Layer 1 blockchain Solana (SOL) continues to impress the crypto community with its remarkable achievements. It has recently surpassed Ethereum (ETH) in 7-day stablecoin trading volume, marking a significant milestone for the network. According to Artemis data, Solana recorded a staggering $103 billion worth of stablecoin transfers last week, outperforming all other networks. Ethereum secured the second position with $90.9 billion, followed by Tron with $82.3 billion and BNB Chain with $14.6 billion.
Qiao Wang, a former researcher for Messari, highlighted that Solana-based USDC has surpassed Tron-based USDT as the most transacted stablecoin by volume. Wang’s tweet regarding this achievement can be found here.
In addition to stablecoin trading volume, Solana has also surpassed Ethereum in NFT trade volume for the month of December. Degen News reported that Solana hosted trades worth $366.6 million, while Ethereum recorded $353.2 million. However, CryptoSlam data reveals that over the past 30 days, Solana’s NFT sales amounted to $329.3 million, which is approximately 5% less than Ethereum’s $345 million during the same period.
The popularity of Solana can be seen not only in its trading volumes but also in search trends. In mid-December, global searches for “Solana” surpassed those for “Ethereum,” as reported by Google Trends.
A Bullish Year for Solana
Solana had an extremely bullish year in 2023. The price of SOL, Solana’s network token, soared by 936% from $9.97 at the beginning of the year to $103.3 at the end of December, reflecting the market’s confidence in the network. This positive momentum was driven by the resolution of concerns surrounding FTX’s potential liquidation of its SOL holdings and the growing adoption of the Solana network. However, SOL experienced a slight dip of over 4% in the past week, retracting from its 2023 high of $121.4 achieved in late December.
The DeFi sector of Solana has also witnessed impressive growth, with the network’s total value locked surging by 254% from $412 million in early November to $1.42 billion currently, according to DeFi Llama. Additionally, decentralized exchanges (DEXs) on Solana had their strongest month to date in December, with $28 billion worth of trades, more than tripling the volume of November’s $8 billion. Jupiter, the leading DEX on Solana, accounted for $17 billion of the total. Solana ranked second in monthly DEX volume, trailing behind Ethereum’s $42.4 billion.
Furthermore, the Solana blockchain network has witnessed an unprecedented influx of new tokens. Over the last two weeks alone, a staggering 72,202 new tokens have been minted on Solana using the SPL token standard. This number is more than 71 times the amount of tokens created during a comparable period in October. The daily statistics for new token creation on Solana are now consistently four times higher than ever before since the network’s launch in 2020.
