In May, Solana captured over 60% of the new decentralized exchange (DEX) volume, showcasing its remarkable growth. According to Pantera Capital, Solana's market share in DEX volume has surged from 0% in early 2021 to 24% by May 2024. This success is attributed to Solana's monolithic architecture, which resembles Apple’s macOS by integrating hardware and software for optimal performance.
Pantera's report highlights Solana’s focus on refining its blockchain components, fueling a surge in retail activity and a rise in new token volumes. Solana's dominance is evident, with the network accounting for 85% of new tokens on DEXs by May 2024. This has propelled the price of SOL, which has seen a staggering 723% increase over the past year.
However, Solana has faced challenges, including network downtimes. The upcoming Firedancer upgrade, developed with Jump Crypto, aims to enhance the network's reliability and scalability, potentially making network outages a thing of the past.
