Solana has really made a name for itself in the decentralized exchange (DEX) space. In the past five weeks, it’s captured nearly half of the DEX volume. OKX, a well-known crypto exchange, says Solana is extending its lead over Ethereum.
One major factor driving this growth is the memecoin launchpad called Pump.fun. It has seen more volume than Ethereum recently. This trend shows how Solana is becoming a go-to platform for DEX activities.
According to OKX’s report, The State of DEXs 2025, Solana’s rise in DEX dominance comes from its fast transaction speeds, low costs, and tools that are friendly to developers. They even mentioned that Solana is “drinking the Ethereum milkshake.”
Data from Dune Analytics reveals that Solana briefly hit an impressive 89.7% market share in the last week of December. For the past five weeks, its share has stayed above 50%.
OKX believes that Solana can maintain its DEX dominance in the long run, even if Pump.fun’s volume varies greatly each week. They stated, “Solana blows every other chain out of the park” across various metrics like transaction fees, transaction counts, and active users.
The DEX Jupiter, built on Solana, accounts for nearly 70% of its DEX volume. OKX praised Jupiter for reducing slippage and providing accurate real-time pricing, which minimizes risks for users.
A significant part of Solana’s DEX volume came from the memecoins linked to former President Donald Trump and his wife Melania. These tokens launched just before his inauguration and reached a combined market cap of over $20 billion at their peak.
However, it’s important to note that Ethereum and its layer 2 solutions still lead in terms of weekly volume per address and average trade size. This suggests that larger investors are more active on Ethereum.
Ethereum has tokenized 82% of the more than $5 billion in real-world assets on blockchains, while Solana holds only a 2.5% share, according to Dune Analytics data from 21Shares.
OKX also pointed out that Ethereum excels in “liquidity pool quality” due to its substantial total value locked. In contrast, Solana’s liquidity is much smaller.
Whether Solana’s low total value locked and high-volume model is a temporary trend or a sign of its ecosystem's strength will depend on how it adapts to market changes and continues to attract liquidity and development.
OKX concluded that Ethereum remains the foundation for innovation in decentralized finance. Some of its layer 2 solutions are starting to compete with Solana regarding low fees and fast transactions.