Solana DEXs momentarily outpace Ethereum amid surge in memecoin, stablecoin activity

On Dec. 16, the trading volume of decentralized exchanges (DEX) on Solana briefly flipped that of Ethereum for the first time amid the continued growth of the smart-contract-enabled blockchain ecosystem.

Data from DeFillama shows that the trading volume of DEXs on the blockchain reached $1.536 billion, while Ethereum stood at only $1.164 billion during the period.

Several community members hailed the development, with Solana’s co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko saying:

“I am just pacing around the house and saying whoa over and over at this point.”

Meanwhile, Ethereum’s daily volume has since returned to its dominant position, with $945 million recorded during the past day, while that of Solana stood at $940 million as of press time.

However, the brief flipping of Dec. 16 indicates the robust growth and widespread adoption of Solana’s decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem among crypto enthusiasts.

As it stands, DEX volume on the blockchain is on course to exceed $10 billion for December, making it the most prolific month on record for the network, per DeFillama data.

Bonk, USDC driving Solana volume

CryptoSlate’s analysis of the Orca exchange’s volume, the largest Solana-based DEX, showed that a significant portion of these trading activities came from the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin and the Bonk memecoin.

BONK is the first dog-themed coin on Solana, bringing renewed attention and interest to the blockchain network. CryptoSlate reported that the digital asset added more than $1 billion to its market capitalization within a day last week, making it the third-largest memecoin by market capitalization, behind only Dogecoin and Shiba Inu.

Interest in the meme asset also resulted in Solana’s blockchain-enabled Saga smartphones selling out over the weekend. Reports have revealed that the secondary sales of these phones on eBay were going for as much as $5,000.

On the other hand, Circle’s CEO Jeremy Allaire previously revealed that 90% of all stablecoin transaction volume on Solana was USDC. USDC is the second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization.

Meanwhile, Helium’s MOBILE token is another asset enjoying widespread attention from the Solana community. Trading in the asset has increased more than 70% during the past day, with its price rising 71% to $0.006621 as of press time.