Solana Handles 70% of Ethereum DEX Volume as SOL Blows Past $70

The Solana DeFi ecosystem has witnessed tremendous growth in the past few weeks. Some of the biggest beneficiaries are decentralized exchanges on the network, which are seeing record-breaking volumes.

Notably, the rapid rise in volume has also seen Solana edge closer to major competitor Ethereum. In the 24 hours before press time, Solana-based DEXes handled $1.01 billion in trading volume, or around 70% of Ethereum’s volume over the same period. The much older network settled $1.434 billion, maintaining its edge as the largest blockchain network for DEX trading.

Surging DEX volume on Solana is primarily attributable to a proliferation of ecosystem projects launching their tokens via airdrops, thus increasing liquidity. Blockchain oracle service provider Pyth Network recently completed its airdrop, with Jito (JIT) following up with an airdrop on Thursday.

Across the Solana ecosystem, the leading destinations for users include liquid staking protocols, Marinade Finance and Jito, which control a sizeable portion of the total value locked on the network. Lending protocols, Margin and Solend, are not far off, contributing a combined $350 million of TVL.

Meanwhile, the growth in Solana’s DeFi ecosystem may also be linked to the network’s inherently lower transaction fees and faster transaction speeds when compared to Ethereum. In comparison, Ethereum has struggled to keep up with increased demand, resulting in high costs and slow transaction times.

SOL Surges Past $70

Increased capital and user engagement with the Solana ecosystem have affected the price of its native coin, SOL. In the past 24 hours, SOL has surged past $70, reaching its highest level since May 2022.

At the time of filing this report, SOL was trading at $72, representing a 12.79% increase in the last 24 hours and an 18.32% surge in the past seven days. The token has surged 62% in the past month and 423% since the beginning of the year.