Solana had a strong first 30 days in the year 2026, with DEXs and DeFi leading the growth

Solana has posted strong metrics in the first 30 days of 2026, according to on-chain analytics Nansen, carried by DEXs and its DeFi sector. 

According to a recent post from Nansen, the first 30 days of 2026 for Solana saw active addresses double to over 5 million, daily transactions jump from 52 million to 87 million and daily fee revenue cracked the $1.1 million level. 

Active Solana addresses peaked in January 2026. Source: Nansen

Nansen claims that DEXs and DeFi remain the main contributors, which is unsurprising, as the Solana chain boasts high throughput, low-cost transactions that allow for significant volume in trading. 

Solana’s strong start to 2026 

As far as raw transaction counts and user activity are concerned, Solana has always been a leader among major chains, a merit often driven by its thriving DeFi sector and consumer apps. 

Nansen acknowledged that while DEXs and DeFi are currently its best-performing areas, other sectors like gaming, NFTs, and infra have been quietly ramping up as well. 

“This isn’t a one-sector chain, it’s a full-on ecosystem expansion,” Nansen claims. 

The numbers from this past 30 days have proven that Solana has scaling advantages. Experts believe it is a strong signal of renewed momentum in the Solana ecosystem, even if some users continue to troll the chain as only usable and functional where memecoin trading is concerned. 

More tokens are moving to DEX trading after a general revival of the Solana meme space. According to a January 29 Cryptopolitan report, over 1% of all created tokens on the token launchpad graduated for the day. The graduation rate is the highest since the summer of 2025, when 0.92% of tokens graduated.

How other L1s fared in the first 30 days of 2026 

Compared to Solana, in the first 30 days of 2026, Ethereum and other major L1 blockchains showed varying performance. High-throughput chains like Solana dominated raw activity, and the slower chains like Ethereum experienced a notable but nuanced resurgence of momentum. 

Ethereum, especially, has been pulling some activity back to its L1 from the L2s that used to be deemed parasites because of how they drew activity away from the mainnet. This is all thanks to the upgrades it underwent in 2025, like the Fusaka upgrade, which significantly lowered fees to below $1, attracting more users and causing the L1 to witness a strong rebound in on-chain metrics. 

According to analytics, Ethereum’s daily transactions hit all-time highs mid-January, peaking at over 2 million while active addresses briefly exceeded 1.3 million, which was temporarily higher than many L2s. 

Aside from the cheaper fees attracting activities and new users, the mainnet also benefited from broader ecosystem momentum, like the expansion of its stablecoin and RWA sectors. 

Other L1s like BNB and Tron led in sheer scale and daily users. BNB saw its daily users triple to over 3 million while Tron emerged as the undisputed stablecoin king, with most of its daily users also peaking above 3 million. 

Both chains captured not only speculation but also daily usage, while Ethereum was more focused on positioning as the secure settlement layer, leaving its L2s to handle much day-to-day. 

In terms of speed, Base is the closest to Solana, and it has also done well in the first 30 days of 2026. Its daily transactions were considerably lower than Solana’s but higher than Ethereum’s, while its daily users continue to hover under 1 million. 

It has lower raw activity compared to Solana, but its viral apps, Coinbase backing, and Ethereum ties make it a serious rival in the long term.

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