Solana transaction volume hits highest level in more than a year as memecoin activity increases

Solana SOL -4.45% daily transaction volume has reached more than $40 billion, according to The Block’s Data Dashboard. That’s the highest level since October, 2022.

The increase in economic throughput of tokens built using the SPL standard, meanwhile, is at levels not seen since late 2022.

The current value transacted on Solana has surged by 700% compared to the volumes recorded in early December, when the seven-day moving average of transaction volumes was approximately $5 billion.

According to Nansen Research Manager Sandra Leow, “Solana-based transactions have increased from around 20 to 30 million daily transactions to approximately over 50 million at present.”

“We’re also seeing daily active wallets on Solana increase from approximately 120,000 in October 2023 to approximately 470,000 in January 2024 so far,” Leow told The Block.

Solana-based memecoin market activity increases

Data scientist Andrew Hong told The Block that onchain analytics indicate that, following SOL-USDT/USDC pairs, the primary volume within the Solana ecosystem is propelled by three memecoins.

Pointing to a recent Dune Analytics chart, Hong said that “you can see most volume is driven by USDC, USDT, and SOL pairs, following this, the next three are meme coins.”

Solana closed 2023 as the best-performing altcoin. During the cryptocurrency market rally in December, many Solana-based memecoins soared in value. For example, as of January, a Solana-based memecoin called BONK is up over 7000% on its price a year ago.

Data shows that after stablecoin pairings, the next group of SOL pairs by volume are Solana-based memecoins. Image: Andrew Hong Dune Analytics.

Large profits

Reports of large profits from successful Solana-based memecoin trades have appeared on social media. According to blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain, one trader made $2 million after buying a memecoin.

“Starting with only 1.5 SOL, this trader made $2 million in 22 days, a gain of 21,715x, ” Lookonchain posted on X.

Although there have been success stories in the past month, Solana-based memecoin developer Tommy McKaughan stressed that the memecoin market “is a volatile realm, and traders should exercise caution as past successes do not guarantee future gains.”

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