Since the end of 2023, the Solana network is on the rise. Indeed, following the distribution of several airdrops activity on the network exploded. So that Solana overtook Ethereum for the first time, in the field of NFTs.
Solana overtakes Ethereum on NFTs
At the end of 2021, blockchain Solana is at the center of attention in response to the development of its NFT ecosystem. Thus, in October 2021, the blockchain recorded a record volume on NFTs with 373 million dollars exchanged.
However, the chain is still far behind the giant Ethereumwhich then accounts for a volume of several billion dollars each month.
A situation which, it seems, has evolved significantly. Indeed, the month of December 2023 marked a turning point in the history of NFTs on Solana. For the first time, Solana has overtaken giant Ethereum in terms of volume.
In practice, Solana recorded $366 million in volume on NFTs, against $353 million for Ethereum. The month was particularly notable for data from December 15, where nearly $30 million in NFTs were traded on Solana.
Among the most traded collections on Solana are Tensorians, Mad Lads and Froganas, each with over $20 million in volume in the last 30 days.
Solana at the heart of the craze
In reaction to the distribution of several massive airdrops such as Pyth Network or Jito, activity on Solana saw a significant increase.
In the space of 15 days, between December 1 and 15, the network saw its number of active addresses multiplied by 3, going from 400,000 to 1.2 million active addresses. A trend which, however, seems to have slowed down with a halving of the number of active addresses in the second part of December.
For its part, activity on Ethereum remained relatively stable throughout the year, with just over 400,000 active addresses.
This situation can in particular be explained by the omnipresence of layers 2 in 2023. Indeed, 2023 was the year of the advent of L2 on Ethereum. This phenomenon can explain relatively stable activity on the network, because a portion of users have abandoned Ethereum in favor of its L2, much cheaper and more efficient than layer 1.