How Solana’s $117B DEX volume overtook Ethereum in 2026

ambcryptoPublished on 2026-02-10Last updated on 2026-02-10

Abstract

"The article discusses how Solana surpassed Ethereum in key metrics in 2026, despite recent price declines for both. Solana achieved a record 160 million daily transactions and saw over $100 million bridged to it in a week, with more than half coming from Ethereum. Crucially, Solana's DEX volume reached $117 billion, more than double Ethereum's $52 billion, driven by memecoins and new token launches. It also outpaced Ethereum in payment growth (755% vs. 625%). However, Ethereum remains dominant in Total Value Locked (TVL) with $136 billion compared to Solana's $17 billion, indicating the battle for blockchain supremacy is far from over."

Over the past two weeks, both Ethereum [ETH] and Solana [SOL] have declined in value. Recent data shows ETH trading at $2,039, down more than 12% in the past week, while SOL dropped over 17% during the same period, according to CoinMarketCap

Solana has been gaining ground in network activity, while Ethereum has experienced a less severe price crash. Transactions, capital flow, DEX volume, and payments data offer insights into how the Ethereum and Solana contest is going in 2026.

Capital flow from Solana to Ethereum

First, Solana‘s daily transaction activity hit a new peak of 160 million this month, as per Blockworks data. The activity has been growing steadily since November 2021, a period when there was an altcoin season.

During this time, SOL was trading around $84. This did not reflect the strength in network activity. However, this weakness was market-wide.

Solana’s strength was not only in activity but also in capital inflows.

Over the last week, more than $100 million was bridged from other chains to SOL, with Ethereum contributing more than $50 million. This demonstrated Solana’s increasing dominance in transaction activity.

Other chains that significantly bridged to Solana were TRON [TRX], Base, Arbitrum [ARB], and BNB Chain, respectively.

Solana doubles Ethereum in DEX volume

Solana also surpassed Ethereum in decentralized exchange (DEX) volume. The data showed Solana at $117 billion, more than double Ethereum’s $52 billion, which ranked second.

The altcoin outperformed BNB Chain, Base, and Arbitrum, which ranked just behind it. This indicates that Solana is excelling not only in comparison to Ethereum but also across the broader crypto sector.

Such high trading volume emanated from projects running on the Solana blockchain. It harbors most of the memecoins, and now tokens in RWA and DePIN, among other sectors, are launching on SOL.

That explains why it has quickly caught up with ETH, which was a leader in most of the DeFi activities.

What about the battle in payments?

Even in the new payment rails, Solana continues to dominate Ethereum, as per Artemis data.

Most of the volume is dominated by fintech like PayPal, which had $1.8 trillion as of writing. On the other hand, Solana and Ethereum had $6.5 billion and $68.2 billion, respectively.

However, in terms of growth percentage, blockchain leads. For instance, SOL grew by 755%, while ETH had 625%. PayPal only managed 6.3%. Another contest lost by ETH to SOL.

Is the battle over?

Combining all this data showed that Solana was quickly growing to challenge Ethereum’s dominance in blockchain technology.

However, the battle was far from over. ETH dominated in Total Value Locked (TVL) with over $136 billion in assets. Solana only managed $17 billion. This suggested that ETH was still the bigger blockchain, as the TVL showed where confidence was.

Final Thoughts

  • Solana transactions hit a new high as bridging to Solana intensifies.
  • Ethereum loses a couple of contests against SOL, but TVL shows ETH is still the bigger chain.

Trending Cryptos

ctr
CitreaCTR
wstusdt
wrapped stUSDTWSTUSDT
apr
aPrioriAPR
ctx
Cryptex FinanceCTX
audio
AudiusAUDIO
comp
CompoundCOMP
mantra
MantraMANTRA
waxl
AxelarWAXL
bill
Billions NetworkBILL
pyth
PYTH (Pyth)PYTH
rune
THORChainRUNE
velodrome
Velodrome FinanceVELODROME
brev
BrevisBREV
cake
PancakeSwapCAKE
jst
JUSTJST

Related Questions

QWhat was Solana's DEX volume and how did it compare to Ethereum's in 2026?

