Solana’s continued doing well in December, as meme coins helped it gain market share against Ethereum and other blockchains.

According to DeFi Llama, Solana’s (SOL) protocols in the decentralized exchange industry were the most active in December. 

Its volume rose to over $97 billion, much higher than the $22.6 billion it handled in the same period last year. 

Notably, it was the third consecutive month that Solana outperformed Ethereum (ETH), which has dominated the industry for years. Ethereum’s protocols had a volume of over $74 billion, while Base and Arbitrum handled $42 billion and $37 billion.

Solana also performed great in November, where its DEX networks had a volume of $129 billion, higher than Ethereum’s $70.6 billion. A month earlier, Solana handled volume of $52 billion, while Ethereum processed $41 billion. 

Most of Solana’s DEX volume was because of Raydium (RAY), a network that handled coins worth $65 billion in the last 30 days. Orca handled $24 billion, while Lifinity, Pump, and Phoenix had volumes worth over $5.93 billion. 

Solana’s DEX volume has jumped because of the meme coin industry, which has continued doing well this year. Solana has attracted thousands of meme coins this year, helped by the creation of Pump, the biggest token generator. All Solana meme coins have a market cap of over $14.1 billion, led by Bonk, Dogwifhat, Popcat, and Peanut the Squirrel. 

This growth has been highly profitable for Solana and its native apps. All Solana native dApps generated a record $365 million in revenue in November, a record high. Similarly, according to TokenTerminal, Solana’s blockchain generated a record $725 million in fees in 2024, making it the third-most profitable chain after Ethereum and Tron. 

Developers and users love Solana because of its substantially lower fees and higher throughput. 

Base, the layer-2 network launched by Coinbase, has also been a big breakout star in 2024 as its total fees rose to over $82 million. It has become the biggest layer 2 network in the blockchain industry, with its DEX networks handling over $181 billion in assets, while its total value locked soared to $2 billion.

There’s been a change of guard at the rankings of the $3.4 billion tokenized Treasuries market.

Asset manager Hashnote’s USYC token zoomed over $1.2 billion in market capitalization, growing five-fold in size over the past three months, rwa.xyz data shows. It has toppled the $450 million BUIDL, issued by asset management behemoth BlackRock and tokenization firm Securitize, which was the largest product by size since April.

USYC is the token representation of the Hashnote International Short Duration Yield Fund, which, according to the company’s website, invests in reverse repo agreements on U.S. government-backed securities and Treasury bills held in custody at the Bank of New York Mellon.

Hashnote’s quick growth underscores the importance of interconnecting tokenized products with decentralized finance (DeFi) applications and presenting their tokens available as building blocks for other products — or composability, in crypto lingo — to scale and reach broader adoption. It also showcases crypto investors’ appetite for yield-generating stablecoins, which are increasingly backed by tokenized products.

USYC, for example, has greatly benefited from the rapid ascent of the budding decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Usual and its real-world asset-backed, yield-generating stablecoin, USD0.

Usual is pursuing the market share of centralized stablecoins like Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC by redistributing a portion of revenues from its stablecoin’s backing assets to holders. USD0 is primarily backed by USYC currently, but the protocol aims to add more RWAs to reserves in the future. It has recently announced the addition of Ethena’s USDtb stablecoin, which is built on top of BUIDL.

“The bull market triggered a massive inflow into stablecoins, yet the core issue with the largest stablecoins remains: they lack rewards for end users and do not give access to the yield they generate,” said David Shuttleworth, partner at Anagram. “Moreover, users do not get access to the protocol’s equity by holding USDT or USDC.”

“Usual’s appeal is that it redistributes the yield along with ownership in the protocol back to users,” he added.

The protocol, and hence its USD0 stablecoin, has raked in $1.3 billion over the past few months as crypto investors chased on-chain yield opportunities. Another significant catalyst of growth was the protocol’s governance token (USUAL) airdrop and exchange listing on Wednesday. USUAL started trading on Binance on Wednesday, and vastly outperformed the shaky broader crypto market, appreciating some 50% since then, per CoinGecko data.

BlackRock’s BUIDL also enjoyed rapid growth earlier this year, driven by DeFi platform Ondo Finance making the token the key reserve asset of its own yield-earning product, the Ondo Short-Term US Government Treasuries (OUSG) token.

Aave (AAVE), the leading decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocol, has captured the spotlight with an extraordinary surge of over 200% since November 5. Outperforming the broader market, AAVE has reached its highest levels since 2021, marking a remarkable recovery and reaffirming its dominance in the DeFi ecosystem.

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Key metrics from IntoTheBlock underscore AAVE’s unmatched position in the lending sector. With an impressive 45% market share, it remains the top choice for users seeking decentralized borrowing and lending solutions.

With AAVE trading at multi-year highs and on-chain data suggesting robust activity, the altcoin’s trajectory remains a focal point for investors and analysts alike. The question is whether the price can sustain this momentum and reach new all-time highs in the coming months.

AAVE Keeps Growing 

Aave (AAVE) has shown consistent growth over the past year, solidifying its position as a market leader in the DeFi lending sector. Known for its innovative approach to creating non-custodial liquidity markets, Aave enables users to earn interest on supplied and borrowed assets at variable interest rates. This approach has made Aave a go-to protocol for decentralized borrowing and lending.

For years, Aave has been at the forefront of DeFi innovation, continually enhancing its platform and user experience. Its success is evident in its market dominance. Metrics from IntoTheBlock highlight Aave’s unrivaled leadership, boasting an impressive 45% market share in the DeFi lending space.

This dominance is further emphasized by Aave’s staggering total value locked (TVL), which stands at $21.2 billion—almost equal to the combined TVL of all other lending protocols.

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Such figures underline Aave’s critical role in the DeFi ecosystem. Its established presence and robust infrastructure position it as a key player in the event of a broader DeFi resurgence. Should the sector heat up in the coming weeks, Aave is likely to attract significant attention from investors and traders.

Price Targets Fresh Supply Levels

Aave (AAVE) is currently trading at $366, following a surge to a multi-year high of $396 just hours ago. The altcoin continues its upward momentum as it approaches the critical $420 resistance level, a threshold last held in September 2021. This mark is seen as a pivotal area for AAVE’s next phase of price action, with many analysts expecting a significant reaction once tested.

If AAVE manages to hold its current levels and sustain the bullish momentum, the next logical target would be the $420 resistance zone. Breaking above this level could signal a continuation of its multi-month rally, setting the stage for even higher price targets as investor confidence builds.

On the downside, failure to maintain support above the $320–$340 range could lead to a broader correction. A move below this zone might push the price lower, erasing some of its recent gains and dampening bullish sentiment in the short term.

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AAVE remains in a strong position for now, but traders are closely monitoring its price action near these key levels. Whether it can sustain its upward trajectory or faces a pullback will depend on its ability to break and hold above significant resistance zones.

Featured image from Dall-E, chart from TradingView