I think we all have a feeling that Solana keeps on growing as an ecosystem and users continue to join the blockchain. But how are users actually getting onboarded? And how many of them stick around?

In this report we will look at three categories users can interact with and follow their retention rates over the course of 6 weeks. These categories are:

1. Programs

2. NFTs

3. Tokens

A quick note on new users: we’re considering an address to be new if it did not make any transaction in the respective category over the two months prior to the first week included by our time frame. While this does not mean all of the addresses are going to be at their all time first transaction, we can say that previous onboarding attempts were not successful.

The dashboard containing all the data, queries and interactive visualizations can be explored by following the link below 👇:

☝️ The dashboard can be updated on-demand by pressing the refresh button 🔄 in the top right corner of the page but be gentle, the queries are quite heavy.

I. Programs

On-chain applications are a collection of functions executed through one or many programs. This can be for example making a swap, staking a token, burning an NFT etc.

For this category we are going to look at the first interaction of an address to with a program that fits in one of the following sub-categories:

• DeFi & Dapps programs

• NFT programs

• DEX programs

Over the entire period, the two most popular programs for new addresses were those associated with Decentralized Exchanges and NFTs. The number of newly active addresses peaked in the week of Sept 5, at over 10k.

The first week of the six included in our time frame seems to be an outlier by the number of new addresses and by retention rate which drops to around 3% in the second week while in all other cases the second week rate sits at around 20%.

Program labels help us bundle together multiple programs as being part of the same larger applications. The next section of the dashboard takes a closer look at these program labels and their associated retention rates.

That differs from the previous section by looking only at continued activity of addresses related to the application that first brought them on in the first place.

This requires a bit more exploration through the live dashboard as there are many data points for each sub-category. However, we can see right away that for each of them there are only a few that generate the most new address.

• DeFi & Dapps programs: Bonfida

• NFT programs: Metaplex

• DEX programs: Jupiter

II. NFTs

Over the last 6 weeks we can see most new addresses being brought in by the ABC NFT project. This recently launched project stood out in the Solana world of NFTs with its childish artwork meant precisely to remind us of the care-free days of childhood. Additionally, the project set a creator fee of 0% which naturally allowed people to more easily trade each item after their initial purchase.

The list of the top 10 projects by the number of new addresses introduced to NFT trading is comprised of other recently minted projects as well, such as Libery Square: The Sinnister Squirrels Syndicate. There are however some older projects that seems to have made a sudden comeback and enticed a new audience such as Froots.

By the second week after their first purchase, most addresses are no longer active, with a retention rate of around 20% for the observed 6 weeks. The retention rate continues to drop in the following weeks at a slower pace and reaches just under 7% by the sixth week.

In the case of NFT purchases, it is worth considering that new users are going to be less likely to jump straight into weekly trading right after their first purchase and that the NFT market moves at a slower pace than other on-chain activities.

It is just as likely that people who finally decided to make a purchase are not going to immediately flip the same item and will likely hold for a longer period of time. While a long time trader buys into new projects as a daily activity, new users will more probably do so out of conviction and will allow themselves more time to get to know the project before making their next move. (Or they will sell either ridiculously high or ridiculously low)

III. Tokens

The volume of new weekly addresses is just as variable as in the other categories and for out time frame it had its peak in the week of Sept 5. In most cases, the second week retention rate falls to around 20% but it goes as low as 16.93%. Over the following weeks the retention rate continues to decrease at a slower pace and by the sixth week we can see a retention rate of 8.44%

These users come swapping FROM and TO a variety of tokens, but some have a more pronounced share of the total number of newly brought in users.

On both sides of the trade the top 10 tokens are responsible for around half of the total number of new addresses. The most traded are wSOL, USDC, USDT - the usual. There are however some others stand out despite their smaller share: Bonfida, GST, Star Atlas and Samoyed Coin. Each of these are tokens of projects that have recently been in the spotlight thanks to their continued development and contribution to the Solana blockchain.

Another token that had a significant volume of new addresses but did not make the top 10 overall is the $DUST tokens of the DeGods NFT project. In anticipation to the mint of y00ts but also as a requirement for minting, the token generated a lot of trading volume and seems to have also attracted a few new addresses into the world of Solana.

Conclusions

• The Solana blockchain is buzzing with activity and there are lots of programs, NFT projects and tokens that put in their fair share of effort to attract and retain new users.

• The programs category is the most diverse and split between multiple sub-categories (that perhaps can branch out even more). In each of them there are projects that represent the majority of new addresses being active on the blockchain and coincide with some of the best retention rates for their own sub-category.

• The second week retention rate of programs is on average 17%. The single sixth week example seems to be an outlier with just 2.37% retention, but the other weekly cohorts point to a higher rate.

• New NFT projects keep being minted and for that reason the share of projects bringing in new addresses is very fragmented, with no single project being a major source of new addresses.

• The second week retention rate of NFT buyers is on average 23% and by the end of the six weeks it drops to around 7%.

• The regular high-volume tokens wSOL, USDC and USDT were still the first choice of new addresses making a swap on a DEX, but there are also a few others that correspond to their continued effort to build quality projects on the Solana blockchain, such as Bonfida, Stepn’s GST, Start Atlas and its two coins and Samoyed Coin.

• The second week retention of Token swappers drops to an average of 19% and by the end of the sixth week it drops to around 8%.