ASolana's DEX volume was $117 billion, which was more than double Ethereum's volume of $52 billion.

QHow much capital was bridged from Ethereum to Solana in the last week mentioned in the article?

AOver $50 million was bridged from Ethereum to Solana in the last week.

QIn which key metric does Ethereum still maintain a significant lead over Solana, according to the article?

AEthereum maintains a significant lead in Total Value Locked (TVL), with over $136 billion compared to Solana's $17 billion.

QWhat was the percentage growth in payment volume for Solana and Ethereum, and how did they compare to PayPal?

ASolana's payment volume grew by 755% and Ethereum's by 625%, vastly outperforming PayPal's growth of only 6.3%.

QWhat new peak did Solana's daily transaction activity reach this month?

ASolana's daily transaction activity hit a new peak of 160 million this month.

Related Reads

Annual Salary of Millions Competing for Electricians, Meta Rushes to Open Its Own Technical School

The AI boom is facing an unexpected bottleneck: a severe shortage of skilled construction workers and electricians. As tech giants like Meta, OpenAI, and Alphabet race to build massive data centers—such as OpenAI's $16 billion "Stargate" project—they are hitting a critical labor wall. The U.S. needs an estimated 130,000 more electricians, 240,000 construction workers, and 150,000 supervisors by 2030 for AI infrastructure alone, but tens of thousands of electrician jobs go unfilled each year. While AI companies offer high premiums, with electricians earning up to $280,000 annually, worker scarcity still causes massive losses—delays on a single project can cost $14.2 million per month. The complexity of building AI data centers, which require immense power (equivalent to powering hundreds of thousands of homes), sophisticated electrical systems, and advanced liquid cooling solutions, demands highly skilled technicians who are in short supply. To combat this, companies are investing heavily in training. Meta has committed $115 million to a free training school offering tuition, housing, and stipends, targeting 5,000 new workers. OpenAI is partnering with unions to secure skilled labor. These efforts are paying off, with a significant rise in Gen Z interest in trade schools over college. However, the power demands are staggering. AI data centers are driving a rapid surge in electricity consumption, projected to account for up to 12% of U.S. power use by 2028 and raising costs for consumers. Furthermore, the construction boom is project-based, leading to a potential future glut of trained workers once building peaks, which could depress wages industry-wide. The race for AI supremacy now depends as much on skilled hands as on advanced chips.

marsbit25m ago

Annual Salary of Millions Competing for Electricians, Meta Rushes to Open Its Own Technical School

marsbit25m ago

OpenAI No Longer Sells Its Most Expensive Model for Profit

OpenAI is shifting its business strategy away from promoting its most expensive, flagship models for every task. Recent price cuts—80% for GPT-5.6 Luna and 20% for Terra—signal a deeper change: the company now actively advises users that many tasks don't require the most powerful model. Instead, OpenAI recommends a tiered approach: use the high-end GPT-5.6 Sol for complex planning and analysis, then delegate execution to cheaper models like Luna. This mirrors moves by Anthropic, which recently launched Claude Opus 5 at half the price of its top model, Fable 5. Both companies are de-emphasizing flagship models as primary revenue drivers, using them instead for brand prestige and technological showcases. The industry is entering a "mass-market" phase, similar to automotive, where high-volume, cost-effective models handle daily operations and drive scale. OpenAI's price reductions are partly enabled by AI models themselves optimizing underlying code and infrastructure, creating a self-reinforcing cycle of efficiency gains and cost reduction. Competition is shifting from "who is smartest" to "who offers the best value." The goal is no longer selling individual models but fostering widespread API adoption and ecosystem lock-in. By making AI calls cheap and ubiquitous, companies like OpenAI aim to become the indispensable, utility-like infrastructure powering automated workflows—the "water and electricity" of software, quietly embedded everywhere.

