Solana Surpasses Ethereum in Market Cap Thanks to Memecoin-Powered DEX Growth

Solana has been making waves in the world of decentralized exchanges (DEXs) recently. According to DeFiLlama, the transaction volume on Solana’s DEXs has more than doubled in just a month, jumping from $52.5 billion in October to a whopping $124.09 billion in the last 30 days. That’s a huge number!

Raydium, the leading DEX on Solana, has been a major player in this surge, handling a staggering $80.42 billion of those volumes in the past month alone. To put that in perspective, Raydium’s trading volumes have surpassed all DEXs on Ethereum combined, which came in at $66.95 billion. That’s not all – Raydium’s volumes are even double that of Coinbase’s Base network, which recorded $42.78 billion.

And it’s not just Raydium that’s been thriving on Solana. Orca DEX followed with $22.02 billion in 30-day volumes, and Lifinity wasn’t far behind with $10.63 billion. In comparison, Ethereum’s top DEX, Uniswap (UNI), recorded $48.54 billion in trading volumes over the same period, while Aerodrome, Base’s top DEX, accounted for $25.2 billion.

If we look at the numbers, Solana has been dominating the DEX scene, with a 35.63% volume share as of Nov. 1, far ahead of Ethereum’s 18.66%. This shift in dominance began in July when Solana DEXs outperformed ETH DEXs for the first time. Memecoins like Peanut the Squirrel (PNUT), Just a Chill Guy (CHILLGUY), and Goatseus Maximum (GOAT) have been big hits on Solana lately, further boosting its volumes.

But there’s a catch – a big chunk of this trading activity is driven by Pump.fun token transactions, which have accounted for over half of all Solana DEX transactions since August 2024. While memecoins have been a major draw to the Solana network, concerns are rising about Pump.fun’s impact. The platform has faced criticism for promoting violence, death, and sexual acts in its livestreams to push new memecoins, leading to calls for a ban.

For now, Pump.fun has removed the controversial livestream feature, but the reputational damage may linger. This could potentially lead to a decline in tokens launching on Pump.fun, affecting the overall liquidity of the Solana ecosystem. Let’s hope that Solana can navigate through these challenges and continue to shine in the world of decentralized exchanges.