Key Insights
- Solana dominated the market lately, in terms of stablecoin and total DEX volume.
- Data from DefiLlama shows that Solana’s stablecoin supply soared to $10.5 billion since the start of January.
- Solana DEXs also collectively recorded a staggering $25 billion in trading volume (around 74% of the total DEX trading across all chains).
- The catalyst for this stellar performance was the launch of the official $TRUMP memecoin on 17 January.
Solana, one of the fastest blockchain networks and closest competitor to Ethereum has seen a massive surge in activity and liquidity.
Only last week, the cryptocurrency hit an all time high of around $270 amid the surge of other Solana-based cryptocurrencies.
The unlikely catalyst for this reaction turns out to be the official $TRUMP memecoin, linked to US president Donald Trump between 17 December and the time of writing.
This unexpected development has so far fueled record-breaking trading volumes on Solana-based decentralized exchanges.
It has also pushed the blockchain to the forefront of the stablecoin economy.
Here’s a closer look at how this memecoin revolution affected Solana’s trajectory throughout January.
Solana’s Stablecoin Surge
Solana is known for being lightning fast in terms of transactions, and offering its users low fees.
This has made it a prime choice for defi and trading over the years. It is also one of the reasons why the memecoin revolution for this cycle occurred on the Solana network.
Recent data, however, now shows this blockchain’s growth explosion in stablecoin activity.
The snapshot above shows data from DefiLlama, which indicates that Solana’s stablecoin supply soared to $10.5 billion since the start of January.
This represents a twofold increase with USDC and USDT leading the charge.
Circle’s USDC expanded impressively, hitting a high of $8.5 billion—up to a $4 billion rise in less than a month.
Tether’s USDT on the other hand, more than doubled. This stablecoin climbed from $917 million to nearly $2 billion within the same timeframe.
In essence, the increased availability of these two stablecoins played key roles in positioning Solana as a hub for high-volume crypto transactions.
The TRUMP Memecoin Frenzy Played a Key Role
The launch of the official TRUMP memecoin on 17 January also set the stage for a major increase in trading activity.
This memecoin was initially paired for trading with USDC on the Solana-based Meteora DEX, and quickly gained traction among traders as the liquidity poured in.
The day of the official TRUMP launch saw Solana DEXs collectively record a staggering $25 billion in trading volume (around 74% of the total DEX trading across all chains).
As mentioned earlier, the price of the native $SOL token also jumped massively, gaining around 20% in value and outperforming Bitcoin’s 2% move.
Available data now shows that Solana accounts for nearly $11 billion of the global stablecoin market, which recently broke above the $215 billion mark according to CoinMarketCap.
Solana also processed $1.6 trillion in stablecoin transfers in January alone, which is a log more than Ethereum’s $607 billion over the same timeframe.
What Next For Solana?
Solana’s growing dominance in the stablecoin market and its ability to attract new users shows why it is Ethereum’s biggest competitor.
The launch of the TRUMP memecoin played a huge role in Solana’s stellar performance this month, with billions of dollars in stablecoin volume flowing in.
However, the future of Solana will depend on its ability to maintain this momentum, especially with competition from other smaller but nonetheless powerful networks like Sui and Aptos.
