Solana Q2 2025: Market Cap Skyrockets 30% as Axiom Defies Revenue Downturn

Solana’s Q2 2025 performance defies expectations—again. While the broader crypto market wobbled, SOL’s market cap surged 30%, fueled by Axiom’s resilience amid a revenue slump. Here’s how the underdog chain keeps winning.

The Axiom Factor: Defying Gravity

Axiom, Solana’s dark horse, sidestepped the revenue crash plaguing rivals. No magic—just ruthless efficiency and a developer base that refuses to quit. Meanwhile, TradFi analysts scramble to explain the ‘irrational’ rally.

30% and Counting: The SOL Surge

Solana’s market cap leap wasn’t luck. Scalability upgrades and NFT demand drove adoption, while Ethereum gas fees did the marketing for them. Even the SEC’s usual saber-rattling couldn’t slow momentum.

The Cynic’s Corner

Let’s be real—Wall Street still thinks ‘blockchain’ is a spreadsheet feature. But while they debate, Solana’s builders are shipping. Maybe banks should take notes… or just keep shorting the wrong trades.

• Solana’s market cap jumped 30% in Q2 to $83 billion, showing resilience despite revenue drops.
• Axiom posted a record 641.3% surge in revenue, while other leading apps struggled.
• App Revenue Capture Ratio rose to 211.6%, signaling strong monetization by Solana’s ecosystem.

Solana ended the second quarter of 2025 on a high note for market capitalization, climbing 30% from the previous quarter to reach $83 billion.

Yet, under the surface, application revenue told a more mixed story. Messari’s latest report revealed that the network’s Chain GDP, the total application revenue, dropped 44.2% from $1.0 billion to $576.4 million.

PumpFun led the pack with $156.9 million in revenue, though that figure was down 43.9%. The standout was Axiom, which soared 641.3% to $126.6 million.

Backed by Y Combinator and launched in January, Axiom attracted memecoin traders through its reward model, offering SOL payouts for trading activity and referrals. Other major players, including Jupiter, Phantom, and Photon, posted sharp declines in quarterly earnings.

Solana Strengthens DeFi Position With 30% TVL Growth

One of the quarter’s most notable achievements was in efficiency. Solana’s App Revenue Capture Ratio (RCR) climbed from 126.5% to 211.6% quarter-on-quarter.

The figure compares application revenue to the network’s Real Economic Value and shows that apps earned more than double the transaction fees and tips paid by users. It reflects an ecosystem finding ways to turn network activity into real returns for developers and projects.

In DeFi, total value locked on Solana grew 30.4% to $8.6 billion, keeping it in second place among all networks. Kamino stayed at the top with $2.1 billion after launching Kamino Lend V2 in May, quickly passing $200 million in deposits. Raydium reclaimed the second spot with $1.8 billion, while Jupiter ended with $1.6 billion despite slipping to third place.

Market Shifts in DEX, Stablecoins, and RWA

Spot trading volume declined on decentralized exchanges. Daily spot DEX volumes on average dropped 45.4% to $2.5 billion as the frenzy around memecoins dissipated from Q1 levels.

Raydium and Orca dropped steeply, but PumpFun catapulted to third on a 124.3% increase, fueled by the PumpSwap launch in March. There was competition in July as the launchpad of Bonk took over from PumpFun in the $600 million PUMP ICO.

Perpetual trading also eased, as leader Jupiter enjoyed a dominating 76.7% share despite soft volume. Drift and Adrena lagged behind, as Zeta positioned its Bullet rollup for the latter part of the year.

Stablecoin market cap declined 17.4% to $10.3 billion. The leader was USDC at $7.2 billion, then USDT at $2.3 billion, and FDUSD, which had rocketed up 192.3%. Real-world assets on solana increased to $390.6 million, up 124.8% so far in the year.