to $66 billion in annual free cash flow by 2030, according to Matthew Sigel, VanEck’s head of digital asset research. He stated that Ethereum has processed approximately $4 trillion in settlement value and $5 trillion in stablecoin transfers annually, making it larger than PayPal and approaching networks like Visa.