As Solana continues its bullish price momentum, increased activity is observed within the network’s DeFi protocols.
Liquidity across Solana’s major decentralized exchanges (DEXs) has surged tenfold since October 17, as reported by a Dune Analytics dashboard. December DEX volume on Solana, according to DeFiLlama data, has surpassed the previous monthly high from November, nearly tripling in size. This notable growth in volume follows two significant airdrops within the Solana DeFi space, with a third airdrop on the horizon.
Record Volumes Surge Across Solana DEXs in the Wake of Airdrop Bonanza
Throughout 2021, Solana’s DEXs had relatively modest volumes compared to the primary DeFi hub, Ethereum, a gap that widened after Solana supporter Sam Bankman-Fried faced accusations of fraud in late 2022.
However, in December, Solana’s DeFi ecosystem has substantially closed the volume gap with Ethereum. During certain week-long intervals this month, Solana’s DEXs even outpaced Ethereum’s in terms of volume. Over the past seven days, Solana DEX volume surged by 26% to approximately $5.8 billion, while Ethereum DEXs recorded around $8.5 billion in volume, maintaining a similar level to the previous week, according to DeFiLlama.
When examining the on-chain movement of assets, a significant portion of Solana’s recent decentralized exchange (DEX) trading volume seems to have flowed through the network’s Jupiter aggregator. Jupiter, designed to aggregate liquidity to optimize prices with minimal slippage, announced its upcoming token launch in November, with 40% of it set to be airdropped to the community.
Airdrops, as a catalyst for growth in the DeFi ecosystem, are not a novel concept. Ethereum experienced a boost in DEX volumes in five of the six months following a September 2020 airdrop from Uniswap, the network’s largest DeFi protocol.
Interestingly, the surge in DEX interest on Solana appears to have coincided with a slowdown in liquid staking. According to a Dune Analytics dashboard, the total amount of Solana staked has decreased by over 2 million Solana in the past week.
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