Solana's 24-Hour DEX Volume Surpasses Ethereum and Binance Combined

According to data from DefiLlama, the Solana network has seen a significant surge in decentralized exchange (DEX) trading volume, surpassing that of Ethereum and Base combined. This growth highlights the expanding role of Solana in decentralized finance (DeFi) and its position as a competitor to Ethereum.

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24-Hour Trading Volume

On January 6, daily trading volume across Solana-based DEXs neared $3.8 billion, outpacing Ethereum’s $1.7 billion and Base’s $1.2 billion in the same period. This significant increase underscores the growing adoption of Solana as a platform for DeFi applications.

Price Performance

From a price perspective, Solana (SOL) has outperformed Ether (ETH) by approximately eight times since 2023, according to data from TradingView. The total value locked (TVL) on Solana is also increasing rapidly, rising roughly five times in 2024, from around $1.4 billion to upward of $9.5 billion, according to DefiLlama.

Retail Traders and Memecoins

Grayscale Research noted that retail traders are increasingly entering the crypto market through Solana, driven by speculation around Solana-based memecoins and AI agent tokens. The growing popularity of these assets is fueling the surge in trading volume on Solana-based DEXs.

Raydium Trading Volume

In 2024, 24-hour trading volumes on Raydium, Solana’s leading DEX, increased by more than 10 times, from around $180 million in January to more than $3 billion on December 31, according to DefiLlama. This significant growth demonstrates the dominance of Raydium within the Solana ecosystem.

Uniswap vs. Raydium

In November, Raydium beat Uniswap, Ethereum’s leading DEX, in monthly trading volumes by roughly 30%, or approximately $30 billion, according to a December report by Messari Research. However, this figure reversed in December, with Uniswap’s volume reaching $92 billion compared to roughly $61 billion for Raydium.

Raydium’s Success

The success of Raydium is largely attributed to its dominance within the Solana ecosystem, consistently capturing over 60% of daily DEX volume on the layer-1 blockchain network. Memecoin trading has become a substantial driver of Raydium’s volume, with memecoins accounting for an all-time high of 65% of Raydium’s monthly volume in November.

Memecoin Market Capitalization

Fueled by venture capital funding and political speculation, memecoins now command approximately $130 billion in market capitalization, according to CoinGecko. Solana’s top memecoin platform, Pump.fun, was the eighth-highest-earning blockchain protocol in November, ranking just below giants such as Uniswap and Circle.

Pump.fun Trading Volume

In the past 30 days, Pump.fun generated nearly $250 million in trading volume, according to data from DefiLlama. After bootstrapping sufficient liquidity, memecoins minted on Pump.fun are typically traded on Raydium.

Conclusion

The Solana network’s growing role in DeFi and its position as a competitor to Ethereum are underscored by the significant increase in decentralized exchange trading volume. The success of Raydium within the Solana ecosystem and the growing popularity of memecoins will likely continue to drive growth in the coming months.