Solana's application revenue soars by 46% in 2025 to $2.39 billion, with multiple metrics reaching new highs

2025 is the year for Solana to demonstrate its ecosystem resilience and achieve breakthrough growth. The network’s application revenue surged by 46% year-over-year, reaching $2.39 billion, setting a new record.

Meanwhile, its native token SOL showed strong momentum on the Gate exchange. As of January 7, 2026, the latest trading price of SOL was approximately $138.75, up from a month earlier, indicating sustained market confidence.

01 Year in Review

2025 was a milestone year for Solana. Known for high throughput and low transaction costs, this blockchain delivered impressive results in ecosystem activity, technological adoption, and financial performance.

The most notable data is its network application revenue, which reached $2.39 billion for the year, a significant 46% increase compared to 2024. This figure directly reflects the real and frequent economic activities of developers and users on the Solana chain.

Market recognition of Solana’s value is also reflected in its market capitalization. Although it retreated from its all-time high at the beginning of 2025, its market cap remains solidly in the hundreds of billions of dollars, making it one of the leading mainstream blockchains by market cap.

The driving forces behind this growth are diverse. Continuous optimization of network performance enables complex applications, the booming DeFi and NFT markets generate substantial trading demand, and the influx of developers helps build a more attractive and practical ecosystem loop.

02 Deep Dive into Key Metrics

From technical indicators to market performance, multiple dimensions confirm Solana’s healthy development and strong appeal in 2025.

Core data overview: Besides the record-breaking $2.39 billion application revenue, the number of daily active addresses and daily transaction counts on the Solana network also remained high in the industry. The total value locked (TVL) on-chain during the DeFi summer repeatedly surpassed $10 billion, solidifying its position as the second-largest smart contract platform after Ethereum.

Price and market dynamics: The price trajectory of SOL is a barometer of market sentiment. Monthly data shows that in January 2025, SOL was approximately $231.64, experiencing market fluctuations and ending the year in December at around $124.48.

Entering 2026, prices showed signs of recovery. According to data from Gate exchange as of January 7, SOL was approximately $138.75, with a peak of $141.09 on that day.

Ecosystem activity: On-chain activity prosperity is fundamental. Take Meme coin trading platform Pump.fun as an example. Driven by the Meme coin craze in the Solana ecosystem, its single-day trading volume on January 6, 2026, broke through $2 billion for the first time. The emergence and explosion of such phenomenal applications are the best proof of a vibrant ecosystem.

03 Ecosystem Prosperity and Revenue Growth

The explosive growth in application revenue is not accidental; it is rooted in substantial prosperity and innovation across various segments of the Solana ecosystem.

Maturity and innovation in the DeFi ecosystem: Decentralized exchanges, lending protocols, and derivatives platforms on Solana experienced product iterations and deep integrations in 2025. Lower transaction costs and near-instant settlement speeds attracted many users and institutions sensitive to trading experience.

Emerging DeFi primitives, such as oracle-based leverage strategies and automated yield aggregators, also chose Solana for their initial launches, further enriching its financial Lego set.

NFT and digital asset evolution: Solana’s NFT market has gradually expanded beyond simple profile picture projects to practical fields like gaming assets, music, ticketing, and physical asset tokenization.

Its high traffic and low minting costs make it one of the preferred platforms for artists and brands to conduct digital issuance, with related transactions generating considerable on-chain fee income.

Emerging sectors and future potential: In 2025, Solana also saw early projects emerging in frontier areas such as physical infrastructure networks, decentralized social platforms, and AI agents.

For example, AI agent DeFi ecosystem projects like INFINIT began to appear, aiming to leverage artificial intelligence to revolutionize user interactions with decentralized finance, representing future innovation directions.

04 Market Dynamics and Institutional Interest

The traditional financial world’s attention and acceptance of Solana reached new heights in 2025, bringing a broader investor base and legitimacy.

The biggest catalyst was the development of spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Although US spot Bitcoin ETFs experienced net outflows in early January 2026, the overall narrative for crypto ETFs continued to strengthen.

Market expectations for Solana spot ETFs are rising. Data shows that on January 6, 2026, the US Solana spot ETF achieved a single-day net inflow of $9.22 million.

This capital flow indicates that even amid market volatility, incremental funds continue to focus on and deploy in Solana.

Actions by top global financial institutions are also noteworthy. For instance, Morgan Stanley has submitted ETF applications for Bitcoin and Solana.

Notably, these two products are rarely directly branded as “Morgan Stanley,” which is uncommon among its extensive ETF lineup, highlighting the institution’s emphasis on this asset class.

05 Trading SOL on Gate

For investors and traders looking to participate in the Solana ecosystem, choosing a secure, comprehensive, and highly liquid trading platform is crucial.

As one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges, Gate offers users a one-stop service for trading, investing, and managing SOL assets.

Trading and investment options: On Gate, users can conveniently trade SOL spot, enjoying competitive trading depth and transaction fees as low as 0.1%.

For users seeking more strategies, Gate also provides leveraged trading, perpetual contracts, and copy trading among other advanced financial tools.

Value-added and income services: Gate’s financial product suite allows users to earn network rewards through staking SOL, achieving passive asset growth.

The platform also offers structured products like “Simple Earn” and dual-currency investments, catering to different risk and return preferences, making it an ideal way for long-term holders to accumulate assets.

Security and compliance assurance: Gate holds compliant licenses in multiple jurisdictions, including the VFA license in Malta and operational approval from Dubai’s VARA.

The platform employs a multi-layer security architecture, including cold storage for most assets and regular reserve proof reports, with the latest reserve ratio exceeding 128%, ensuring the safety and transparency of user assets.

Future Outlook

As of January 7, 2026, SOL on Gate hovers around $138.75. Its market cap remains at $78.235 billion, with a 24-hour trading volume exceeding $6.161 billion, demonstrating abundant market liquidity.

Looking at the long-term monthly price trend, SOL reached a peak of $208.74 in September 2025. Continuous record-high network revenue and expanding financial products outline a clear path from technological breakthroughs to value capture for this high-speed blockchain.