Solana ‘beats’ Ethereum on the stablecoins front, leaving SOL’s price at…

• Solana recorded the highest stablecoin transfers, compared to all other networks
• However, interest in Solana’s DeFi sector and NFTs fell

Despite the Solana [SOL] ecosystem recording significant growth over the last few months, interest in the network hasn’t slowed down in the slightest.

Solana retains dominance

As per the new VISA dashboard, Solana has recorded significantly more stablecoin transactions than any other blockchain, surpassing both Ethereum and other popular networks. In March 2024, Solana held a whopping 42.3% of the market share, compared to just 1.9% a year prior. Solana’s fast transaction speeds and low fees make it ideal for high-frequency trading, which contributes significantly to its stablecoin volume.

However, while Solana is a leader, the nature of its transactions is still opaque. A significant portion of these transactions may be coming from bots and may not reflect real users on the Solana network. Moreover, the interest in Solana’s memecoin sector has also driven a majority of activity to the network.

Source: X

Despite the high stablecoin volume, however, the network failed to see growth in the DeFi sector.

In fact, AMBCrypto’s examination of Artemis’ data revealed that the TVL (Total Value Locked) by Solana declined. This meant that users have been losing interest in Solana’s DeFi offerings, something that could impact the overall bottom line for the network.

Source: Artemis

Some trouble ahead

Solana’s NFT sector also took a hit during this period.

For instance, over the past month, the Solana Floor NFT Blue Chip Index fell significantly. This indicated that interest in popular Solana NFTs such as Mad Lads and Solana Monkey Business has declined materially.

Source: Solana Floor

Moreover, there has been a decline in interest in SOL staking too. Over the past week, the amount of SOL staked on the network has seen a massive decline. A significant decline in staking could lead to fewer validators, while potentially making the network more vulnerable to attacks.

The number of validators can also affect transaction processing speed and fees. With fewer validators, there might be a fall in throughput, leading to slower transaction times or higher fees.

Source: Staking Rewards

At press time, Solana was trading at $135.59, with its price down by 5%. Additionally, the volume at which SOL was trading declined by 25.49% on the charts too.

Read Solana’s [SOL] Price Prediction 2024-25

Source: Santiment