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Trading activity on Solana-based decentralized exchanges (DEXes) has surged to unprecedented levels, driven largely by the growing enthusiasm for memecoins in the cryptocurrency market. Recent data from DeFi Llama reveals that Solana DEXes executed a staggering $33 billion in trades last week, a significant increase from the prior week’s total of $18.1 billion.
Daily Trading Peaks and Performance Comparison
Daily trading volumes have been particularly impressive, peaking at $6.88 billion on November 12. Solana’s trading volumes have consistently surpassed $6 billion on a daily basis since that peak. When comparing Solana’s DEX performance to that of Ethereum, Solana has shown remarkable dominance. While Ethereum-based platforms achieved $17.7 billion in trades during the same timeframe, it should be noted that Ethereum’s total DEX ecosystem—including Mainnet, Base, and Arbitrum—still leads with a cumulative figure of $38.9 billion in weekly trading volume.
Raydium’s Dominance and the Rise of Memecoins
Amid this bustling trading landscape, Raydium, a key player among Solana DEXes, has emerged as a significant contributor to the surge in activity. Raydium accounted for 66% of Solana’s trading, processing an impressive $22.4 billion in trades—up by a whopping 149%. This success is largely attributed to PumpFun, a new memecoin launchpad on Solana, which has propelled tokens like PNUT and GOAT to notable trading volumes. Currently, the trading pairs for PNUT and GOAT rank third and fourth in Raydium’s daily trading volume, with $48.6 million and $47.2 million, respectively.
Expanding Revenue Metrics in Solana’s Ecosystem
The rise of PumpFun is further underscored by its performance in generating daily fee revenue, accumulating $1.52 million, positioning it seventh among Web3 protocols. Raydium, not to be outdone, follows with $627,500 in revenue while also collecting $11.3 million in fees over a 24-hour period. Furthermore, the positive momentum in trading activity is not limited to Raydium; Orca, another Solana-based DEX, reported a remarkable $6.62 billion in weekly trading, marking a 169% increase. Other platforms such as Lfinity and Phoenix also surpassed the $1 billion mark in weekly volumes, witnessing growth of 118% and 70%, respectively.
Significant Institutional Investment in Solana DApps
In a parallel development, institutional investments in Solana-based decentralized applications (DApps) have seen a resurgence in Q3 of 2024, totaling $173 million across 29 funding rounds. This represents a 54% increase from the previous quarter, indicating a renewed interest in the Solana ecosystem, even amidst a 37% drop in the number of funding rounds, as reported by Messari. This influx of capital marks the highest investment level in Solana projects since Q2 2022.
Transaction Metrics and Challenges
Additionally, Q3 showcased a significant rise in Solana’s fee-related metrics, with average daily fee payers reaching approximately 1.9 million, a 109% increase quarter-over-quarter. New fee payers surged by 430% to 1.3 million. However, it’s worth noting that the overall daily transaction volume—excluding voting-related activities—fell by 12%, totaling 62 million. The average transaction fee saw a modest increase of 6%, reaching 0.00015 SOL (around $0.023), while the median transaction fee exhibited a 19% decrease.
Phantom Wallet Update: User Concerns
As the ecosystem evolves, user experience remains critical. Recently, Phantom, a widely used cryptocurrency wallet for the Solana blockchain, issued an urgent update for its iOS app following reports of app resets that locked users out of their wallets, unless they had their recovery phrases. This issue emerged earlier this week, causing considerable anxiety among users concerned about the potential loss of funds due to inaccessible accounts.
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