Solana Celebrates 5 Years of Existence Amid Decline

On March 16, 2025, Solana celebrated its fifth anniversary marking half a decade of existence as one of the world’s leading blockchain networks, Solana currently ranks sixth in global cryptocurrency market capitalization.

Solana’s Fifth Anniversary Celebration

Citing information from Coinvestasi media, Solana’s founders, Raj Gokal and Anatoly Yakovenko, along with its community, enthusiastically celebrated this milestone.

Gokal recalled the challenges faced during Solana’s launch in the midst of the pandemic five years ago, emphasizing that if they managed to launch it back then, anyone could start something now.

Yakovenko also congratulated the Solana community, affirming that the blockchain ecosystem is growing as planned.

Declining On-Chain Activity Trend

Despite celebrating this significant milestone, Solana’s on-chain activity has shown a declining trend in recent months.

The number of daily active addresses has been decreasing since its peak in November 2024, and projections indicate that March 2025 may record fewer active users compared to February 2025.

Network revenue has also seen a significant decline. Data from DeFiLlama shows that as of March 11, 2025, Solana’s weekly revenue was only $4.15 million, a 93% drop from its peak of $55.3 million in January 2025.

Weekly revenue from decentralized applications (dApps) operating on Solana also plummeted by 86%, from $238 million in January to just $32 million last week.

The Total Value Locked (TVL) in Solana’s DeFi ecosystem has dropped nearly 50% over the past two months, falling from $12 billion to around $7 billion as of now.

Declining Popularity of Meme Coins

Solana’s declining activity is suspected to be linked to the decreasing popularity of Pump.fun, a meme coin launch platform that previously saw rapid growth since its launch in January 2024.

However, Pump.fun’s popularity started to fade due to a major scandal involving several meme coin projects, including a case that implicated Argentina’s President Javier Milei in the LIBRA scandal.

This incident shattered trust in fair meme coin launches, with insider trading negatively impacting retail investors.

The Future of Solana

Looking ahead, Solana plans to launch Fire Dancer, a new client validator developed by Jump Crypto.

Fire Dancer is expected to enhance the efficiency and reliability of the network, attracting more developers and users to the Solana ecosystem.

Despite facing challenges in on-chain activity and revenue, Solana remains a key player in the blockchain industry.

With ongoing innovations and strong community support, Solana has the potential to regain adoption and increase activity on its network.

Conclusion: Challenges and Hopes for Solana

Solana celebrates five years of existence with remarkable achievements but also faces significant challenges, particularly regarding the decline in on-chain activity and network revenue.

The decreasing popularity of meme coins and scandals within its ecosystem have contributed to this negative trend.

However, with innovations such as Fire Dancer and a strong community commitment, Solana still has the opportunity to recover and attract users and developers once again.

If its ecosystem can adapt to these challenges and continue innovating, Solana has the potential to maintain its position as one of the leading blockchain networks in the world.

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