Solana has surpassed Ethereum in daily network fee generation, indicating growing user activity on the world’s third-largest blockchain.
Solana has generated over $2.54 million worth of fees during the past 24 hours, surpassing Ethereum’s $2.07 million on Oct. 28 — making Solana the fifth-largest fee-generating protocol in the crypto space, according to DefiLlama data.
Protocols by 24-hour fees. Source: DefiLlama
Solana’s soaring fees are correlated with growing trading activity on its leading decentralized exchange (DEX), Raydium, which generated over $3.41 million worth of fees on the Solana blockchain during the past 24 hours.
Solana protocols by 24-hour fees. Source: DefiLlama
Solana is often referred to as an “Ethereum killer” for its monolithic scaling approach, which aims to enhance transaction throughput and reduce fees without relying on layer 2 (L2) blockchains.
In contrast, Ethereum’s fragmented structure depends on L2 solutions to achieve scalability, which some critics argue disperses value away from the Ethereum mainnet to side chains.
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Ethereum nears $135 million in 30-day fees, leading Solana
Despite Solana’s recent growth, its transaction fees still fall short of Ethereum’s over a longer time frame.
Looking at the past 30 days, Ethereum generated nearly $134.6 million in transaction fees, cementing its position as the leading blockchain and third-largest protocol by fees.
Protocols by 30-day fees. Source: DefiLlama
In the same period, Solana generated $61.3 million in monthly fees, or about 45% of Ethereum’s 30-day total, DefiLlama data shows.
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“Degen” memecoin trading drives 47% of Solana’s monthly fees
Nearly half of Solana’s monthly revenue came from activities related to memecoins.
More than 47% of Solana’s monthly revenue was driven by transactions on the memecoin launchpad Pump.fun, which contributed approximately $29.5 million of Solana’s $61.7 million in fees over the past month.
Pump.fun, monthly fees. Source: DefiLlama
Interest in Solana-based memecoins surged earlier this year. By March, new memecoins attracted more than $100 million in Solana (SOL) investments. Crypto researchers warned of an overheated memecoin market hitting “peak degeneracy” two months after the launch of Pump.fun.
However, 98.6% of memecoins on Pump.fun never make it to Raydium, underscoring the risks of memecoin trading.
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