marsbit25m ago

OpenAI No Longer Sells Its Most Expensive Model for Profit

marsbit25m ago

Suspected 4th Coldcard attack wave sweeps 389 Bitcoin: Galaxy’s Thorn

Coldcard hardware wallet users are facing a new wave of coordinated attacks targeting a firmware flaw, with researcher Alex Thorn flagging 218 recent transactions moving approximately 389 Bitcoin from potentially impacted addresses. The attack pattern shows a high rate of transactions targeting unique victim addresses, differing from previous waves. The vulnerability, which causes affected devices to generate weaker wallet seeds, is estimated to have impacted over 1,100 wallets, leading to around $90 million in Bitcoin stolen. Thorn advises affected users who control their keys may attempt to move funds with a higher-fee transaction before the attacker's transactions are confirmed.

cointelegraph32m ago

Suspected 4th Coldcard attack wave sweeps 389 Bitcoin: Galaxy’s Thorn

cointelegraph32m ago

Bitcoin Miners Are Waving the White Flag, But Their Stocks Are Soaring

Bitcoin miners are capitulating as evidenced by a sustained drop in network hash rate and a record-steep 19.9% decline in mining difficulty, signaling the shuttering of unprofitable machines. However, in a significant divergence from historical patterns, the stocks of publicly traded mining companies have soared, with one major player gaining over 430% in the past year, even as BTC's price fell roughly 46%. This surge is largely attributed to these companies pivoting toward the more lucrative AI narrative. Simultaneously, miners face a structural squeeze. Daily block reward revenue in BTC terms has hit a new all-time low following the latest halving, with current dollar-denominated daily revenue around $30 million compared to a longer-term average of ~$40 million. Fee revenue remains negligible, covering less than one block's subsidy over a 28-day average and accounting for only about ten minutes of the network's daily security budget. This capitulation cycle is unique: miner stress and crypto price weakness have decoupled due to alternative revenue streams (AI), while the long-term reliance on increasing bitcoin prices to offset shrinking subsidies continues, with fee income still far from filling the impending gap.

marsbit36m ago

Bitcoin Miners Are Waving the White Flag, But Their Stocks Are Soaring

marsbit36m ago

Will the Fed Definitely Raise Interest Rates in September? How Will Crypto and U.S. Stocks Withstand the Pressure?

The market's expectation for a September Fed rate hike surged dramatically in early August, jumping from under 50% to over 80% within a week. This shift followed a contentious July FOMC meeting, where a 9-3 vote to hold rates revealed growing dissent from hawkish members advocating for an immediate hike to combat persistent inflation. The primary catalyst for this repricing is rising oil prices, driven by renewed geopolitical tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, which threaten global supply. Energy costs directly influence inflation metrics, making the upcoming July CPI report (due August 12th) a critical data point. If it shows inflation reaccelerating, the probability of a September hike will solidify. For Bitcoin and crypto assets, this is typically bearish news. Bitcoin continues to behave as a high-beta, liquidity-sensitive risk asset. A rate hike raises the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets and could drive capital toward money markets, pressuring crypto prices in the short term. However, historical patterns suggest that if a hike is perceived as the end of a tightening cycle rather than the start, any negative price impact may be brief. U.S. stocks, particularly crypto-linked equities like Coinbase and growth-oriented tech stocks, are also vulnerable. Higher rates increase discount rates in valuation models, putting pressure on high-multiple companies. This coincides with a pivotal tech earnings season where investor focus has shifted from massive AI capital expenditure to tangible revenue and cash flow generation. Companies with negative cash flow and weak growth narratives could face heightened volatility if borrowing costs rise in September. In summary, a September Fed hike has evolved into a mainstream market scenario. Key factors to watch are oil prices, the July CPI report, and Fed communications, which will determine the final decision and its impact on volatile crypto and equity markets.

marsbit36m ago

Will the Fed Definitely Raise Interest Rates in September? How Will Crypto and U.S. Stocks Withstand the Pressure?

marsbit36m ago

Trading

Spot

Hot Articles

Discussions

Welcome to the HTX Community. Here, you can stay informed about the latest platform developments and gain access to professional market insights. Users' opinions on the price of ETH (ETH) are presented below.

活动图片

Top Questions