Solana’s DeFi TVL: On the Edge of a Breakout

Ethereum has done ￰0￱ DeFi TVL broke past old highs and set fresh records in 2025. Solana? Still ranging around early 2025 ￰1￱ market is asking one thing: will Solana follow Ethereum’s breakout, or will it stall at this range? The answer depends on how its fundamentals stack up, and they tell a mixed ￰2￱ Solana Could Break Out Stablecoin Cushion Solana has $12.46 billion in stablecoins backing a total DeFi TVL of $25.7 billion.

That’s ~48.5% of TVL sitting as liquid, deployable ￰3￱ comparison, that’s one of the highest cushions among major ￰4￱ means Solana’s ecosystem holds plenty of dry powder for collateral, swaps, and yield ￰5￱ and Usage In the past 30 days, Solana recorded ~$118.4 billion in DEX trading volume. That’s alongside ~2.6 million active addresses ￰6￱ one-off bursts, but broad recurring activity across the ￰7￱ shows that Solana’s throughput is not just marketing, it’s being used, at scale, every ￰8￱ Capacity Lending TVL on Solana sits at ~$3.63 billion. That’s a small fraction of the total $25.7 billion ￰9￱ takeaway? Leverage and collateral redeployment are still ￰10￱ lending markets expand, new layers of credit capacity could fuel TVL growth, just like on Ethereum in its 2020–2021 ￰11￱ Ethereum’s DeFi TVL has decisively broken above prior highs, Solana’s DeFi TVL is ranging around early 2025 ￰12￱ key question now: will Solana’s TVL break out like Ethereum’s, or consolidate around the current range?

Why Solana could break out Stablecoin… ￰13￱ — Sentora (previously IntoTheBlock) (@SentoraHQ) September 3, 2025 Why Solana Could Stall Incentive Reliance Here’s the ￰14￱ distributed ~$28.3 million in token incentives in the past 24 ￰15￱ fees over that same time? Only ~$1.49 million. That’s a ratio of ~19x incentives to ￰16￱ other words, activity may be subsidized more by incentives than by organic ￰17￱ imbalance could weigh on ￰18￱ Momentum 7-day DEX volume fell 8.3%. Small, but a signal of softer near-term ￰19￱ are watching ￰20￱ volume stalls further, TVL could consolidate instead of breaking ￰21￱ by the Numbers: August Snapshot August 2025 was a monster month for ￰22￱ metrics read like a full-blown expansion ￰23￱ Revenue: $148M in August, up 92% from ￰24￱ outpaced every other ￰25￱ Volume: $43.8B all-time high.

Transactions: 2.9B in August alone, up 46% y/y. More than 4x all other chains ￰26￱ Volume: $144B, up 180% y/y. Active Addresses: 83M, doubling year-over-year. RWAs: Surpassed $500M for the first ￰27￱ Stocks: $92M in ￰28￱ (protocol revenue): $77M, up 22% y/y.

Stablecoin Supply: $11.8B, up from $3.3B a year ￰29￱ Transfers: $295B, up 62% y/y. Bitcoin on Solana: $765M, up 7x y/y. Token Launches: 843k new tokens, +138% y/y. Of those, 357 tokens are valued at over $1M.

Trading Platforms: Earned $85M on $8B in ￰30￱ added another $51M. Fees: Median fees stayed at $0.001 with the lowest fee volatility of any major ￰31￱ mix of revenue, stablecoin depth, and usage confirms Solana isn’t just a speculation hub, it’s running financial infrastructure at ￰32￱ on Solana, by the numbers: ➔ $148 million in app revenue, up 92% from 2024 and surpassing all other networks ➔ All-time high perps volume of $43.8 billion ➔ 2.9 billion transactions, up 46% y/y and more than 4x all other networks combined ➔ $144 billion in DEX… ￰33￱ — Solana (@solana) September 4, 2025 Ethereum’s breakout in DeFi TVL came after months of steady on-chain growth, even when token prices chopped ￰34￱ is showing the same signs: deeper stablecoin pools, record app revenue, and surging ￰35￱ credit layer is underdeveloped, but that could be a feature, not a ￰36￱ leaves space for new lending protocols, money markets, and structured credit products to drive the next leg ￰37￱ risk is sustainability.

Solana’s reliance on incentives remains a flashing yellow ￰38￱ fee-based activity grows to balance rewards, investors may question how sticky this activity is once rewards ￰39￱ vs. Solana: The TVL Divergence Ethereum’s DeFi TVL broke above old highs ￰40￱ difference? Ethereum’s fees are high, sticky, and generate organic chain revenue. Solana, in contrast, is cheap to use, which drives adoption, but hasn’t yet proven that adoption can translate into sustainable chain income.

That’s why this range ￰41￱ Solana breaks out, it signals that activity is becoming ￰42￱ it stalls, it risks becoming a rotation-driven chain that needs perpetual incentive ￰43￱ now, the data leans ￰44￱ give Solana nearly half of its TVL in flexible ￰45￱ active addresses and DEX volumes confirm constant ￰46￱ the August growth numbers show expansion across every metric, from RWAs to token ￰47￱ question is no longer whether Solana can handle ￰48￱ ￰49￱ question is whether that volume converts into sustainable fees before incentive spending burns ￰50￱ market’s watching ￰51￱ sits on the edge of a ￰52￱ the liquidity cushion gets deployed and lending markets catch up, TVL could follow Ethereum’s path ￰53￱ incentives dominate and momentum cools further, consolidation is the likelier ￰54￱ way, Solana has positioned itself as the network to watch in 2025.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment ￰55￱ do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any ￰56￱ us on Twitter @nulltxnews to stay updated with the latest Crypto, NFT, AI, Cybersecurity, Distributed Computing, and Metaverse news !