Solana’s DeFi Ecosystem Expands to $5.7 Billion TVL as Platform Gains Users and Institutional Interest

TLDR:

• Solana’s DeFi TVL reached $5.7 billion in Q3, up 26% from Q2
• Daily active users approaching 7 million, largely driven by meme coin trading
• Kamino leads with $1.5 billion TVL, showing 57% growth
• SOL price reached $185 recently, up 50% in two months
• Institutional support growing with Robinhood and VanEck offerings

The Solana blockchain has recorded a quarter of strong growth, with its Total Value Locked (TVL) in decentralized finance reaching $5.7 billion in the third quarter of 2024, marking a 26% increase from the previous quarter.

Kamino Finance emerged as the leading protocol on Solana, managing $1.5 billion in TVL and achieving a 57% growth rate. The platform’s success stems from recent integrations of jupSOL and PYUSD, along with the launch of Kamino Lend V2, which introduced a permissionless vault and market layer.

Daily active users on the Solana network peaked at nearly 7 million, though the number has recently settled around 5.5 million. Much of this activity comes from meme coin traders operating on decentralized exchanges like Raydium and Jupiter.

Raydium maintains its position as the dominant decentralized exchange on Solana, controlling 51% of market share. However, its daily average volume decreased by 13% to $852 million. The launch of Moonshot, a mobile trading app, helped add $350 million in volume.

Jupiter secured 43% of the total spot exchange volume, bolstered by new developments including Jupiter Mobile and integration with payment services like Google Pay and Apple Pay. Despite these achievements, overall DEX activity showed a 10% decline quarter-over-quarter, with a slight recovery noted in October.

The platform’s stablecoin market received a boost from PayPal’s PYUSD, which launched on Solana in May. This integration helped push Solana’s stablecoin market cap to $3.8 billion. PYUSD’s features, including programmable transfers and transfer hooks, have driven its adoption.

USDC remains a key player in Solana’s stablecoin ecosystem. Circle’s Web 3.0 services integration provides enterprise functionality, including fee sponsorship and programmable wallets, enabling developers to implement multi-chain solutions.

Solana’s price performance has shown volatility, recently touching $185 before pulling back. The cryptocurrency has gained approximately 50% over the past two months, breaking above the $150 mark. Technical analysts suggest $150 serves as a support level, potentially setting up for moves toward $200.

The network’s meme coin phenomenon has played a role in its growth since January. The launch platform Pump.fun has facilitated numerous token releases, each requiring SOL tokens for liquidity provision, creating steady demand pressure.

Beyond meme coins, Solana’s DeFi ecosystem includes mature protocols like Jito, a liquidity staking platform managing over $2.4 billion. Other notable projects include Solayer and Ondo Finance, which manage $275 million and $127 million respectively.

Institutional interest in Solana continues to grow. Robinhood recently expanded its offerings to include SOL for European Union clients. VanEck, known for its spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF applications, launched Europe’s first Solana exchange-traded note (ETN), which includes staking rewards.

The DEX segment shows mixed results, with daily volume averaging $1.7 billion despite the overall quarterly decline. This decrease was partly attributed to reduced meme coin trading activity, though October showed early signs of recovery.

Analysts expect Kamino Finance to maintain its market leadership as it plans to add new features, including Spot Leverage and Lending Orderbook capabilities. These developments could further strengthen Solana’s position in the DeFi landscape.

Circle’s integration of Web 3.0 services for Solana provides additional enterprise features that may attract more developers and projects to the platform. These features aim to simplify the integration of multi-chain solutions for developers.