Solana, the layer-one blockchain platform, celebrated five years since the launch of its mainnet on March 16, 2020.

To celebrate the milestone, the network shared its accomplishments, which include more than 1,300 validators, nearly $1 trillion in trading volume, and over 408 billion total Solana transactions, in a post on its official X account.

Solana (SOL) was founded in 2017 by Anatoly Yakovenko with the goal of addressing the primary challenge facing blockchain technology. The network aims to strike the right balance between scalability, security, and decentralization.

When combined with proof-of-stake, Yakovenko’s proof-of-history system speeds up transaction processing. Solana has been able to grow while maintaining low costs as a result.

More than 254 million blocks have been generated by Solana since its mainnet went live in March 2020. Since then, the network has grown to be a major force in decentralized finance, with over $7 billion in total value locked in its protocols, according to DeFiLlama data.

Meanwhile, Solana’s stablecoin market has reached $11 billion, down from its peak of over $12.6 billion in February 2025. Similarly, its market cap, which once peaked at $127.5 billion, now stands at $65 billion.

Developer interest in Solana has also significantly increased. It surpassed Ethereum as the most popular blockchain for new developers in 2024. According to Electric Capital’s 2024 developer report, Solana attracted 7,625 new developers in the previous year, accounting for 19.5% of all new entrants in the market.

On Mar. 17, CME Group plans to introduce Solana futures contracts, subject to regulatory clearance. These futures, which are intended to assist investors in protecting themselves from price swings, indicate that Solana is becoming a more widely accepted asset in the cryptocurrency market.

Furthermore, Solana has been included in several exchange-traded funds applications, indicating its increasing mainstream acceptance and room for growth.

The layer-1 blockchain MultiversX (EGLD) continues to lead the digital asset gaming sector in the realm of development activity, according to the crypto analytics firm Santiment.

Santiment notes on the social media platform X that MultiversX, formerly known as Elrond, registered 212.17 notable GitHub events in the past 30 days.

The Ethereum (ETH)-based virtual reality platform Decentraland (MANA) ranks second, clocking 168.93 events, and the Ethereum layer-2 protocol Skale Network (SKL) is a distant third with 41.07.

MultiversX and Decentraland have occupied the number one and two spots in previous months as well, according to Santiment.

Santiment notes that it doesn’t count routine updates and uses a “better methodology” to collect data for GitHub events based on a “backtested process.”

The analytics firm has previously said that heavy development activity centered around a crypto project is a positive indication that could mean that the developers believe the protocol will be successful. It also indicates that the project is less likely to be an exit scam.

MultiversX is a distributed, proof-of-stake blockchain network that is decentralized via more than 3,500 nodes. The project aims to help developers build next-gen applications.

The project’s native token, EGLD, is trading at $18.10 at time of writing. The 139th-ranked crypto asset by market cap is up more than 3% in the past 24 hours.

Follow us on X, Facebook and Telegram

Don’t Miss a Beat – Subscribe to get email alerts delivered directly to your inbox

Check Price Action

Surf The Daily Hodl Mix

&nbsp

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at The Daily Hodl are not investment advice. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or digital assets. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any losses you may incur are your responsibility. The Daily Hodl does not recommend the buying or selling of any cryptocurrencies or digital assets, nor is The Daily Hodl an investment advisor. Please note that The Daily Hodl participates in affiliate marketing.

Generated Image: Midjourney

The web3 infrastructure provider MoonPay just announced its acquisition of the stablecoin infrastructure developer Iron just months after purchasing crypto payments platform Helio.

In a statement, MoonPay says its new acquisition significantly expands its offerings with solutions that allow businesses to manage multi-currency treasuries, facilitate instant cross-border payments and generate new revenue through yield-bearing assets.

Says MoonPay’s co-founder and CEO, Ivan Soto-Wright,

“This acquisition is a strategic step forward, positioning MoonPay at the forefront of enterprise-grade stablecoin solutions. With Iron’s technology, we’re putting the power of instant, programmable payments into the hands of enterprises, fintechs, and global merchants.”

Iron co-founder and CTO Omid Aladini says that joining forces with MoonPay is also beneficial to the platform.

“Since we rolled out the Iron stablecoin API the interest has been absolutely phenomenal! But once part of MoonPay, we’ll be able to scale exponentially faster.

We’ve built a developer-first API experience to power apps, exchanges, institutions, DEXs, and PSPs around the world to move stablecoins across crypto ecosystems and fiat rails. It’s the foundational infrastructure for the future of money.”

MoonPay also acquired Helio in January. The Solana (SOL) crypto payment processor enables merchants and creators to accept cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and SOL.

Don’t Miss a Beat – Subscribe to get email alerts delivered directly to your inbox

Check Price Action

Follow us on X, Facebook and Telegram

Surf The Daily Hodl Mix

&nbsp

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at The Daily Hodl are not investment advice. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or digital assets. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any losses you may incur are your responsibility. The Daily Hodl does not recommend the buying or selling of any cryptocurrencies or digital assets, nor is The Daily Hodl an investment advisor. Please note that The Daily Hodl participates in affiliate marketing.

Featured Image: Shutterstock/duangphorn wiriya/INelson