The Solana network has been steadily closing in on Ethereum, with key metrics indicating significant gains in market share and revenue throughout 2024.
A recent report from Syncracy Capital, a hedge fund, highlighted Solana’s rapid ascent, showing that it now rivals Ethereum across many major economic indicators. Released on Nov. 12, the report notes consistent growth for Solana over recent months, positioning it as a serious competitor to Ethereum.
The report details that Solana’s real economic value (REV)—an aggregate of transaction fees and maximal extractable value (MEV) tips given to validators—surpassed Ethereum’s by 111% in October 2024, a leap from just 1% the previous year. This metric serves as a snapshot of the network’s overall economic activity.
Another area of analysis is Solana’s total application revenue (TAR), which represents fees paid to applications and protocols hosted on the blockchain. Solana’s TAR reached 109% of Ethereum’s in October, compared to only 1% at the same time last year, demonstrating a considerable rise in network usage.
Much of this increase in activity can be attributed to the recent memecoin mania, as several new memecoins gained popularity on Solana in October. Key performers included Goatseus Maximus (GOAT), which achieved a $400 million market cap in a week, SPX6900 (SPX), which grew 379%, Apu Apustaja (APU) with a 170% gain, and FWOG, which rose by 134%.
This surge has also driven up network volume, transaction fees, and total value locked (TVL) in the ecosystem. According to DefiLlama, Solana’s TVL hit a two-year high of over 42 million SOL on Oct. 26, marking a 13% increase from the previous month. By contrast, Ethereum’s TVL remained stable at 17.7 million ETH.
Memecoin speculation: A stress test
While the rise in memecoin activity has sparked discussions regarding Solana’s sustainability, Syncracy sees this speculative phase as a useful stress test of the network’s stability and scalability:
“This wave of on-chain speculation is reminiscent of Ethereum’s early DeFi days in 2020. Such experimentation is crucial for testing infrastructure and exploring new possibilities.”
Solana has faced challenges with reliability, experiencing multiple outages since 2020. The most recent one, in February 2024, resulted in a five-hour service interruption.
The network has also been attracting decentralized infrastructure protocols (DePIN) that incentivize users to support real-world infrastructure. Syncracy’s report highlights four DePIN unicorns now utilizing Solana, including Helium, Render, IoNET, and Grass. Currently, nine unicorns are on Solana’s network, while Ethereum hosts eighteen.
According to Solana Foundation representatives, the network plans to roll out a full version of its Firedancer upgrade in 2025, aiming to support its growing user base and activity.
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