Solana Outpaces Ethereum in Weekly Fee Revenue and MEV for the First Time

Data from blockchain research firm, Blockworks, has shown that for the first time in its history Solana last week generated more weekly revenue than Ethereum. Solana’s network validators raked in an impressive US$25 million (AU$38m) for the week compared to Ethereum’s US$21 million (AU$32m). 

This total revenue includes the network’s regular transaction fees, maximum extractable value (MEV) tips and priority transaction fees. On July 28, Solana also chalked up its single biggest daily revenue total in three months—hitting US$5.5 million (AU$8.4m).

According to Blockworks analyst, Dan Smith, most of this revenue came from DeFi spot trading, as the Solana memecoin frenzy continues to drive network activity.

Related: Memecoins Spearhead Crypto Market Revival, with BOME and BONK Leading the Charge 

MEV Accounts for Majority of Revenue

Posting on X / Twitter, Smith said the majority of Solana’s record daily revenue on July 28 came from spot DEX trading based on MEV tips, which accounted for 58%. While priority transaction fees made up 37% of the total.

Solana generated $5.5M in total fees yesterday, the highest amount over the last three months

58% of the value came from MEV tips and 37% from priority transaction fees

Most of the activity is from spot DEX trading pic.twitter.com/QxEfCuVmbQ

— Dan Smith (@smyyguy) July 29, 2024

Smith didn’t specify how much of Solana’s monthly revenue came from MEV activity, simply saying the combined total of MEV and transaction fees totalled US$25 million—just pipping Ethereum’s total of US$21 million. Smith also commented that this is turning out to be a great cycle for Solana validators and stakers:

For those who aren’t DeFi die-hards, MEV is a form of revenue that miners or validators can make by accepting payments—a lot like bribes—to change the order of transactions within blocks. This allows traders to pay to use strategies such as front-running, a strategy which is strictly forbidden in traditional markets. 

MEV is considered an important part of DeFi, reflecting its decentralised nature and generating huge revenues for networks such as Ethereum and Solana, but it has also been criticised as allowing some market participants to pay to gain an unfair advantage over other traders.

2024 Has Been Good for Solana

Solana has seen significant growth so far in 2024 largely due to the explosion of memecoin activity on the network. As of today, according to CoinGecko, memecoins on Solana now have a combined market cap of over US$9 billion (AU$13.7b) dollars. 

Of course, as is often the case with memecoins, many of these coins have lost a huge amount of their value in a very short period of time and many who bought them have lost money. 

Related: Celebrity Memecoins: The Rising 2024 Crypto Trend and Its Significant Risks 

According to the crypto analyst and X / Twitter user named Slorg, of the celebrity-backed memecoins launched on Solana in the last month by such reputable figures as Hulk Hogan, Andrew Tate and Barron Trump, most have seen their values decline by over 99%, with even the best performing coins losing over 70% of their value in just a few weeks:

Another stat that reflects Solana’s strong first half year is the growth of total value locked (TVL) on the network. According to data from DefiLlama since the start of 2024 Solana’s TVL has more than tripled, soaring from US$1.417 billion (AU$2.168bn) on January 1 to US$5.496 billion (AU$8.4bn) today.

For TVL though, Ethereum remains the clear leader, with over US$60 billion (AU$91.6bn) of value locked on the OG smart contract platform.