Solana has achieved $2.85 billion in revenue over the last year, according to a recent report from 21Shares, primarily fueled by trading platform activity.
From October 2024 to September 2025, Solana’s monthly revenue averaged around $240 million, with a peak of $616 million in January, driven by the memecoin surge led by tokens like Official Trump (TRUMP). Even after the excitement subsided, monthly revenue remained between $150 million and $250 million.
Solana validators generate income from transaction fees. In the past year, fee revenue has come from various sources within the ecosystem, including decentralized finance (DeFi), memecoins, AI applications, decentralized exchanges, DePIN, launchpads, and trading tools.
Trading platforms have become Solana’s primary source of revenue, contributing 39%, or $1.12 billion, supported by applications like Photon and Axiom.
The report also highlights Solana’s substantial lead over Ethereum at a similar developmental stage.
Five years post-launch, Ethereum’s monthly revenue was below $10 million, while Solana currently earns 20 to 30 times that amount. Its efficiency and low transaction fees have attracted between 1.2 and 1.5 million daily active addresses, approximately three times Ethereum’s count at the same lifecycle stage.
21Shares is an asset management firm based in Switzerland and a leading provider of cryptocurrency exchange-traded products (ETPs). In 2021, it launched the first Solana (SOL) ETP in Europe.
Related: Forward Industries Secures $1.65B Solana Treasury Raise
Solana ETFs and Treasuries
According to the 21Shares report, numerous companies have rebranded as Solana treasury firms this year, resulting in nearly $4 billion in SOL now held on public company balance sheets.
On September 18, Nasdaq-listed Brera Holdings rebranded to Solmate after a $300 million oversubscribed PIPE raise, intending to establish a Solana-centric digital asset treasury and infrastructure platform.
Solmate is now one of 18 tracked entities holding a total of 17.8 million SOL tokens. The leading entity is Forward Industries with 6.822 million SOL, followed by Sharps Technology with 2.14 million SOL, as per data at the time of writing.
Additionally, there are multiple Solana exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications pending approval, contingent on the US government’s reopening this month.
As reported by Cointelegraph, several spot Solana ETF applications are awaiting decisions from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in October.
Filing deadlines from Fidelity, VanEck, Grayscale, Canary, and Franklin Templeton are set for Friday, while applications from 21Shares and Bitwise are slated for review on October 16.
If the US government remains shut down, these decisions could be delayed. However, once the government reopens, there is widespread belief that the Solana ETFs will receive approval.
On Polymarket, bettors assign a 99% likelihood of a Solana ETF approval by the end of the year.
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