Solana Perps Open Interest Surges to Record $500M

Solana's perpetual futures market has seen a significant surge in open interest, reaching $500 million for the first time in nine months. This milestone marks a return to growth after a relatively quiet stretch.

The increase comes on the heels of a network upgrade that boosted Solana's maximum block compute by 66%. The new capacity was quickly filled, with the network processing a record 169.9 million transactions in a single day on August 13.

PhoenixTrade, a decentralized exchange built by Ellipsis Labs, has been a key driver of this growth. Its record open interest of $10-11 million in late July, coupled with the Flight Club incentive program's distribution of $420,000 to users, helped spike daily trading volume to $67.1 million.