Solana’s native token sol (SOL) fell 9% between March 28th and April 4th, but several key metrics increased over the same period. Despite Sol’s price drop, Solana Network continues to outperform its competitors and remains second in deposits and trading volumes. Traders are now wondering how long it will cost Sol to reflect this on-chain strength.
Solana outperforms its rivals in TVL deposits and Dex volumes
The decline in investor interest in SOL may be linked to the unlocking of the $1.79 million unstaking on April 4th. Sales pressure is clear as these tokens were staked in April 2021, when they traded nearly $23 in April 2021. Another factor was the decline in interest at Memecoins, a major factor in new user recruitment at Solana. With less speculative influx, activity growth does not lead to immediate price increases.
Cryptocurrencies with several meme-themed cryptocurrencies, including WIF, PENGU, POPCAT, AI16Z, BOME, and ACT, have seen a decline of over 20% over the past seven days. However, despite the worsening market conditions, the Solana Network was ahead of some of its competitors. The locked total value (TVL) rose to the highest level since June 2022, while the distributed exchange (DEX) volume showed significant resilience.
Solana Total Vale Locked (TVL), Sol. Source: Defilama
Solana Network’s Dapps deposits rose to Sol of 53.8 million on April 2, showing a 14% increase from the previous month. On the US dollar terms, the total $6.5 billion is favoring $780 million over its closest competitor, the BNB chain. TVL’s Solana top dap includes Jito (Liquid Staking), Jupiter (Leading Dex), and Kamino (Lending and Ryutidity Platform).
Solana supports scalability and Web3 focus despite MEV concerns
While not a direct threat to Ethereum’s $50 billion TVL, Solana’s Onchain data shows greater resilience compared to BNB chains, Tron, and Ethereum Layer-2 networks such as Base and Arbitrum. According to Defilama data, in decentralized exchange (DEX) volumes, Solana holds a market share of 24%, while the BNB chain accounts for 12%, with the base 10%.
DEX gains monthly market share. Source: Defilama
Ethereum regained the lead in Dex volume, but Solana showed strong resilience after the Memecoin Bubble Burst. Due to context, the weekly volume of Raydium fell 95% from the $42.9 billion that reached mid-January. Still, Solana has demonstrated that traders focus on basic layer scalability and integrated Web3 user experience despite continuing criticism related to the greatest extractable value (MEV).
Source: x/cbb0fe
In short, MEV occurs when Validators sort transactions for profit. Although this practice is not specific to Solana, some market participants have raised concerns about insider gatekeeping, such as User CBB0FE, a self-proclaimed distributed financial (DEFI) liquidity provider. Although not stated directly, the criticism refers to the incentives offered by Solana Labs, which offsets the high investment and maintenance costs that a particular baritator needs.
Proponents of Solana’s token emissions change argue that the rewards acquired through the MEV already provide enough incentives to variators to protect their networks, eliminating the need for further inflationary pressures on SOL. Meanwhile, Rolling Harkness, a central contributor to the shutter network, advocates encrypting transactions before entering the memo pool as a way to prevent the baritler from manipulating the order.
Solana’s growth in Dex market share Resilience’s Solana’s Dex market share may not be enough for Sol to retest the $200 level seen in mid-February. However, it firmly secures the second place behind Ethereum as the leading platform for distributed applications supported by consistent activity, infrastructure development and increased interest from both developers and users.
This article is for general informational purposes and is not intended to be considered legal or investment advice, and should not be done. The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect or express Cointregraph’s views and opinions.
