Solana’s $9.17B DeFi Boom: A Stablecoin Powder Keg Waiting to Explode
Solana’s DeFi ecosystem just crossed $9.17 billion in TVL—but dig deeper, and you’ll find a ticking stablecoin time bomb.
The Hidden Fuel Behind the Rally
While SOL’s price action grabs headlines, the real story is the mountain of stablecoins parked on-chain. These aren’t idle funds—they’re dry powder waiting for the next big play.
Wall Street’s Worst Nightmare
Traditional finance clings to its 60/40 portfolios while DeFi whales stack yield-bearing stable positions. The irony? The ’risky’ crypto ecosystem now offers safer yields than most investment-grade bonds.
When this stablecoin stockpile deploys, it won’t just move markets—it’ll rewrite the rules of liquidity altogether.
Graph showing the total value locked (TVL) in Solana from Jan. 1 to May 21, 2025 (Source: DeFi Llama)
The stablecoin-to-TVL ratio now stands at 1.24, meaning that for every $1 deployed in DeFi on Solana, $1.24 is idle in stablecoins. That degree of capital overcollateralization gives users ample dry powder to enter new positions, contribute to LPs, or rotate into higher-yield strategies. USDC dominates that stablecoin base with a 73.26% share, showing high trust in a single issuer and exposing the chain’s liquidity to potential issuer-specific risks.
The resurgence in DeFi activity is visible across Solana’s protocols. Jito remains the dominant player with $3.09 billion in TVL, followed by Jupiter ($2.57 billion), Kamino ($2.46 billion), and Raydium ($1.98 billion). But it’s Raydium that stands out, posting a massive 60.71% jump in TVL over the past 30 days, far outpacing its peers and confirming renewed demand for order-book-based trading on-chain.
The top six protocols now include four focused on staking: Jito, Kamino, Marinade, and Sanctum, together holding more than $9.23 billion, or about 53% of all DeFi liquidity on Solana.
| 1 | Jito | $3.09 billion | +25.62% | 0.22 | $74.46 million | $2.62 million |
| 2 | Jupiter | $2.57 billion | +18.46% | 0.59 | $29.32 million | $7.80 million |
| 3 | Kamino | $2.46 billion | +13.40% | 0.05 | $8.53 million | $2.18 million |
| 4 | Raydium | $1.98 billion | +60.71% | 0.48 | $43.13 million | $9.84 million |
| 5 | Sanctum | $1.85 billion | +30.87% | 0.01 | $8.91 million | $617,630 |
| 6 | Marinade | $1.83 billion | +43.47% | 0.03 | $10.50 million | $677,793 |
| 7 | Binance Staked SOL | $1.45 billion | +21.90% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 8 | Drift | $1.10 billion | +16.28% | 0.18 | $1.36 million | $1.08 million |
| 9 | Meteora | $942.89 million | +25.97% | N/A | $122.65 million | N/A |
| 10 | Orca | $334.62 million | +23.44% | 0.47 | $16.51 million | $1.98 million |
Table showing the top 10 largest protocols on Solana by TVL on May 21, 2025 (Source: DeFi Llama)
In terms of raw usage, Solana remains one of the most actively used blockchains in crypto. Over 4.61 million daily active addresses and 68.39 million transactions were recorded on May 21, reflecting a healthy base of recurring users. On average, each address processed more than 14 transactions in a single day, showing wide participation and high engagement per user.
Chain fees totaled $1.73 million over the same 24-hour period, but only $153,937 of that was captured as protocol revenue. The discrepancy perfectly illustrates Solana’s value proposition: low cost at the base layer. However, value accrual is not lost; it concentrates on the application layer. App-level revenue reached $4.92 million that day, far above the chain-level take, confirming that it’s dApps where monetization is increasingly occurring.
DEX activity continues to lead trading behavior. Spot DEXs on Solana processed $3.09 billion in 24-hour volume, compared to just $952.79 million for perpetuals. Over 7 days, DEX spot volumes reached $23.79 billion, while perps totaled $6.07 billion, a nearly 4x difference. This divergence indicates that Solana traders prefer spot over leverage, or at least they are choosing on-chain execution for their directional bets. DEX volume now accounts for 13.51% of all SOL spot volume globally, reflecting growing market share for the Solana trading stack.
Meanwhile, protocol-level metrics show the ecosystem is monetizing well. Jito generated $74.46 million in fees over 30 days, followed by Raydium at $43.13 million and Meteora at a staggering $122.65 million, though revenue capture figures were unavailable for the latter. Jupiter posted $29.32 million in fees, converting $7.8 million of that into revenue. These numbers confirm that protocol usage is surging in terms of liquidity and producing cash flow.
SOL has staged a recovery, recently crossing back above $170. That marks a 22% gain month-on-month but still leaves the token roughly 13% below its Jan. 1 price. Spot exchange data shows average daily trading volume for SOL in May was around 3.40 million SOL, translating to roughly $570 million in daily turnover. That’s slightly above the 2025 daily average, showing a modest resurgence in interest.
From a structural perspective, Solana’s fundamentals remain solid. The total funding amount for Solana-native projects has climbed to $315.76 million, with another $49.50 billion bridged from external chains. Realized volatility on SOL has declined to 48% from 62% at the end of Q1, indicating a period of consolidation or possible accumulation.
While stablecoin balances dropped 3.79% over the past week, likely reflecting short-term de-risking, the broader trend remains constructive. Net inflows into Solana-based DeFi protocols over the past month totaled approximately $1.5 billion, with liquid staking strategies capturing the lion’s share. These flows, combined with rising user activity, reinforce the narrative of a chain regaining its market position after a turbulent early year.
