Ethereum and Solana 2025 Overview: $18.8T in Stablecoin Transfers, $99B in DeFi, 244M Wallets

Summary: Ethereum and Solana recently published their annual reports, highlighting key milestones and strategies for 2025. Although they have different approaches, both aim to lead the blockchain sector, focusing on user adoption and institutional engagement while reporting significant growth in various areas.

Key Takeaways

Ethereum's Strategy: Prioritizes stability, scalability, and institutional trust while reinforcing its position in decentralized finance (DeFi).
Solana's Focus: Highlights rapid growth in user activity and trading volumes, emphasizing speed and engagement across its ecosystem.
Transaction Fee Reductions: Both networks aim to lower transaction costs, enhancing usability and accessibility for users.
Wallet Growth: Ethereum saw over 244 million unique active wallets, while Solana had an average of 3.2 million daily active wallets.

Ethereum and Solana

Ethereum's Commitment to Stability and Institutional Trust

Ethereum's year-end assessment described its dedication to reliability and long-term resilience. Instead of introducing experimental features, the Ethereum Foundation characterized 2025 as a time for consolidation. The development process adhered to 12 guiding principles aimed at bolstering institutional participation and enhancing interoperability with other blockchain networks. This strategy solidified Ethereum’s position as the most established settlement layer in the industry.

As a result, Ethereum led the decentralized finance (DeFi) space, concluding the year with over $99 billion locked in its DeFi protocols—significantly higher than other Layer 1 networks. Additionally, the platform remained a frontrunner in prediction markets, with approximately $20 billion in total betting volume across its main chain and Layer 2 networks.

Network Enhancements Bolster Ethereum’s Vision

Infrastructure upgrades were vital to Ethereum’s development. In 2025, the network facilitated $18.8 trillion in stablecoin settlements. Furthermore, two significant upgrades, Pectra and Fusaka, were implemented to enhance throughput, data availability, and inter-network communication.

The Ethereum Foundation noted that these upgrades also simplified wallet architecture, lessening barriers for everyday users and businesses. Fusaka, in particular, was identified as laying the foundation for mobile-first applications, which Ethereum anticipates will boost consumer adoption in 2026.

Solana's Fast-Paced Expansion and User Engagement

Contrasting with Ethereum’s focus on stability, Solana spotlighted speed and momentum in its 2025 review. The Solana Foundation reported record levels of user engagement, with application revenue increasing to $2.39 billion, a 46% rise from the previous year. Seven applications each generated over $100 million, with trading platforms like Jupiter and Raydium among the most successful.

The stablecoin sector also experienced significant growth, with Solana's total supply doubling to $14.8 billion and facilitating $11.7 trillion in stablecoin transactions. However, there was a noted decline in memecoin trading, which fell by about 10% throughout the year.

Solana's Trading and Token Development

Solana's trading infrastructure emerged as a key growth driver, with decentralized exchange aggregators collectively processing $922 billion in volume. Additionally, token launch activity surged, with revenue from launchpad platforms doubling to $762 million. Approximately 11.6 million tokens were created during 2025, with around 105,000 surpassing early bonding stages, demonstrating strong engagement from developers and users alike.

User Metrics Reveal Architectural Differences

User activity across both networks continued to grow, although comparisons can be intricate. Solana averaged 3.2 million daily active wallets in 2025, with about 725 million new wallets conducting at least one transaction. In contrast, Ethereum reported activity on a larger scale, with base-layer applications seeing over 244 million unique active wallets.

Throughput data also illustrated the architectural differences: Ethereum’s rollups averaged approximately 5,600 transactions per second combined, while Solana averaged about 1,054 non-vote transactions per second. However, both foundations acknowledged that these metrics should not be directly compared.

Lower Transaction Costs Encourage Adoption

Despite their differing architectures, both Ethereum and Solana prioritized reducing transaction costs in 2025. Solana reduced its average transaction fee to $0.017 compared to the previous year, while Ethereum saw its base-layer fees reach five-year lows and Layer 2 fees drop below one cent.

Both foundations stated that decreasing fees enhance accessibility and usability, despite questioning the relevance of traditional revenue metrics for evaluating blockchain networks.

As they advance into 2026, Ethereum and Solana underline their distinct strengths—Ethereum focusing on security, decentralization, and institutional confidence, and Solana emphasizing speed, scalability, and consumer growth. Through their 2025 analyses, both networks position themselves as integral players in the upcoming phase of blockchain adoption, each promoting a unique vision for the evolution of decentralized technology.

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