In early 2025, a notable shift has emerged in the blockchain landscape: Solana has consistently outperformed Ethereum in weekly average transaction fees since January 9. This trend, coupled with surging trading volumes on Solana, signals growing network demand and raises an important question—could Solana be gaining ground as a preferred platform for decentralized activity?
While Ethereum remains the dominant force in decentralized finance (DeFi) and smart contract execution, Solana’s efficiency, speed, and lower congestion during peak usage have attracted developers and traders alike. Over the past several weeks, Solana’s 7-day average transaction fees have exceeded Ethereum’s by more than $3 million—despite some fluctuations in February. This sustained outperformance suggests more than just a temporary spike; it reflects increasing user engagement and ecosystem momentum.
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Recent on-chain data confirms that Solana’s total transaction fee revenue has consistently surpassed Ethereum’s since early January. Although Ethereum still leads in cumulative fees over time due to its larger and more mature DeFi ecosystem, Solana’s ability to generate higher weekly fees highlights a shift in short-term network utilization.
According to Glassnode, Solana has maintained fee dominance over Ethereum for multiple consecutive weeks—a rare occurrence given Ethereum’s historical lead in this metric. This reversal is particularly significant because transaction fees are a direct indicator of network demand. When users are willing to pay more in aggregate, it reflects active usage, from swaps and NFT mints to DeFi interactions.
Several factors contribute to this trend:
High-throughput architecture: Solana’s proof-of-history (PoH) consensus allows for faster block times and greater scalability.
Lower per-transaction cost during high activity: Even with rising fees, Solana remains cost-efficient compared to Ethereum during congestion.
Growth in meme coin and retail trading activity: Platforms like Pump.fun have driven massive user onboarding, increasing transaction volume.
Despite temporary dips in February, the gap in weekly fees has remained above $3 million, underscoring consistent demand for Solana’s infrastructure.
While transaction fees reflect network usage, trading volume provides insight into liquidity and market participation. Here, Solana has also made impressive strides.
Data from DeFiLlama reveals that Solana has outpaced Ethereum in spot trading volume over several recent weeks. Most notably:
On January 18, Solana recorded a single-day trading volume spike exceeding $35 billion.
In contrast, Ethereum’s highest volume during the same four-month window peaked at $7.6 billion on February 3.
This staggering difference highlights a surge in retail-driven trading activity on Solana-based decentralized exchanges (DEXs) such as Orca and Raydium. Much of this volume stems from the explosive popularity of meme tokens—low-cap, community-driven assets that thrive on fast and affordable transactions.
However, it’s important to distinguish between speculative volume and sustainable economic activity. While high volume indicates strong user interest, Ethereum continues to lead in total value locked (TVL), stablecoin transfers, and institutional-grade DeFi protocols. Therefore, while Solana wins in raw trading numbers, Ethereum maintains an edge in long-term ecosystem depth.
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Despite strong fundamentals, Solana’s price action has remained relatively flat in early 2025. At the time of writing, SOL was trading at $196.27, down 1.58% over the past 24 hours. Technical indicators show mixed signals:
The 50-day moving average stands at $212.35—currently above the market price, suggesting short-term bearish pressure.
The 200-day moving average is at $183.31—providing a longer-term support level.
This creates a technical range between ~$183 and ~$212, where traders are closely watching for breakout or breakdown signals. Historically, sustained increases in network usage have preceded price rallies—so Solana’s fee and volume momentum could foreshadow future gains if adoption continues.
Ethereum, meanwhile, benefits from broader institutional support, upcoming protocol upgrades (such as EIP-4844 reducing Layer 2 costs), and its role as the backbone of most Web3 applications. These factors help maintain ETH’s valuation even when short-term metrics fluctuate.
Still, Solana’s ability to challenge Ethereum in core performance metrics—even temporarily—marks a pivotal moment in the smart contract platform race.
Solana vs Ethereum
Solana transaction fees
Ethereum network fees
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Solana's higher short-term transaction fees are driven by surges in retail trading activity, particularly around meme coins and NFTs. Its fast and scalable network handles thousands of transactions per second, leading to increased fee collection during periods of high demand—even if individual fees are lower than Ethereum's.
Not necessarily. While Solana has seen higher spot trading volume recently—especially due to speculative tokens—Ethereum still leads in key areas like total value locked (TVL), stablecoin throughput, and institutional adoption. Volume spikes can be temporary; sustainable growth requires deeper ecosystem fundamentals.
It depends on continued user engagement and developer innovation. If Solana sustains high levels of DeFi, NFT, and token launch activity, fee dominance could persist. However, Ethereum’s upgrades and Layer 2 scaling solutions may reduce congestion and reclaim fee leadership during peak usage periods.
Transaction fees reflect network demand. High and rising fees often precede price increases because they signal active usage. However, excessively high fees can deter users. The ideal scenario is strong demand with reasonable costs—exactly what Solana aims to deliver.
Both have distinct strengths. Solana offers high performance and lower costs, appealing to retail users and fast-moving traders. Ethereum provides security, decentralization, and a mature ecosystem favored by institutions and long-term builders. Diversification across both may be optimal depending on risk tolerance and investment goals.
Key drivers include expanding institutional adoption, improving developer tooling, enhancing cross-chain interoperability, and reducing downtime risks. Continued growth in real-world asset tokenization and decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN) projects on Solana could also strengthen its competitive position.
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The battle between Solana and Ethereum is no longer just about technology—it's about adoption momentum. In early 2025, Solana demonstrated it can not only compete but temporarily surpass Ethereum in critical metrics like transaction fees and trading volume.
While Ethereum retains structural advantages in security, decentralization, and ecosystem maturity, Solana’s agility and performance are capturing attention—and capital. Whether this translates into lasting market share gains will depend on sustaining developer interest, minimizing outages, and evolving beyond speculative trends into foundational Web3 use cases.
One thing is clear: the era of Ethereum dominance is being challenged like never before. And as Layer 1 blockchains evolve, users now have real choices backed by measurable on-chain performance.
For investors and builders alike, monitoring these shifts isn’t just insightful—it’s essential.