The Latest Comparison Between Ethereum and Solana

Solana was or is still known as an Ethereum killer. But how realistic is this? There are strong believers in Solana that think it will get up to the same levels as Ethereum. 

However, many others don’t. Where is the truth? So, it’s time to look a bit deeper into this Solana vs Ethereum saga. Let’s compare some platforms on market cap and TVL. 

The Ecosystems

So, first things first, we’re looking at the bigger picture. In other words, we compare their respective ecosystems. 

Will Solana ever reach Ethereum's current levels? Some people believe in that, while others don't.

In this thread, I'll be featuring interesting projects on Solana, comparing them with Ethereum in terms of Mcap and TVL.

In the end, I'll be sharing some personal thoughts!

🧵🫡 pic.twitter.com/C5jsmqIplW

— DefiFerr (@dontbuytops) October 3, 2023

We include their respective market cap, TVL, and number of daily active addresses:

Ethereum: 

• Its TVL is 20,206 billion. 
• Marketcap = 202,74 billion. 
• Daily Active Addresses = 315k.  

Solana: 

• TVL = 333,7M. (64x from Ethereum) 
• Marketcap = 9,57B. (~21x from Ethereum) 
• Daily Active Addresses = 241k. (~1,3x from Ethereum) 

It should come as no surprise that Ethereum has a clear lead here. Ethereum ranks as #1 of all chains. In contrast to Solana, that comes in at a respectable 9th spot. The picture below shows the current TVL for both chains.  

Source: Artemis

• DEXes

For DEXes, we look at the most popular ones. On Ethereum, that is Uniswap. On Solana, we look at the two current top-performing DEXes, Orca and Raydium.  Here are the TVL and market cap of these dApps at the time of writing this article:

• • Ethereum (Uniswap $UNI):
    • TVL = 3.071 billion.
    • Marketcap = 3.132 billion.
  • Solana (Raydium $RAY):
    • TVL =  30.53 million.
    • Marketcap = 38.57 million.
  • Solana (Orca $ORCA):
    • TVL = 44.62 million.
    • Marketcap = 19.38 million. 

Ethereum will have the upper hand in all comparisons we make. Both Solana DEXes don’t come anywhere near the Ethereum TVL or market cap. I will comment on all the data at a later stage. The picture below shows the TVL for Uniswap between December 2022 and October 9th, 2023.

Source: DeFiLlama

• Lending Protocols

With lending protocols, we do the same. We look at the biggest lending protocol on Ethereum, which is Aave. On Solana, the two top lending platforms are Solend and MarginFi.

• • Ethereum (Aave $AAVE)
    • TVL = 4,72 billion.
    • Marketcap = 935.51 million.

• • Solana (Solend $SLND)
    • TVL = 50 million.
    • Marketcap = 43.89 million.

• • Solana ($MarginFi)
    • TVL = 22.64 million.
    • No token yet.

Once again, we see that both the Solana TVLs and market caps don’t come close to Ethereum. The picture below shows Aave on DeFiLlama.

Source: DeFiLlama

• Derivatives

For derivatives, we add an extra metric, the derivative volume. For Ethereum, we look at dYdX. However, their move to the Cosmos Hub is imminent. On Solana, we look at Drift. They’re the top platforms on their respective chains.

Ethereum ($DYDX):
TVL = 343.66 million
Monthly Derivatives Volume (September) = 858.43 million
Marketcap = 348.33 million 

Solana (Drift)
TVL = 18.59 million
Monthly Derivatives Volume (September) = 8.97 million
No token yet.

Drift drifts quite a long way from dYdX. Below you can see the DeFiLlama chart for dYdX.

Source: DeFiLlama

• Liquid Staking

Liquid staking platforms take the current top positions for TVL. On Ethereum, Lido is miles away from its nearest competitor. On Solana, Marinate Finance is the undisputed leader, followed by Jito. However, Lido is on Jito’s heals here.

Ethereum (Lido $LDO)
TVL = 14.116 billion
Marketcap = 1.361 billion 

Solana (Marinade Finance $MNDE)
TVL = 124.94 million.
Marketcap = 8.42 million.

Solana (Jito)
TVL = 54.99 million.
No token yet

Jito is seeing some great monthly changes on TVL. Well over 80%. But, as already pointed out, Lido is closing in on Jito. However, the picture below shows the Marinade Finance TVL chart on DeFiLlama.

Source: DeFiLlama

• Memecoins

Memecoins are not our favorite coins at Altcoin Buzz. However, recently, they have been making waves. So, let’s take a look at some memecoins and their market cap on both chains.

Ethereum ($PEPE)
Marketcap = 279.5 million.

Solana ($BONK)
Marketcap = 8.258 million.

Solana ($GUAC)
Marketcap = 1.86 million.

Once more, it’s Ethereum that is miles ahead of the Solana tokens.

Yield Aggregator

For yield aggregators, we look at Yearn on Ethereum. On Solana, we eye Hawksight and Meteroa.

Ethereum (Yearn Finance $YFI)
TVL = 316.61 million.
Marketcap = 173.25 million.

Solana (Hawksight $HAWK)
TVL = 2.03 million.
Marketcap = 0.04 million.

Solana (Meteroa)
TVL = 9.37 million.
No token yet.

There are no surprises here, Hawksight and Meteroa have, once more, nothing on Yearn. The picture below shows the Yearn TVL on DeFiLlama.

Source: DeFiLlama

Conclusion

It should come as no surprise that Ethereum is ahead in all metrics we looked at. However, Ethereum has a clear first-mover advantage. So, this pays out in its history and the general adaption that the chain has. On the other hand, Solana has some great features that Ethereum still lacks. For instance, scalability, and fast and cheap transactions.  However, Solana is a younger chain and is still building. 

Catching up on Ethereum is a big task. But in crypto, you never know how things can turn around.

Disclaimer

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We are not responsible for any losses that you may incur as a result of any investments directly or indirectly related to the information provided. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are high-risk investments, so please do your due diligence.

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