Solana’s Economic Growth in 2025: A Data-Driven Look Beyond Memes

Solana is one of the fastest Layer 1 blockchains in the ecosystem and consistently ranks in the top 10 by market capitalization. Known for its high throughput and extremely low fees, it has become a favored chain for both developers and users seeking scalable, real-time experiences.

While its core performance metrics have always been strong, early 2025 brought an unexpected wave of momentum: millions of new users onboarded during January, largely triggered by the memecoin boom — particularly the launch of the $TRUMP token. With MoonPay integration simplifying the onboarding process, retail users were able to purchase tokens directly and participate in Solana’s DeFi ecosystem almost instantly.

But instead of focusing on the meme hype, let’s step back and ask a more fundamental question:
How is Solana performing economically? Is this just speculative noise, or are we witnessing meaningful long-term growth?

To answer that, we’ll walk through five data-backed charts that highlight Solana’s evolving on-chain economy — each revealing a different pillar of its underlying strength. Together, they demonstrate that Solana is not only growing but doing so in more sustainable, diversified ways.

📊 Chart 1: WSOL in DeFi Protocols — A Core Asset Gaining Traction

Wrapped SOL (WSOL) has become the lifeblood of DeFi on Solana. Unlike native SOL, WSOL conforms to the SPL token standard, making it compatible with token-based DeFi protocols.

From the chart, we can observe that over 8 million WSOL is now circulating across DeFi, a significant increase from previous quarters. Jupiter, Solana’s leading DEX aggregator, holds over 60% of WSOL, indicating high-frequency swap activity and capital efficiency. Kamino Finance, one of the top lending protocols, is the second-largest holder of WSOL, where users lock their assets to earn points and yield.

This rise in WSOL balance is meaningful.
It indicates DeFi is not just active — but thriving. Protocols are absorbing liquidity, users are deploying capital, and WSOL is being used in lending, trading, and aggregating strategies across the board.

This trend also points to a more mature ecosystem, where WSOL isn’t just held, but put to productive use — a core signal of economic health.

💵 Chart 2: Stablecoin Growth — A Dual Engine of Liquidity

Stablecoins serve as the primary liquidity layer in DeFi. They’re used for trading pairs, yield farming, lending, and more. Solana’s stablecoin economy has been growing rapidly — driven by both native and non-native assets.

First, we have non-native stablecoins like Ondo USD, PayPal USD, USDS, and DAI. These collectively make up over $600 million in supply, and their growth has been steady month after month. Each of these stablecoins adds value to Solana by diversifying liquidity sources and offering options beyond USDC.

Second — and most significantly — we have native USDC issued by Circle, which saw explosive growth during the $TRUMP coin launch. Native USDC on Solana now exceeds $10 billion in minted supply. More importantly, this supply has remained stable in the months since, indicating that liquidity is not leaving the chain.

This is critical.
Stable liquidity equals economic stickiness. When capital stays on-chain, it fuels more swaps, lending, and protocol interaction. It’s not just TVL that matters — but where that TVL stays.

🤖 Chart 3: MEV Bots and the Rise of WSOL Extraction

Maximum Extractable Value (MEV) activity is a powerful signal of a healthy and active DeFi economy. It represents the ability to profit from inefficiencies — usually through arbitrage or sandwich trades — and requires a deep pool of liquidity and fast execution.

On Solana, the top 3 MEV bots now collectively hold over 60,000 WSOL, with that number skyrocketing since November 2024. These wallets are highly active and specialized, executing sophisticated strategies to extract value from DEX trades.

Paired with this is a sharp rise in swap activity coming from MEV bots themselves. The number of transactions and their total swap volume suggest there’s increasing opportunity to earn profit on Solana.

This is important not just for the bots — but for the chain.
MEV opportunities increase when real value flows through the system. Their rise signals deeper liquidity pools, faster markets, and more on-chain competition.

🔒 Chart 4: Staked SOL via LSTs — Secure Yet Liquid

Solana’s security is directly tied to the amount of SOL that is staked. But traditionally, staking came at the cost of liquidity — users couldn’t use staked SOL in other applications.

That changed with the rise of Liquid Staking Tokens (LSTs) such as JitoSOL. These allow users to stake SOL and earn validator rewards, while also receiving a tokenized representation that can be deployed in DeFi.

As of March 2025, over 40 million SOL is staked via LST protocols, with JitoSOL being the dominant player. This is an all-time high for staked SOL and a major milestone for the ecosystem.

The economic benefit is two-fold:

More SOL is securing the network, increasing decentralization and chain resilience.

Users retain liquidity, allowing them to participate in lending, yield farming, and trading — even while staked.

🚀 Chart 5: Pump.fun and the Memecoin Flywheel

Pump.fun is a standout application that has created a viral flywheel for token creation, trading, and liquidity. With its simple interface, anyone can launch a coin — no dev skills required.

The introduction of Pump.fun’s native DEX further supercharged activity. Since its launch, both TVL and swap volume have hit all-time highs — and they continue to grow even after the initial $TRUMP hype wave.

Even with the memecoin narrative cooling — e.g., $MELANIA launching after $TRUMP’s peak — the platform’s swap volume remains high. This indicates that the application is finding product-market fit, and not just surviving on hype alone.

The memecoin mania may come and go,
but Pump.fun has onboarded hundreds of thousands of users into wallets, swaps, and stablecoin usage.
That creates the foundation for deeper DeFi usage later.

Final Thoughts: What the Data Tells Us

Memes may have brought the spotlight back to Solana, but the underlying numbers show something far more meaningful: Solana’s economy is growing steadily and structurally.

• WSOL usage is scaling in real DeFi applications.
• Stablecoin supply is increasing and sticky.
• MEV bots are actively extracting value from real market flows.
• Staked SOL is reaching new highs, and it’s liquid.
• And platforms like Pump.fun are driving retail onboarding at unprecedented levels.

Ignore the price charts for a moment, and look at the on-chain activity. What you’ll find is an economy in motion — built on liquidity, usage, and innovation.

Solana’s 2025 isn’t just a comeback. It’s an evolution.

Citation:

https://flipsidecrypto.xyz/ahkek76/solana-economic-growth-Ub-VpF

Dune chart by ilemi
https://dune.com/ilemi/solana-staking

Defilamma chart:
https://defillama.com/protocol/pumpswap?volume=true