Solana’s Core Economy Faces a Reality Check in Q3 But Stablecoins Surge

Solana witnessed a notable economic slowdown as its active addresses took a plunge of 30% and operational efficiency collapsed by over 40% in the third quarter of the year.

But data suggest that the network’s stablecoin activity came to the rescue.

Solana’s Network Health Q3

Economic activity on the Solana network declined for the second consecutive quarter, according to The SOL Report Q3 2025 by The DeFi Report. The study revealed a broad contraction in on-chain fundamentals, with Real Economic Value (REV) dropping 18% quarter-over-quarter to $222.7 million and Real Onchain Yield plunging 48% to 0.47%. Total Onchain Yield averaged 7.08% APY, down 10.8% from the previous quarter.

Despite weaker user monetization, staking rewards remained largely supported by SOL issuance, which accounted for 93% of total returns during Q3.

Network fundamentals painted a mixed picture. While total SOL staked rose 3.13% and total value locked (TVL) climbed 33% to $11.5 billion, Solana’s network GDP fell 6.8% to $909 million. Active addresses declined sharply by 30%, and DeFi Velocity dropped 18%, reflecting slower on-chain turnover. The cost to produce $1 of real economic value rose 41% to $5.74, underscoring declining operational efficiency and weaker throughput per unit of capital deployed.

Stablecoin activity was one of the few bright spots in Q3. The DeFi Report founder, Michael Nadeau, stated that despite some FUD, the total stablecoin supply on Solana surged by 37% to $14.6 billion and was driven primarily by USDC, which grew 39.6% and now represents 69% of all stablecoins on the network. Average daily stablecoin transfer volume surged 50% to $752 million, while effective velocity rose 42%, which indicated healthier transactional activity. Meanwhile, Solstice’s USX stablecoin, dubbed the “Ethena on Solana,” saw its supply jump 235% in September alone to $167.7 million.

DeFi activity showed mixed momentum. Decentralized exchange (DEX) volumes increased 7.2% to $3.97 billion per day, though trading platform revenue slipped 5% to $214 million and new token launches declined 19%. Private automated market makers (AMMs) emerged as a key growth driver, with volumes up 69% and now accounting for 37% of total DEX trading.

From a tokenomics standpoint, SOL issuance fell 2.98%, while burned SOL decreased 9%, resulting in a 1.74% increase in circulating supply and a 4.8% annualized net dilution rate. Despite market cap gains and growing stablecoin usage, The DeFi Report also revealed that Solana continues to face monetization headwinds amid contracting on-chain activity and weakening efficiency.

Growth Curve

Even as the network appears to be struggling across several metrics in the short term, it has overtaken Ethereum’s early growth curve on the longer time frame and has emerged as one of the fastest-scaling revenue engines in blockchain history.

According to 21Shares, Solana generated $2.85 billion in revenue between October 2024 and September 2025, which is more than 50 times higher than Ethereum’s output at a similar stage. By monetizing diverse sectors such as DeFi, AI, real-world assets, and the meme coin frenzy, the asset manager said that Solana achieved what Ethereum couldn’t in its formative years.

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