Solana’s Core Economy Faces a Reality Check in Q3 But Stablecoins Surge
Solana witnessed a notable financial slowdown as its lively addresses took a plunge of 30% and operational effectivity collapsed by over 40% in the third quarter of the 12 months.
But knowledge recommend that the community’s stablecoin exercise got here to the rescue.
Solana’s Network Health Q3
Economic exercise on the Solana community declined for the second consecutive quarter, based on The SOL Report Q3 2025 by The DeFi Report. The examine 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 earlier quarter.
Despite weaker consumer monetization, staking rewards remained largely supported by SOL issuance, which accounted for 93% of complete returns throughout Q3.
Network fundamentals painted a blended image. While complete SOL staked rose 3.13% and complete worth locked (TVL) climbed 33% to $11.5 billion, Solana’s community GDP fell 6.8% to $909 million. Active addresses declined sharply by 30%, and DeFi Velocity dropped 18%, reflecting slower on-chain turnover. The value to provide $1 of actual financial worth rose 41% to $5.74, underscoring declining operational effectivity and weaker throughput per unit of capital deployed.
Stablecoin exercise was one of many few brilliant spots in Q3. The DeFi Report founder, Michael Nadeau, stated that regardless of some FUD, the overall stablecoin provide on Solana surged by 37% to $14.6 billion and was pushed primarily by USDC, which grew 39.6% and now represents 69% of all stablecoins on the community. Average each day stablecoin switch quantity surged 50% to $752 million, whereas efficient velocity rose 42%, which indicated more healthy transactional exercise. Meanwhile, Solstice’s USX stablecoin, dubbed the “Ethena on Solana,” noticed its provide bounce 235% in September alone to $167.7 million.
DeFi exercise confirmed blended momentum. Decentralized change (DEX) volumes elevated 7.2% to $3.97 billion per day, although buying and selling platform income slipped 5% to $214 million and new token launches declined 19%. Private automated market makers (AMMs) emerged as a key progress driver, with volumes up 69% and now accounting for 37% of complete DEX buying and selling.
From a tokenomics standpoint, SOL issuance fell 2.98%, whereas burned SOL decreased 9%, ensuing in a 1.74% improve in circulating provide and a 4.8% annualized web dilution charge. Despite market cap features and rising stablecoin utilization, The DeFi Report additionally revealed that Solana continues to face monetization headwinds amid contracting on-chain exercise and weakening effectivity.
Growth Curve
Even because the community seems to be struggling throughout a number of metrics in the brief time period, it has overtaken Ethereum’s early progress curve on the longer time-frame and has emerged as one of many fastest-scaling income engines in blockchain historical past.
According to 21Shares, Solana generated $2.85 billion in income between October 2024 and September 2025, which is greater than 50 occasions larger than Ethereum’s output at a comparable stage. By monetizing various sectors comparable to DeFi, AI, real-world assets, and the meme coin frenzy, the asset supervisor stated that Solana achieved what Ethereum couldn’t in its adolescence.
The submit Solana’s Core Economy Faces a Reality Check in Q3 But Stablecoins Surge appeared first on CryptoPotato.
