In-depth Analysis of the Solana DeFi Ecosystem: Major Projects and Development Trends

The trading volume of Solana's DeFi continues to grow, with the average daily spot DEX trading volume in the first quarter of 2024 increasing by 319% month-on-month to $1.5 billion. Among them, Memecoin trading represented by SLERF and BOME has driven this growth. Solana has become a hub for retail and Memecoin traders due to its extremely low transaction fees and fast transaction confirmations. Against the backdrop of a steady increase in SOL prices, Solana's total locked value (TVL) has also grown to $4.311 billion. Similar to other public chains, Solana's TVL is mainly composed of DEX, LST, lending platforms, and perpetual contract exchanges.

Decentralized Exchange (DEX)

Decentralized exchanges typically operate around specific ecosystems, especially for non-EVM Layer 1 chains like Solana.

| Project | Total Locked Value (TVL) ( billion USD ) | Circulating Market Cap ( billion USD ) | Fully Diluted Valuation (FDV) ( billion USD ) | 24h Trading Volume ( billion USD ) | |------|----------------------|------------------|-------------------------|-------------------| | Raydium | 9.65 | 4.58 | 9.65 | 6.50 | | Jupiter | 5.96 | 11.72 | 86.82 | 8.18 | | Orca | 2.36 | 1.07 | 2.68 | 5.96 |

Raydium

Raydium allows anyone to create liquidity pools and direct token liquidity. This feature has led to the emergence of a large number of meme coins on Solana, making Raydium the preferred DEX for meme coin issuance at one point. Raydium's TVL ranks first in the Solana ecosystem, at approximately $965 million, with a 24-hour trading volume of about $1.162 billion.

However, with the rise of Meme platforms represented by Pump.fun, they are gradually replacing Raydium as the preferred platform for project launches. If these Meme platforms start to build their own DEX, it may have a greater impact on Raydium.

Jupiter

Jupiter, as a liquidity aggregator, can find the best price routes across all major DEXs and AMMs on Solana, minimizing slippage and transaction fees, thereby improving trading efficiency and user experience.

Jupiter is not only a leading DEX platform in the Solana ecosystem but also has a decentralized perpetual contract trading platform. Users can engage in long or short trades with leverage of up to 100 times on this platform. As JLP holders, they can earn 75% of the fees generated by the perpetual exchange, and these earnings are directly reinvested into JLP, increasing the JLP price and promoting the continuous compounding of returns.

Driven by the meme craze on Solana, Jupiter has launched the MEME market discovery tool APE. This tool can discover newly launched tokens and provides detailed token inspection results, especially screening for RUG risks.

Orca

Orca, with the slogan "DEX for people, not programs", has long been a leader among Solana DEXs. It features a concentrated liquidity active market-making mechanism similar to Uniswap V3 - Whirlpools. In this model, liquidity providers can choose to concentrate their liquidity within a specific price range, improving capital efficiency and earning more market-making profits.

Liquidity Staking (LST)

The demand for liquid staking among users on Solana is relatively low, mainly because Solana has no minimum staking requirement and the price of SOL is relatively low, which lowers the threshold for becoming a validator.

| Project | LST | APY( Annual Percentage Yield) | TVL( Total Value Locked) 1,000,000,000( USD) | Circulating Market Cap( USD) | FDV Fully Diluted Valuation( USD) | |------|-----|-----------------|-------------------------|----------------|------------------------| | Jito | JitoSOL | 8.26% | 17.05 | 295 million | 2.374 billion | | Marinade | mSOL | 7.44% | 14.13 | 27.41 million | 101 million | | BlazeStake | bSOL | 7.06% | 2.75 | Unlock amount unknown | 6.83 million |

Jito (JTO)

After Jito launched its airdrop points program in September 2023, it quickly became the leading project in this sector. JTO's TVL is $1.705 billion, making it the project with the highest TVL in the Solana ecosystem. The staking APY of JitoSOL is currently 8.26%, including Solana staking yields and MEV revenue sharing.

Marinade

Marinade focuses on native staking with a high APY, becoming a leading project in the ecosystem, with a locked amount of 1.413 billion USD. Although it has a locked amount close to Jito, its market capitalization and FDV differ by several times, which may indicate that $MNDE has certain growth potential.

BlazeStake

BlazeStake is the second largest LST project in the Solana ecosystem, with a TVL of approximately $275 million. The estimated staking APY is currently 7.06%, slightly lower than Jito. Its FDV is $6.87 million, which is significantly lower compared to Jito's $2.387 billion, reflecting both the growth potential and the fact that the ecosystem is primarily dominated by memecoin players who need high APY to compete for users with leading projects.

Lending

Save

Save(, formerly known as Solend), is an algorithmic decentralized lending protocol on Solana. On Solana, Save can provide lending services that are 100 times faster and 100 times cheaper. After the USDH oracle attack event in November 2022, Save adopted the PYTH oracle to enhance security.

Currently, the lending demand in the Solana ecosystem is not high, possibly related to previous security issues. The new lending protocol Marginfi is about to launch, which is worth paying attention to.

Derivatives

Derivatives are financial contracts that derive value from underlying assets, used to manage risk and speculate on future market trends. Major derivative protocols on Solana include Jupiter, Drift, Flash Trade, and Zeta.

| Project | TVL( Total Value Locked) billion USD( | FDV Fully Diluted Valuation) USD( | |------|-------------------------|------------------------| | Drift | 360 million | 530 million | | Flash Trade | 14.69 million | 550 million | | Zeta Markets | 9.7 million | Not issued |

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) Drift

Drift is a multifunctional integrated DEX with a TVL of $360 million. It offers features such as pre-market trading, 20x leverage, and collateralized lending. The project is backed by Multicoin Capital and has attracted over 15,000 users within six months, with a trading volume exceeding $10 billion.

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) Flash Trade

Flash Trade is a decentralized spot and contract exchange focused on the Solana network, featuring low trading fees and minimal price impact. It employs a unique multi-asset pool system and an innovative NFT structure to enhance user participation. The pool-to-point trading model ensures zero price impact and optimal trading conditions.

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) Zeta Markets

Zeta Markets is a Decentralized Finance derivatives platform that offers two core products: DEX and FLEX. It aims to simplify the derivatives trading experience, allowing anyone to participate in hedging, speculation, and market prediction.

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) PYTH

PYTH is the main oracle on the Solana chain, offering many innovations compared to Chainlink. Its data update speed is faster and more stable, making it applicable not only to the Solana chain but also to other blockchains. PYTH has broad application prospects in areas such as financial derivatives trading, risk management, insurance payouts, and supply chain management.

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Conclusion

The DeFi ecosystem of Solana is thriving, with new projects constantly emerging. While mature products have their advantages, emerging products can quickly attract users by improving user experience, strengthening community building, and enhancing marketing. With the emergence of more innovative products, Solana's DeFi ecosystem will become even more prosperous and diverse. In the future, we may see the rise of more unlaunched projects, further enriching Solana's DeFi ecosystem.