Solana Crushes Web2 & Web3 Rivals with Staggering 755% Payment Volume Surge
Forget the old guard—Solana just rewired the payment processing rulebook. While traditional finance platforms chug along with incremental gains and established Web3 protocols tout modest growth, one blockchain is leaving everyone in the digital dust.
The Speed Demon's Secret Sauce
It's not about hype; it's about throughput. The network's architecture—built for blistering transaction speeds and microscopic fees—is finally hitting its stride where it matters most: moving real value. Developers are ditching clunky alternatives, flocking to build payment solutions that actually work at scale. Users, tired of waiting and overpaying, are voting with their wallets.
A Warning Shot to the Establishment
This isn't just a niche crypto story. A 755% annual explosion in payment volume sends a clear signal to every fintech startup and legacy payment processor. The infrastructure for the next generation of finance is being built in the open, and it's not waiting for permission from Wall Street's usual suspects—who are probably still trying to figure out how to charge a 2% fee for the privilege.
The race isn't just about being decentralized; it's about being decisively better. And right now, the numbers don't lie.
Solana Network’s B2B payment volume rises by 9X in 16 months, onchain data shows
Solana leads payments growth across all platforms, at +755% YoY.
While blockchains are winning growth (+755% on $6.5B), TradFi still owns volume (PayPal processes $1.8T). https://t.co/9bW2qfzIlA pic.twitter.com/k0BlKxdckJ
— Artemis (@artemis) February 11, 2026
In comparison, Artemis data showed that stablecoin payment volume increased by over 137% year over year as of August 2025, with B2B accounting for the largest share across all stablecoins. The data also shows that Solana’s B2B payment volume grew by 9X to $3.84 billion in just 16 months.
Solana Network has also witnessed massive growth in spot trading volume. A previous report by Cryptopolitan, dated January 5, highlighted that the network recorded $1.6 trillion in spot trading volume in 2025, outpacing major crypto exchanges.
Solana’s trading volume accounted for 11.92% of the global spot market according to onchain data. The network’s spot volume ranked it only behind Binance, which led the pack with $7.2 trillion. According to onchain data, Solana outperformed major crypto exchanges such as Bybit, Coinbase, and Bitget in 2025.
Data from the open-source DeFi data aggregator DefiLlama shows that SOL’s monthly volume on decentralized exchanges outperformed major rivals such as ethereum and BSC in most of 2025, peaking in January 2025 at $313.91 billion.
In the same month, Ethereum followed in second place with a total trading volume of $85.692 billion, while Base ranked third with $50 billion. Solana ended the year with total trading volume exceeding $1.5 trillion, while Ethereum clocked $950 billion.
SOL price dips, sending treasury firms tumbling
However, SOL has had a rough start to the year amid the ongoing crypto winter. The crypto asset is down 9% over the last 7 days, according to CoinMarketCap data. SOL has declined by more than 35% year to date and is trading at $82.38 at the time of this publication.
The price decline has had a devastating impact on SOL treasury firms. Cryptopolitan recently reported that Solana treasury firms have seen their holdings decline after SOL fell nearly 40% over the last 30 days.
According to data from Coingecko, Forward Industries currently ranks first with 6.9 million Solana in its books, valued at $564.38 million. In comparison, Solana Company claims the second spot with 2.3 million SOL, valued at $187.8 million. The report noted that SOL’s price mirrored the massive liquidations that occurred on Friday, wiping out more than $300 million in long positions.
Spot SOL ETFs have recorded net outflows of more than $10 million so far in February. Data from Sosovalue shows that these funds recorded inflows worth $478.90k on Wednesday after drawing $8.43 million from investors the previous day. The funds currently hold $673.99 million in net assets under management, which accounts for 1.49% of the crypto asset’s total market capitalization.
Solana’s daily validator count has fallen to its lowest level since 2021, below 800. The figures mark a significant decline from the network’s peak validator count of 2,500 recorded in early 2023. The decline in validator count could be a deliberate effort by the Solana Foundation, according to a previous Cryptopolitan coverage.
The report noted that the foundation implemented a deliberate behind-the-scenes restructuring to reshape validator conditions and requirements. The pruning phase led the Solana Foundation to offload many underperforming nodes amid efforts to improve the network’s quality and reliability.
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