Week in Solana: DEX-truction and $CARnage
Crypto Basics

Week in Solana: DEX-truction and $CARnage

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1 week ago

After last week's carnage, this week has been relatively calm on the surface, with $SOL slipping just 0.5%.

Week in Solana: DEX-truction and $CARnage

Tabla de contenidos

TL;DR:

  • Solana down 0.44% to $205.26, TVL drops to $9.3 billion
  • Solana’s app revenue is on the rise, outpacing Ethereum
  • Jupiter’s X account gets hacked to promote fake meme coin
  • The SEC may approve a Solana ETF
  • Solana’s DEX trading volume falls 27% to $32.3 billion

Introduction

After last week's carnage, this week has been relatively calm on the surface, with $SOL slipping just 0.5%. But as always, Solana served up a mix of wins, controversies, and surprises upon closer inspection.
Last year, Solana’s revenue growth outpaced Ethereum and other layer-1 competitors. A Messari report revealed that Solana’s app revenue grew by 213% in Q4 2024.
Rumors circulated that Pump.fun, Solana's top meme coin launchpad, was gearing up to release its token. However, co-founder Alon Cohen swiftly debunked these claims.

Speaking of meme coins, the Central African Republic has entered the game, launching its nation’s meme coin on Solana, which surged to a market cap of $900 million before (surprise, surprise), it crashed to $30 million.

View post on Twitter
In more positive news, the newly reformed SEC has given a nod to Grayscale’s revised application, signaling potential approval of a SOL exchange-traded fund (ETF)—a major milestone for Solana.
But the dark side of the crypto world reared its head once again: Jupiter's X account was hacked to promote a fraudulent token, reminding everyone not to believe everything you read on social media.

Here is a roundup of what happened in Solana this week.

Solana Numbers the Last 7 Days

SOL is down less than 1% this week, underscoring a relatively muted week (Feb. 5-11), meanwhile Bitcoin remains below $100K.
Solana's TVL dropped to $9.3 billion, and the number of active addresses rose nearly 12% to 5.8 million.
Source: Artemis
Solana's DEX trading volume continued where it left off last week. This week, it plunged 26.96% to $32.3 billion.
Source: DeFiLlama

There is no reprieve for Solana's DEX trading volumes. Across the board, trading volumes have taken a huge hit, with Drift sliding 70% while Raydium suffered a 25% reduction.

Source: DeFiLlama

How Did Solana Stack Up Against Its Competitors?

XRP, Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana are all down less than 1%. BNB, Cardano and Tron pulled off double-digit gains.
Solana may have had its share of challenges this week, but app revenue wasn’t one of them. In just 24 hours, Solana raked in $12.75 million, far outpacing Ethereum, Tron, and Arbitrum combined. Is Solana the new revenue powerhouse? On Feb. 8, Ethereum’s daily revenue ($731.4K) fell below $1 million for the first time since September 2024.
Source: DeFiLlama

Solana Ecosystem the Last Week

This week, Solana’s struggles are reflected in its ecosystem tokens. Trading volume plunged by 60% as mentioned, but the market cap barely budged, rising less than 1%. It’s a tough reality check for the network’s momentum.

After David Sacks’ speech last week highlighted the Trump administration’s emphasis on stablecoin regulatory clarity, stable asset adoption on Solana has been going parabolic.

There is no surprise here, as most of Solana's ecosystem tokens are reeling with double-digit losses. Many of them are now on a mission to erase the steep losses.

Top Gainers:

  1. ai16z (AI16Z): +51.24%
  2. Terra Classic (LUNC): +22.69%
  3. Helium (HNT): +20.91%
  4. Trust Wallet Token (TWT): +20.38%
  5. Compound (COMP): +15.81%

Top Losers:

  1. Jito (JTO): -8.14%
  2. Cronos (CRO): -6.7%
  3. Jupiter (JUP): -5.37%
  4. Arweave (AR): -4.3%
  5. Lido DAO (LDO): -3.41%

Solana DeFi

Solana's total value plunged 7.25%, losing ground to its competitors. BSC and Tron's TVL gained 3-6% but Ethereum was on the losing end too. Is this just another “Ethereum Killer” rotation part of the cycle?

Source: DeFiLlama
Ethereum’s dominance has slipped to just over 52%, while Solana’s share has dipped to 8.58%. Meanwhile, Bitcoin and Tron hold steady in third and fourth place. Are we witnessing a shift in the rankings, or is this just a temporary dip? Only time will tell.
Source: DeFiLlama

Solana Meme Coins

  • Solana's meme coins had mixed fortunes. However, this week belonged to Stool Prisondente (JAILSTOOL), a meme coin that skyrocketed 119,000% in five hours following Dave Portnoy’s endorsement.
View post on Twitter

Top Gainers:

  1. Comedian (BAN): +53.71%
  2. Mumu the Bull (MUMU): +50.69%
  3. Popcat (POPCAT): +25.19%
  4. Ponke (PONKE): +24.8%
  5. FWOG (FWOG): +24.37%

Top Losers:

  1. Musk It (MUSK): -52.55%
  2. Bopaoppa (BOPAOPPA): - 28.98%
  3. Daddy Tate (DADDY): -22.63%
  4. michi (MICHI): -19.78%
  5. Smoking Chicken Fish (SCF): -17.18%

Solana DePIN

Source: DePIN Scan
  • Solana's DePIN ecosystem enjoyed some major gains this week. Helium (HNT) and Helium IOT (IOT) were the biggest winners this week.
  • Nosana and io.net suffered double-digit losses.

NFTs

  • Solana's dominance was trimmed to 36.4% of NFT users, down from nearly 50% last week.
  • Ethereum (18.5%) has marginally surrendered its second position to Base (18.7%).
Source: NFT Pulse

Top 5 Solana News Stories

Solana Outshines Ethereum in App Revenue

Solana continues to outpace Ethereum in app revenues, with Solana apps generating up to 10x more revenue, even amid a cooling crypto market.

Solana App Revenues Skyrocket 213% in Q4

Solana saw a 213% surge in app revenues during Q4 2024, driven by meme coin speculation. Cumulative revenues grew from $268 million to $840 million, with a peak of $367 million in November.

Jupiter's X Account Hacked To Promote Scam Meme Coins

Jupiter's X account was hijacked by scammers to promote fake meme coins.
View post on Twitter

SEC Takes Key Step Toward Solana ETF Approval

The SEC has acknowledged Grayscale’s amended application for a spot Solana ETF, signaling a potential shift in its stance toward crypto. This marks a significant move, as the SEC previously denied similar attempts for Solana ETFs.
View post on Twitter

Central African Republic Launches Meme Coin

The President of the Central African Republic announced the launch of $CAR, a meme coin aimed at uniting the nation and supporting its development. This experimental move seeks to put the country on the global stage in a unique way.

What You Can Do Now

  1. Follow Solana as its apps outshine Ethereum in revenue.
  2. Study how Solana's ecosystem is growing as its app revenue skyrocketed in Q4.
  3. Stay vigilant as scammers pounce on unsuspecting victims.
  4. Keep your ear to the ground as the SEC draws closer to a potential Solana ETF approval.
  5. Remain careful as non-crypto parties like the Central African Republic create and shill coins that may not have real value.
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