Solana Hits Record Growth in Q4 2024, as DeFi Revenue Surges
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Solana has posted remarkable gains in the fourth quarter of 2024, with total application revenue jumping 213% to reach $840 million, according to Messari’s latest quarterly report. This impressive growth shows how the blockchain network is attracting more users and developers.
DeFi Growth and Revenue Leaders on Solana
The network’s success in Q4 came largely from decentralized finance (DeFi) activity. Solana became the second-biggest DeFi platform, with $8.6 billion locked in its protocols.
This represents a 64% increase from the previous quarter, pushing Solana ahead of Tron in the DeFi rankings. Breaking down the revenue sources, five major applications led the growth:
- Pump.fun earned $235 million (up 242%)
- Photon generated $140 million (up 278%)
- Raydium brought in $74 million (up 268%)
- BullX made $73 million (up 260%)
- Trojan earned $63 million (up 187%)
The rise in meme coins and AI-related tokens played a big part in this growth. Jito, the highest-earning non-meme coin platform, made $21.4 million, while Jupiter, a popular trading platform, earned $46.2 million.
Daily network activity showed strong signs of adoption. The number of daily users who paid fees grew by 171% to 5.1 million, while new daily users increased by 189% to 3.8 million. The network processed an average of 81.5 million transactions daily, excluding voting transactions.
Technical improvements also marked the quarter. Over 90% of the network now runs on Agave V2.0, a major upgrade that makes transactions more efficient. The network’s security measure, called the Nakamoto coefficient, stayed at 19, keeping Solana among the more decentralized blockchain networks.
Liquid staking, where users earn rewards while keeping their tokens available for other uses, grew significantly. The percentage of SOL tokens in liquid staking increased by 33% to 11.2%. Sanctum, a key player in this space, now supports over 100 liquid staking tokens.
The gaming sector saw notable developments, with several major launches including Metalcore’s MMO shooter and Paravox’s arena shooter. The mobile gaming scene expanded with new hardware announcements like the Shaga Controller and PSG1 gaming device.
Institutional Interest in Solana Waxes Stronger
Institutional interest in Solana remained strong. Thailand’s oldest commercial bank announced plans to use Solana for cross-border payments, while VanEck EU enabled staking for their Solana investment product, which manages $73 million in assets.
Solana’s market value reflected this growth, reaching $91 billion by quarter’s end. The network briefly touched $120 billion in market value during November, ranking as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency at that time.
Looking ahead, Solana’s ecosystem appears well-positioned for continued growth in 2025. With improvements in technology, growing institutional adoption, and expanding use cases across DeFi, gaming, and payments, the network maintains strong momentum in the competitive blockchain space.
At the time of writing, SOL continues to trade on a bearish bias as the general crypto market reels from one of its largest liquidation events on record. Currently trading around $198, the floor for SOL at this time is the $180 round figure. So bulls have some room to foster some accumulation and push prices upwards again.
SOL Key Statistics
- SOL Current Price: $198.50
- SOL Market Cap: $96.4B
- SOL Circulating Supply: 487M
- SOL Total Supply: 593M
- SOL Market Ranking: #5
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