Surge in Solana’s On-Chain Activity

Over the last several months, Solana (SOL) has experienced a surge in on-chain volume complemented by a spike in daily active addresses, which recently crossed 2 million (based on a 7-day moving average), according to The Block’s data dashboard.

This resulted in a substantial influx of users into the ecosystem led by dapps such as Raydium (RAY), Pump.Fun, and Jito (JTO), which have also been the top fee generators on the network.

Raydium’s Dominance

Of these dapps, Raydium has emerged as the leading fee generator from users on Solana. The decentralized exchange (DEX) recorded $30 billion in trading volume in July, making it the second-largest in terms of DEX volume after Uniswap. Meanwhile, Raydium generated fees of over $65 million in July, compared to $33 million in June, according to DeFiLlama data.

Rise of Pump.Fun

Raydium wasn’t the only dapp accumulating user fees on Solana. The growing demand for memecoin trading has seen the rise of Pump.Fun. Tens of thousands of new tokens are launching on Solana each week using Pump.Fun, many of which are memecoins. Pump.Fun’s user-friendly interface and Solana’s low transaction costs have facilitated the creation of over 1.5 million memecoins since its launch in March 2024, spanning political and celebrity-themed tokens. The platform generated over $28 million in fees during July, its highest monthly fees since launch.

Jito’s MEV Success

Within the MEV niche, Jito has maintained its position as the top protocol on Solana. The platform, known for its off-chain blockspace auction system, allows traders to submit transaction bundles with bids, improving the reliability of transaction execution. Maximal extractable value tips (or fees) collected by validators using the Jito client stood at about $36 million in July, a 26% growth from June. Amid a surge in on-chain trading on the network, the amount of MEV tips paid to Solana validators operating via Jito has also increased. For example, on July 28 alone, daily MEV tips surged to $3.2 million, generating the most fees on Solana on that specific day.

To clarify, these are not fees generated for Jito stakers; rather, they represent the value paid through the MEV platform. Jito’s actual revenue was recorded at $1.4 million in July, data shows.