tl;dr
Solana (SOL) is the fastest-growing Layer 1 blockchain in 2025, surpassing Ethereum in developer growth and expanding across DeFi, payments, and AI. In early 2025, Solana processed $364 billion in volume and supports over 100 million monthly active users, with low fees and fast transactions attracti...
Solana is rapidly emerging as a key Layer 1 blockchain for digital finance, outpacing Ethereum in developer growth, transaction volume, and adoption across DeFi, payments, and AI sectors, with significant institutional support and undervalued market potential.
In 2025, Solana (SOL) stands as the fastest-growing Layer 1 blockchain, surpassing Ethereum in developer growth and expanding rapidly across decentralized finance, payments, and artificial intelligence. The network processed $364 billion in transaction volume and supports over 100 million monthly active users. Solana's low fees, averaging under $0.01, and sub-second transaction finality attract both crypto-native users and major institutions.
Major companies such as Visa, Shopify, Stripe, PayPal, and First Digital leverage Solana for stablecoin payments and asset holdings. The stablecoin supply on Solana has soared by 600% year-over-year, now exceeding $12 billion. Its DeFi ecosystem doubled to $8 billion in total value locked, closing the market share gap with Ethereum from 20:1 to 5:1. Memecoins drive over half of the on-chain volume, evidenced by the Official TRUMP token that generated $30 billion in trades within 48 hours, momentarily pushing throughput to levels comparable to Nasdaq.
Solana leads the decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN) market, with a $4.2 billion market cap supporting projects like Helium, Hivemapper, and Render Network. It dominates the crypto-AI sector, accounting for 66% of AI agent activity and growing adoption of AI tools such as ElizaOS and Arc.
Despite concerns over validator centralization and inflationary pressures after transaction fee burns ended, valuation models suggest Solana remains significantly undervalued. Discounted cash flow analyses project a fair value range of $520 to $1,800 per SOL token, far exceeding its current price near $150. If Solana captures half of Ethereum’s market capitalization, it could experience sustained growth fueled by payments, AI integration, and increasing institutional adoption.
As of May 13, 2025, Solana ranks #6 by market capitalization at $92.81 billion, with a 24-hour trading volume of $4.52 billion and a recent price increase of 4.65%. The total cryptocurrency market stands at $3.37 trillion with Bitcoin dominance at 61.39%, underscoring Solana's rising prominence in the digital asset ecosystem.