Declining Network Activity and Transaction Fees
Transaction fees on the Solana network have hit their lowest weekly level since September 2024, reflecting a significant drop in network activity. Last week, the Solana blockchain generated only 53,800 SOL in transaction fees, marking a 10% decline from the prior week.
Impact of Falling Validator Tips and Active Addresses
Approximately 77% of these fees were non-vote transaction fees, meaning they originated from users “tipping” validators to speed up transactions.
- Jito validator tips, which peaked during the launch of $TRUMP and $MELANIA memecoins, have declined sharply to an average of $11,300 per day, down from $62,000 per day in January.
- The 7-day moving average (7DMA) of active addresses on Solana has also fallen 35%, mirroring the decrease in transaction activity.
Correlation with SOL Price Decline
Solana’s weekly generated transaction fees are down 85% from the all-time high of 361,000 SOL, recorded in late January. During that period, memecoin activity surged following the launch of $TRUMP and $MELANIA, fueling an increase in blockchain fees.
- Since January 20, the SOL token has dropped approximately 50%, largely due to reduced speculative trading and lower demand for network activity.
Pump.fun Token Generation Also Slows Down
Solana’s Pump.fun platform, a major source of memecoin launches and network fees, has also seen a decline in token graduations to Raydium’s DEX.
- This past week, only 0.89% of newly created tokens on Pump.fun graduated to Raydium, compared to 1.6% per day in January.
- Given that hundreds of thousands of tokens are created daily, this 0.71% drop is substantial.
Can Solana Reclaim Its Highs?
With network activity cooling, the Solana community now faces uncertainty about whether it can recapture the surge seen during the $TRUMP memecoin mania. The question remains whether future trends will revitalize demand for Solana-based transactions or if the network is facing a prolonged downturn.
