Solana Defies Gravity: DeFi Ecosystem Sees Explosive Growth as Users Flock In

Solana’s decentralized finance (DeFi) landscape is eating Ethereum’s lunch—TVL surges 300% year-to-date as developers ditch gas wars for sub-penny transactions.

Retail investors pile into SOL-based yield farms while Wall Street still tries to figure out if ’blockchain’ is a spreadsheet or a type of yoga. Meanwhile, Solana’s speed demon architecture handles 2,500 TPS without breaking a sweat—proving you don’t need institutional validators to run a $50B network.

The kicker? Over 80% of new DeFi projects launching this quarter are choosing Solana first. Vitalik might want to check his rearview mirror.

In Brief

• Solana establishes itself as a key player in DeFi, surpassing all Ethereum layer-2 solutions in TVL.
• The network records a record TVL of 10.9 billion dollars, driven by strong growth in its native protocols like Raydium, Jito, and Marinade.
• 65 % of the SOL supply is currently staked, reducing selling pressure and supporting the token’s upward momentum.
• The futures funding rate remains stable at 8 %, indicating a controlled speculative interest in SOL.

Solana Surpasses Giants : DeFi Thrives on the Network

In the latest published reports, Solana shows a total value locked (TVL) of 10.9 billion dollars, thus surpassing the entire ethereum layer-2 ecosystem, which notably includes Arbitrum, Optimism, and Base.

This positions Solana “among the leaders in terms of on-chain metrics”, elevating it above BNB Chain despite its direct integration with Binance. Such spectacular progress propels it to the second place among blockchains by TVL, right behind Ethereum mainnet.

The signal is clear. solana no longer just exists in the shadow of giants, but is redefining the balances in DeFi.

This momentum is notably driven by the rise of several key applications in the Solana ecosystem. Over the last 30 days, we observe :

• Raydium (DEX) : +78 % TVL ;
• Jito (liquid staking) : +41 %;
• Marinade (staking protocol) : +56 %.

These figures reflect a genuine adoption, far beyond passing trends. By attracting liquidity, active investors, and real use of its DApps, the Solana network stands out as one of the most dynamic DeFi hubs of the moment.

This growth, supported by the diversity of its native protocols, strengthens the credibility of an ecosystem long criticized for its instability or past outages. Solana now appears to combine scalability, real economic activity, and resilience.

Revenue Increase and On-Chain Momentum : Solid Fundamentals for SOL

Beyond TVL growth, another indicator stands out: revenue generated from network fees. Over the last 30 days, Solana has earned 43.3 million dollars, a 109% increase compared to the previous month.

This level surpasses Ethereum for the same period (24.9 million $), and is close to TRON (51.9 million $) according to DefiLlama data. Such figures indicate effective network usage beyond mere fund locking, reflecting a rise in economic activity on Solana.

Also, 65 % of the SOL supply is currently staked, a high rate that reduces the liquidity available on the market and exerts mechanical upward pressure on the asset’s price.

Meanwhile, derivative products tied to SOL send rather balanced signals. The annualized funding rate of perpetual contracts stands at 8 %, a level considered healthy by analysts as it falls within a neutral range between 5 % and 10 %.

In other words, long traders aren’t overpaying to maintain their positions, which indicates sustained but moderate speculative interest.

These data, while not guaranteeing anything, provide insight into several potential scenarios. Some analysts mention the possibility of a Solana spot ETF in the United States or inclusion in state digital reserves, catalysts that could sustainably strengthen the asset’s attractiveness. Others bet on tokenization of traditional assets on the network, a segment Solana is beginning to explore seriously. While the evolution of the SOL price remains dependent on external factors, the network’s current foundations seem more robust than ever.

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