4 Reasons to Keep and eye on Solana

Key Takeaways

• Solana leads the industry in onchain activity, with daily active addresses and transactions far outpacing every other major blockchain.
• The upcoming Firedancer upgrade and growing ETF interest position Solana for major institutional and performance milestones in 2025.
• Solana remains the dominant chain for meme coin speculation and is likely to lead again if memecoin mania resurfaces.
• While it trails Ethereum and Tron in stablecoin volume, Solana is well placed in a competitive field and could still emerge as a major payments layer.

Introduction

Solana (SOL) has been one of the standout performers of this crypto cycle. While its price action has grabbed headlines, for both its ups and downs, it's the underlying fundamentals that deserve just as much attention.

This report takes a closer look at the big question facing Solana right now — is its trajectory set to continue climbing higher in both adoption and price, or will momentum stall and user growth taper off? To help unpack this, we’ll examine Solana’s current onchain metrics, its upcoming catalysts, and its unique positioning in both the meme coin space and stablecoin payment.

What the Onchain Metrics Say

Daily Active Addresses (DAA)

Solana’s DAA has been its standout metric since the beginning of 2024. Starting the year with around 1 million, Solana peaked at an impressive 7.5 million DAA in November during peak memecoin mania. Activity has since cooled, dropping to under 4 million, but this still puts Solana far ahead of the pack.

Tron ranks second with a consistent 2.5 million DAA, while Ethereum and Base trail significantly at roughly 700,000 and 350,000, respectively. Solana’s dominance in this metric highlights that users are actively engaging with the chain and there’s little sign Solana will be dethroned anytime soon.

Solana has dominated daily active addresses since August 2024

Daily Transactions

Another metric where Solana is magnitudes ahead of the competition is daily transactions. At present, Solana processes around 467 million transactions per day, a noticeable drop from its peak of over 800 million, but still leagues above every other chain.

Tron, which ranks second, averages about 43.5 million daily transactions. The gap speaks for itself. There is simply no comparison here. Solana is being used more than any other blockchain by a wide margin, reinforcing its lead as the go-to chain for real activity.

Solana’s daily transactions are larger than all other chains combined

Fee Revenue

Solana generated over $1.5 billion AUD (approximately $1 billion USD) in fees over the past year, placing it sixth in revenue earned across the entire blockchain ecosystem.

What’s even more telling is that three Solana-native applications — Jito, Raydium and Pump — also feature in the top 10 revenue-generating crypto projects over the same period. So not only is Solana itself generating significant fees, but the apps built exclusively on the network are doing the same. It’s a clear sign of a thriving, self-sustaining ecosystem.

Top 10 fee-generating projects in the blockchain ecosystem

Upcoming Catalysts

Firedancer Upgrade

One of Solana’s most important upgrades is still on the horizon, Firedancer. Built by Jump Crypto, it’s a new piece of core software designed to make the Solana network faster, more reliable, and better equipped to handle massive surges in activity.

Even with Solana already considered the quickest major blockchain, Firedancer is expected to raise the bar even further. An early version, nicknamed ‘Frankendancer’, entered testing in late 2024, with full rollout expected in 2025. If successful, it could ensure that Solana remains the most scalable and dependable chain in crypto, no matter how big the demand gets.

ETF Speculation

The race to launch a spot Solana ETF has intensified, with several major asset managers now in the mix. VanEck was the first to file in June 2024, followed by 21Shares, Bitwise, Canary Capital, Grayscale, Franklin Templeton, and, most recently, Fidelity in March 2025. All of these firms have submitted applications to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Much like we saw with Bitcoin and Ethereum, the journey toward ETF approval, even without a definitive outcome, can significantly impact sentiment and drive adoption. The mere presence of Solana in these regulatory conversations shows how far it’s come. Should the ETF gain traction in 2025, it could act as a major price catalyst.

Polymarket, a popular prediction market, gives a Solana ETF approval in 2025 at 76%

Meme Coin Meta

While meme coin hype has cooled off since late 2024, Solana remains the go-to chain for this type of speculative energy. The speed and low fees make it ideal for launching, trading, and aping into meme coins, especially during periods of high retail activity.

Solana’s dominance in this category isn’t theoretical. At the height of the memecoin mania, thousands of new tokens were launching daily, with trading volumes surging across Solana-native platforms. One coin, Fartcoin (FARTCOIN), recently made a surprise comeback, showing that the appetite for meme coins can return quickly and with force.

Fartcoin price has surged 130% in April, demonstrating appetite for risky memecoins still exists.

If meme coins are to make a meaningful comeback in this cycle, it’s highly likely they’ll live on Solana. The network has the infrastructure, the liquidity, and most importantly, the users who know how to ride the trend.

Stablecoins

Stablecoins continue to be the strongest real-world use case for blockchain technology, with billions of dollars in daily volume across payments, remittances, and decentralised finance. Solana is a serious contender in this space, currently ranking third behind Ethereum and Tron in stablecoin activity.

What makes this noteworthy is the role each of these chains plays. Tron dominates in Asia and emerging markets, largely for payments and remittances. Ethereum remains the most decentralised and secure option, which makes it ideal for very large or high-value stablecoin transactions, despite its higher fees. That leaves an opening for Solana to position itself as the stablecoin settlement layer for the Western world.

Top 5 Blockchains with the quantity of stablecoins onchain

But Solana winning this is far from certain. Ethereum currently leads the pack with over $185 billion AUD ($122 billion USD) in stablecoins issued on its network, followed by Tron with more than $105 billion AUD ($69 billion USD). In comparison, Solana has around $19.3 billion AUD ($12.7 billion USD) in stablecoins circulating onchain. There are several other chains close behind Solana, making this a highly competitive space with no guaranteed winner.

Conclusion

Solana is no longer just a fast, cheap alternative to Ethereum. It has become a powerhouse in its own right, with dominant user activity, growing fee generation, and a vibrant ecosystem of apps and narratives.

While competition is fierce and challenges remain, especially in areas like stablecoins, Solana’s lead in key metrics, upcoming infrastructure upgrades, and rising institutional interest all point to one thing — its place at the top of the crypto leaderboard is anything but temporary.