Solana Outpaces Ethereum in Revenue Amid Crypto Slowdown

Solana continues to outperform Ethereum in revenue generation, even as the crypto market faces reduced retail trading activity. Data from DeFiLlama shows that Solana's applications generate significantly more revenue than Ethereum's, with crypto researcher Aylo reporting that Solana apps have earned up to 10 times more than their Ethereum counterparts as of Feb. 10.

Despite Ethereum's layer-2 (L2) scaling solutions, which aim to improve transaction efficiency, Solana maintains a massive revenue lead. On Feb. 9, Solana recorded over $8.4 million in revenue, far exceeding Ethereum’s $875,571. Even with Ethereum's leading L2 networks, Arbitrum and Base, boasting total value locked (TVL) figures of $14 billion and $11.5 billion, respectively, Solana’s $9.5 billion TVL has not hindered its revenue dominance.

Solana’s surge is largely fueled by the rise of memecoin trading, a key driver of its DeFi ecosystem in 2024. Research from Messari highlights a 213% increase in Solana’s cumulative app revenue in Q4 2024, with speculation in memecoin markets playing a central role. A prime example is Pump.fun, a memecoin launchpad that reported $235 million in Q4 revenue, reflecting a 242% quarter-over-quarter growth.

Aylo likened memecoin trading’s popularity to online gambling, emphasizing its role in supporting SOL’s price surge. Since early 2024, SOL has nearly doubled in value compared to Ethereum’s ETH, according to TradingView data. Despite this strong performance, Aylo believes Solana remains competitively valued relative to other layer-1 and layer-2 networks.

With its thriving DeFi ecosystem and rising on-chain activity, Solana continues to challenge Ethereum’s dominance, solidifying its position as a leading blockchain network.