History books are full of boomtowns that thrived because someone built roads before the crowd arrived. Crypto is no different. Blockchains with smooth, cheap on-ramps attract new capital and more developer talent than those without.
In that vein, Solana (SOL -9.39%) has infrastructure that's smoother and faster than almost any other chains, and the early traffic numbers are eyebrow-raising. So here are the top three reasons Solana deserves a spot on your watch list or even a purchase today.
1. Developer and user momentum are surging again
Cheap, rapid throughput is Solana's calling card and it's an asset that offers a perpetual yield. Users love to use systems that "just work," and app developers prefer to work with responsive platforms that don't cost much of anything to test or deploy software to.
The chain regularly clears more than 2,000 transactions per second (TPS) in production tests, which is orders of magnitude above rivals such as Ethereum. At the same time, the chain's average transaction fees hover near a quarter of a cent.
The benefits of this speed and affordability are evident in current on-chain metrics. The crypto research company Nansen recently counted a total of nearly 35 million active wallet addresses on Solana.
Image source: Getty Images.
Developers are following the users.
In 2024, Solana saw its active developer count jump 83% year over year, even as industrywide numbers dipped due to general disinterest in the altcoin ecosystem. That influx of builders typically precedes the creation and launch of new apps, greater liquidity, and, perhaps in time, higher token demand for the chain's native token as well as its ecosystem projects.
In other words, rising developer engagement is a leading indicator of long-term value creation, and right now that indicator is flashing green. The same can't be said of this chain's competitors.
2. Payments partnerships move SOL into real wallets
High throughput means nothing if nobody uses Solana for daily transactions. But there are plenty of reasons to believe that the coin is actually in use, and more are on the way.
In September 2023, Visa expanded its USDC stablecoin settlement pilot to include Solana, citing the chain's speed and low cost when settling card flows for acquirers Worldpay and Nuvei. A month earlier, Shopify enabled merchants to accept USDC through Solana Pay, letting millions of storefronts settle in seconds instead of waiting days for ACH debits.
In 2024, Stripe announced that U.S. merchants can now accept stablecoin payments on Solana. Paypal launched its stablecoin on the Solana blockchain in the same period, creating even deeper integration between Solana and the traditional financial system.
Regulatory clarity remains a wild card, and payments partners move slowly. Yet every additional integration shortens the mental distance between crypto wallets and checkout counters, expanding the addressable market for Solana, and increasing the value of the coin.
3. Decentralized finance revenue is climbing fast
A thriving application layer converts capital and traffic into flowing dollars.
According to Messari's State of Solana report, total application revenue, also known as the "chain GDP," hit $1.2 billion in the first quarter of 2025, a 20% jump from the prior quarter. Average daily decentralized exchange (DEX) volume rose 41% to $4.6 billion, pointing to sticky user engagement.
Why should investors care? In short, because sustainable fee capture shows people are willing to pay for Solana-based services instead of fleeing to cheaper copycats or (potentially) even lower-friction fiat currency-based services. That, in turn, can fund new protocol upgrades, and justify a higher valuation of the coin.
If the trend persists, Solana could continue its evolution from being a meme coin casino into a diversified platform earning real cash flows.
Admittedly, decentralized finance (DeFi) revenue fluctuates with market sentiment, and much of Q1's surge stemmed from speculative trading of meme coins. If volumes retreat, so will fee income. But for now, the data suggest an ecosystem maturing in breadth and profitability, and that's another reason to buy Solana.
