Key Points:
- Solana’s Chain GDP rose 20% QoQ to $1.2B, led by record January revenue.
- Jito tips and launchpads like Pump.fun became top revenue drivers, signaling new use cases.
- Despite a 40% TVL drop, user activity and tokenization trends continue to grow.
Messari is a crypto market intelligence platform and is set to release its Q1 2025 report on Solana. Early figures reveal that Solana (SOL) continues to lead in Chain GDP (total app revenue), posting a 20% quarter-over-quarter increase to $1.2 billion. The surge was driven largely by a record-breaking January, which alone contributed over $700 million in app revenue. Fundamentals align with increasing SOL price, as it has surged by 35% in one month according to CoinMarketCap.
Key Industry Insights
Solana’s transaction activity has steadily climbed. It reached a record high in Q1 2025, showing a 14% increase from Q4 2024, according to Blockworks. After a dip in late 2022 and 2023, volumes have rebounded. This suggests renewed on-chain engagement and consistent user growth.
Jito tips made up the largest share of Solana’s Q1 2025 revenue. They generated $433.6M, 55.4% of total Real Economic Value (REV), according to Solana Floor. These tips overtook priority fees as the main revenue source. Jito tips are extra fees paid by traders to prioritize time-sensitive transactions such as arbitrage or liquidations. This highlights Solana’s increasing trading activity. REV measures real revenue earned from user fees, excluding inflationary token rewards to validators.
Pump.fun Dominates Revenue & Launchpads Are Leading on Solana
In Q1 2025, Pump.fun generated over $475 million in revenue. This represented 37.2% of all Solana app earnings. Launchpads overall contributed around $485 million, or 37.9% of total app revenue. In contrast, core DeFi apps like DEXs, liquid staking, and aggregators experienced a decline in earnings.
Solana’s TVL & DEX’s Volume
Solana’s Total Value Locked (TVL) peaked at about $11.9 billion in late January 2025. It declined to $7 billion by April, a 40% drop, based on DefiLlama data. This mirrored a drop in DEX volume. Raydium, for instance, saw its TVL fall over 40%, as reported by Gate Research.
Solana’s New Narrative: ICM
Solana’s on-chain activity is booming, especially due to Believe, a viral launchpad. It allows anyone to launch tokens by replying to tweets. With over 15,000 token launches and $2B in volume, it’s driving a new narrative: Internet Capital Markets (ICM).
ICM enables creators to tokenize ideas instantly and bypass traditional gatekeepers.
As this trend grows, Solana is becoming a hub for 24/7, permissionless capital formation. It blends crowdfunding, trading, and community all in one on-chain loop. Solana could see further upside supported by increased memecoin speculation activity.
