Solana’s $9.17 billion DeFi surge hides a stablecoin stockpile ready to ignite

1 week ago

The Solana ecosystem is successful the midst of a rebound, with halfway metrics signaling stronger web participation, superior efficiency, and trading enactment spiking since the opening of April.

Total worth locked (TVL) reached $9.17 billion, up much than 20% implicit the past month, portion the full stablecoin interval surpassed $11.4 billion. This divergence betwixt superior parked successful stablecoins versus superior deployed into protocols shows a marketplace affluent with liquidity and suggests there’s substance for Solana’s rally if sentiment continues to improve.

solana tvlGraph showing the full worth locked (TVL) successful Solana from Jan. 1 to May 21, 2025 (Source: DeFi Llama)

The stablecoin-to-TVL ratio present stands astatine 1.24, meaning that for each $1 deployed successful DeFi connected Solana, $1.24 is idle successful stablecoins. That grade of superior overcollateralization gives users ample adust pulverization to participate caller positions, lend to LPs, oregon rotate into higher-yield strategies. USDC dominates that stablecoin basal with a 73.26% share, showing precocious spot successful a azygous issuer and exposing the chain’s liquidity to imaginable issuer-specific risks.

The resurgence successful DeFi enactment is disposable crossed Solana’s protocols. Jito remains the ascendant subordinate with $3.09 cardinal successful TVL, followed by Jupiter ($2.57 billion), Kamino ($2.46 billion), and Raydium ($1.98 billion). But it’s Raydium that stands out, posting a monolithic 60.71% leap successful TVL implicit the past 30 days, acold outpacing its peers and confirming renewed request for order-book-based trading on-chain.

The apical six protocols present see 4 focused connected staking: Jito, Kamino, Marinade, and Sanctum, unneurotic holding much than $9.23 billion, oregon astir 53% of each DeFi liquidity connected Solana.

Rank Protocol TVL 1-month Change Mcap/TVL Fees (30d) Revenue (30d)
1 Jito $3.09 billion +25.62% 0.22 $74.46 million $2.62 million
2 Jupiter $2.57 billion +18.46% 0.59 $29.32 million $7.80 million
3 Kamino $2.46 billion +13.40% 0.05 $8.53 million $2.18 million
4 Raydium $1.98 billion +60.71% 0.48 $43.13 million $9.84 million
5 Sanctum $1.85 billion +30.87% 0.01 $8.91 million $617,630
6 Marinade $1.83 billion +43.47% 0.03 $10.50 million $677,793
7 Binance Staked SOL $1.45 billion +21.90% N/A N/A N/A
8 Drift $1.10 billion +16.28% 0.18 $1.36 million $1.08 million
9 Meteora $942.89 million +25.97% N/A $122.65 million N/A
10 Orca $334.62 million +23.44% 0.47 $16.51 million $1.98 million

Table showing the apical 10 largest protocols connected Solana by TVL connected May 21, 2025 (Source: DeFi Llama)

In presumption of earthy usage, Solana remains 1 of the astir actively utilized blockchains successful crypto. Over 4.61 cardinal regular progressive addresses and 68.39 cardinal transactions were recorded connected May 21, reflecting a steadfast basal of recurring users. On average, each code processed much than 14 transactions successful a azygous day, showing wide information and precocious engagement per user.

Chain fees totaled $1.73 cardinal implicit the aforesaid 24-hour period, but lone $153,937 of that was captured arsenic protocol revenue. The discrepancy perfectly illustrates Solana’s worth proposition: debased outgo astatine the basal layer. However, worth accrual is not lost; it concentrates connected the exertion layer. App-level gross reached $4.92 cardinal that day, acold supra the chain-level take, confirming that it’s dApps wherever monetization is progressively occurring.

DEX enactment continues to pb trading behavior. Spot DEXs connected Solana processed $3.09 cardinal successful 24-hour volume, compared to conscionable $952.79 cardinal for perpetuals. Over 7 days, DEX spot volumes reached $23.79 billion, portion perps totaled $6.07 billion, a astir 4x difference. This divergence indicates that Solana traders similar spot implicit leverage, oregon astatine slightest they are choosing on-chain execution for their directional bets. DEX measurement present accounts for 13.51% of each SOL spot measurement globally, reflecting increasing marketplace stock for the Solana trading stack.

Meanwhile, protocol-level metrics amusement the ecosystem is monetizing well. Jito generated $74.46 cardinal successful fees implicit 30 days, followed by Raydium astatine $43.13 cardinal and Meteora astatine a staggering $122.65 million, though gross seizure figures were unavailable for the latter. Jupiter posted $29.32 cardinal successful fees, converting $7.8 cardinal of that into revenue. These numbers corroborate that protocol usage is surging successful presumption of liquidity and producing currency flow.

SOL has staged a recovery, precocious crossing backmost supra $170. That marks a 22% summation month-on-month but inactive leaves the token astir 13% beneath its Jan. 1 price. Spot speech information shows mean regular trading measurement for SOL successful May was astir 3.40 cardinal SOL, translating to astir $570 cardinal successful regular turnover. That’s somewhat supra the 2025 regular average, showing a humble resurgence successful interest.

solana sol spot   terms  and volumeChart showing SOL’s spot terms and measurement from Apr. 21 to May 21, 2025 (Source: CryptoQuant)

From a structural perspective, Solana’s fundamentals stay solid. The full backing magnitude for Solana-native projects has climbed to $315.76 million, with different $49.50 cardinal bridged from outer chains. Realized volatility connected SOL has declined to 48% from 62% astatine the extremity of Q1, indicating a play of consolidation oregon imaginable accumulation.

While stablecoin balances dropped 3.79% implicit the past week, apt reflecting short-term de-risking, the broader inclination remains constructive. Net inflows into Solana-based DeFi protocols implicit the past period totaled astir $1.5 billion, with liquid staking strategies capturing the lion’s share. These flows, combined with rising idiosyncratic activity, reenforce the communicative of a concatenation regaining its marketplace presumption aft a turbulent aboriginal year.

The station Solana’s $9.17 cardinal DeFi surge hides a stablecoin stockpile acceptable to ignite appeared archetypal connected CryptoSlate.

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