Solana becomes the second-largest chain by DeFi TVL as revenue surges in Q 2024

Solana has risen to become the second-largest blockchain by DeFi TVL (surpassing Tron), while its app revenue saw an impressive 213% quarter-over-quarter surge.

According to the State of Solana Q4 2024 report by Messari, Solana has climbed to the second-largest blockchain by DeFi TVL, growing by 64% to $8.6 billion quarter-over-quarter. Moreover, its app revenue surged 213% quarter-over-quarter, fueled by heightened speculative trading in memecoins and AI tokens.

Solana’s rapid ascent in the DeFi rankings has been driven by surging activity across its decentralized exchanges, lending protocols, and staking platforms. Among the biggest contributors to this growth was Raydium, which ended the quarter as the leading DeFi protocol on Solana with $2.1 billion in TVL, an 86% QoQ increase. Jupiter Perps, a decentralized perpetuals exchange, also saw an impressive 130% QoQ jump in TVL to $1.7 billion. 

Alongside its rise in DeFi dominance, Solana also saw a 213% QoQ surge in app revenue (Chain GDP), from $268 million to $840 million in Q4. Leading the charge in app revenue were Pump.fun ($235M, +242% QoQ), Photon ($140M, +278% QoQ), and Raydium ($74M, +268% QoQ). The boom in speculative trading on memecoins and AI-related tokens fueled much of this revenue growth, with dApps benefiting from increased transaction fees and swap volumes.

The key driver behind Solana’s DeFi and revenue expansion has been the speculation around memecoins and AI tokens. The resurgence of meme trading, following the 2024 U.S. election, saw massive inflows into projects launched on Solana. Tokens like ai16z (AI16z) and fartcoin (FARTCOIN) gained huge traction, leading to heightened trading activity on Solana-based DEXs. 

Raydium, which dominated the Solana DEX market with a 56% share and a 242% QoQ increase in daily trading volume ($1.9B), played a pivotal role in facilitating these trades. Similarly, Pump.fun, a memecoin launchpad, became the fourth-largest DEX on Solana after a 228% QoQ increase in volume.