Despite the general decline in the cryptocurrency market, Solana had a successful December. Its DEXs processed more than $100 billion in volume for the second consecutive month, with Raydium ranking third globally.
Over $100 billion in decentralized exchange (DEX) trading volume was recorded for the second consecutive month by Layer 1 blockchain platform Solana (SOL), demonstrating resilience in the face of a gloomy December.
According to DefiLlama data, Solana outperformed its rivals in December, including Binance Smart Chain (BSC) and Ethereum (ETH), with a monthly DEX volume of $107.865 billion (as of Dec. 27). These competitors registered $91.444 billion and $84.168 billion, respectively.
With $129.736 billion in DEX volume in November, Solana dominated the market again, far surpassing Ethereum’s $70.635 billion.
Raydium is the most popular single-chain DEX
The success of Solana demonstrates its increasing popularity in the decentralized finance (DeFi) industry.
The increase in activity in Solana-based DEXs such as Lifinity, Orca, and Raydium suggests that projects and users are giving the blockchain’s scalability and efficiency top priority. Over the past 30 days, Raydium and Orca have recorded $59.642 billion and $23.252 billion, respectively.
PancakeSwap and Uniswap, on the other hand, processed larger quantities, totaling $95.18 billion and $110.219 billion, respectively.
Raydium, a single-chain DEX that only uses Solana, managed to rank third in the overall DEX ranking, according to DefiLlama, while Uniswap and PancakeSwap are multi-chain DEXs.
Despite the SOL price decline, Solana TVL is rising
Increased interest in this blockchain is also evident from Solana’s on-chain activity. According to Artemis data, Solana’s daily transactions hit a record-breaking 1.5 billion as of December 27.
The total value locked (TVL) increased by 57% from $5.8 billion to $9.1 billion, indicating growing confidence in Solana’s DeFi ecosystem and its potential for long-term growth, while the number of daily active wallets dropped somewhat by 9% from 6.7 million in November to 6.1 million in December.
SOL’s price, which has decreased 20% in the last 30 days to $192 per coin, hasn’t yet reflected this spike in activity.
There could be other reasons for this discrepancy between on-chain activity and price, such as investor perception and general market sentiment.
Restaking Drives Solana’s Development
Solana’s December performance extended beyond its DEXs; restaking activities on the blockchain also experienced a notable uptick.
Jito, a Solana staking pool, earned more than $100 million in November and December from tips and priority fees, according to a report from Kairos Research dated December 26.
According to Kairos, Jito’s validators increased tip revenues by 32% on average every month in 2024. In November, monthly income reached a peak of over $210 million.
In addition to reflecting the Solana network’s increasing popularity, this upward trend also emphasizes the expanding significance of Maximum Extractable Value (MEV). Validators are using MEV tactics more and more, giving some transactions priority over others in order to increase their profits.
