Solana Smashes Ethereum: Posts Staggering $2.85B Annual Revenue

Solana just flipped the script on blockchain economics—racking up $2.85 billion in yearly revenue while leaving Ethereum scrambling.

The Network That Wouldn't Quit

While Ethereum grapples with gas fees that could fund a small nation, Solana's lean infrastructure cuts through the noise. Transactions fly at speeds that make traditional finance look like it's running on dial-up.

Revenue Revolution

That $2.85 billion figure isn't just impressive—it's a declaration of war on legacy blockchain models. Solana's scaling solutions bypass the congestion problems that have plagued competitors since day one.

Meanwhile, traditional finance executives are still trying to figure out whether blockchain is a spreadsheet or some new type of coffee order—proving once again that innovation happens despite the suits, not because of them.

Solana’s growth outpaces Ethereum

By comparison, Ethereum (ETH), at a similar stage in its lifecycle, generated far less revenue. Between 2019 and 2020, roughly 4 to 5 years after its launch, Ethereum’s monthly revenue averaged under $10 million, constrained by lower adoption, network congestion, and gas fees. Daily active addresses on Ethereum during that period hovered around 400,000–500,000, significantly below Solana’s current 1.2–1.5 million.

According to the 21Shares report, this comparison underscores just how quickly Solana has scaled its ecosystem and monetized network activity. While Ethereum was the pioneer of smart contracts and DeFi, Solana’s high throughput and ultra-low fees have allowed it to capture a far wider range of activity earlier in its lifecycle.

Looking ahead, upcoming technical upgrades — including the Firedancer validator client and Alpenglow finality improvements — are set to further increase throughput and reduce transaction times, positioning Solana to handle even larger volumes of activity.

“Solana’s story is no longer one of resilience, but of readiness. Its ecosystem has moved from potential to execution, with real-world use cases now fully operational. Together, these developments are cementing Solana’s role as a scalable and commercially viable digital economy,” the report concluded.