Solana processed 5.2 billion transactions after revenue collapsed 87% – here’s what changed

Solana says it processed a document 5.2 billion non-vote transactions in August, a complete it described as 19% above July.

The milestone arrived with a sharply totally different measure: 21Shares calculated that gross community revenue, together with charges and ideas generated by community use, fell to $141 million within the first half of 2026 from $1.09 billion a yr earlier.

The figures cowl totally different intervals. The transaction count captures the month ended Aug. 31, whereas the revenue comparison covers the six months by means of June. Together, they present exercise accelerating after a half-year by which Solana generated far much less charge and tip revenue than throughout the memecoin growth a yr earlier.

Why Solana’s exercise and revenue diverged

Non-vote transactions take away validators’ consensus messages from the rely, giving a cleaner view of utility exercise. The metric can nonetheless embrace profitable and failed transactions, and it measures neither distinctive customers nor worth transferred. Identifying transfers, trades and different actions requires program-level evaluation, in keeping with documentation from Dune and Token Terminal.

21Shares traced the revenue decline to weaker competitors for blockspace. It mentioned precedence charges and Jito ideas, additional funds routed by means of Solana’s transaction-ordering infrastructure, produced 95% of H1 2025 gross revenue, cut up 40% and 55%. Memecoin merchants paid these fees to maneuver forward in crowded blocks; that high-value charge stream contracted because the frenzy cooled.

The buying and selling combine changed as effectively. The agency mentioned memecoins fell from 40% of Solana spot trading volume in H1 2025 to 16% in H1 2026, whereas stablecoin swaps rose from 6% to 19%. 21Shares mentioned the classes changing memecoins generated much less revenue per commerce.

A like-for-like quarterly comparability helps the identical development. A DeFi Development Corp. shareholder letter filed with the SEC put Solana’s Q2 community revenue at $51 million, down 43% from the primary quarter and 81% yr over yr, whereas the median transaction charge was $0.00043.

Shorter-term validator charge information improved by late August. Solana Compass reported {that a} seven-day common reached about 9,200 SOL per day, greater than 80% above three months earlier. That SOL-denominated determine consists of precedence charges and Jito ideas, whereas the 21Shares measure covers six-month gross revenue in {dollars}, leaving the 2 unsuitable for direct comparability.

Validator economics lengthen past these fees. Under Solana’s fee rules, half of the bottom charge goes to the block producer and half is burned, whereas the complete precedence charge goes to the validator. Validators may earn commissions on inflationary staking rewards.

For SOL, the throughput document is operationally optimistic. Economic seize nonetheless depends upon what customers pay for blockspace, how a lot SOL is burned or staked, and whether or not rising stablecoin, DeFi and fee exercise produces sturdy charges. Transaction rely alone stays a weak proxy for validator revenue or token demand.

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