The Solana layer-1 blockchain has flipped Ethereum in total weekly fees just days after surpassing BNB to emerge as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
Crypto researcher Dan Smith on X revealed that Solana hit $25 million in total fees last week compared to the $21 million on the Ethereum blockchain.
For the first time ever, Solana surpassed Ethereum in total transaction fees and MEV tips on the weekly timeframe ($25M vs $21M)Solana validators and stakers are absolutely eating this cycle pic.twitter.com/kIIKVLUDPr
— Dan Smith (@smyyguy) July 29, 2024
Last week marked the first time in history that the Solana network has surpassed Ethereum by this metric. Moreover, on July 28 alone, Solana posted $5.5 million in total fees, the highest level in three months.
According to the crypto researcher, most of the fees on the Solana blockchain came from spot decentralized exchange (DEX) trading.
Solana is emerging a major hub for decentralized applications (DApps), with its total value locked (TVL) surpassing $5.5 billion according to DeFiLlama. Solana is now the third-largest blockchain by TVL after Ethereum and Tron.
151 protocols are created on Solana, significantly lower than the 1,135 on Ethereum. However, the boom of Solana-based meme coins, which collectively have a market capitalization of $9.3 billion, according to CoinGecko, has contributed to the network’s growth.
Solana’s growth in network usage has led to speculation over whether it could live up to its nickname of the “Ethereum killer.”
Over the years, Solana’s fast network speeds and low gas fees have strengthened the argument that it can be a superior alternative to Ethereum. However, Ethereum’s first-mover advantage in the smart contract industry has hindered this.
Smith believes the latest development is “an absolutely massive achievement” for Solana.
Solana Flips BNB’s Market Cap
Besides network growth, SOL, Solana’s native token, has also been on a major bull run. At the time of writing, it was trading at $183.90 after a 35% rally in the past month.
The recent gains have seen SOL surpass BNB to emerge as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap after Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tether (USDT).
At the time of writing, Solana’s market cap was $85.4 billion, slightly higher than the BNB market cap of $84 billion.
SOL needs to go on an explosive rally to flip ETH, given that the latter has a giant market cap of $400 billion and dominates 15% of the entire crypto market.
However, the flippening is still possible because, as ZyCrypto reported, some analysts speculate that Solana could be headed to $1,000.
