Analysis of Solana Ecosystem DeFi Project Performance

Recently, the overall Solana ecosystem has shown strong growth momentum, with the price of SOL nearing $100 on December 22. Notably, the trading volume on decentralized exchanges on Solana briefly surpassed that of Ethereum, drawing widespread attention from the industry. Meanwhile, Ethereum faces numerous doubts, especially as DeFi projects that once led the previous bull market are no longer favored. So, how do DeFi projects in the Solana ecosystem perform? Let’s delve into the current development status of each subfield.

Liquidity Staking

Liquid staking has become an important growth point in the Solana ecosystem. Staking locked funds helps to increase the price of SOL, while the application of various liquid staking tokens (LST) in other Decentralized Finance projects and the attractiveness of new project airdrops have led to a continuous increase in funds participating in liquid staking.

Data shows that as of December 22, Marinade Finance and Jito are the two largest liquid staking projects on Solana, with a TVL of $1.05 billion and $626 million, respectively. Although Marinade's dollar-denominated TVL is only 57% of its historical peak, the amount of SOL staked (11.15 million SOL) has reached a new high. Jito has gained widespread support due to its provision of MEV infrastructure and an unexpected airdrop, currently reaching a staking volume of 6.42 million SOL.

Decentralized Exchange

In the DEX space, Raydium and Orca still dominate, both having developed centralized liquidity features. However, their market positions have reversed. Raydium's liquidity has dropped from a historical high of $2.21 billion to $113 million, only 5.1% of its peak. Orca's liquidity has decreased from $1.41 billion to $184 million, which is 13% of its peak.

Recently, the trading volume of DEXs on Solana exceeding that of Ethereum has sparked widespread discussion. Data shows that the total 24-hour trading volume of major DEXs on Solana reached $1.55 billion, while the total trading volume of major DEXs on Ethereum was $1.18 billion. It is worth noting that the trading volume/TVL ratio of DEXs on Solana is significantly higher than that of Ethereum, indicating greater capital efficiency.

Decentralized Finance

The lending sector has undergone significant changes. Among the once major lending protocols, only Solend remains in a leading position, but it has also been surpassed by emerging projects. Solend's TVL has dropped from a peak of $910 million to $187 million, which is 20.5% of its high. Other veteran lending protocols have performed even more poorly, with the TVL of Port Finance, Larix, and Apricot Finance all experiencing substantial declines.

The emerging lending projects marginfi and Kamino have performed outstandingly, with TVL reaching $348 million and $204 million respectively, and their growth is rapid. These projects have not yet issued governance tokens, but have launched point incentive mechanisms to attract a large influx of funds.

Yield Aggregator

The yield aggregator sector is facing severe challenges. The once highly regarded Sunny project has seen its TVL drop from a peak of $3.4 billion to $4.02 million. Other yield aggregators such as Francium and Tulip have also experienced significant declines in TVL, falling to $20.89 million and $21.41 million, respectively.

Perpetual Contract

Solana's performance in the perpetual contract field is relatively weak. Currently, Drift is the leading project in this area, adopting an order book trading model similar to dYdX, with a TVL of $105 million. Although Mango is an established project, its TVL has dropped from a peak of $210 million to $10.47 million. Jupiter's JLP adopts a model similar to GMX V1, recently showing impressive performance, with a 24-hour SOL-PERP trading volume of $101 million.

Decentralized Stablecoin

There have not yet been any outstanding decentralized stablecoin projects in the Solana ecosystem. The TVL of projects such as UXD Protocol, Parrot Protocol, and Hubble has significantly decreased, and they are currently relatively small in scale.

Overall, the DeFi projects in the Solana ecosystem are showing different development trends. Liquidity staking and DEX sectors are performing relatively well, emerging lending projects are growing rapidly, while yield aggregators and stablecoin sectors are facing challenges. With the continuous development of the ecosystem, DeFi projects on Solana may usher in more innovation and breakthroughs.