Solana's Institutional Exodus Wipes Out 97% of Traders
Solana's network activity has plummeted by a staggering 97% from its November 2024 peak as institutional investors continue to exit the market. Despite retail investors buying into Solana, large-scale players have been withdrawing their funds since before the cryptocurrency's all-time high of $296 in November 2024.
According to on-chain data, mid-sized wallets handling between $0 and $100,000, as well as institutional-sized wallets managing $100,000 to $10 million, have been in steady decline for approximately 13 months. Conversely, retail wallets showed consistent growth over the same period, suggesting smaller investors believe SOL remains undervalued.
The cryptocurrency's demand is closely tied to memecoin activity on the network, with near-perfect correlation between the two. Investor and trader Jas reported that Solana's active monthly traders dropped from roughly 30 million to under 1 million in 2025, representing a 97% decline in network activity.
As a result of this decline, network revenue fell fivefold year-over-year from $2.5 billion in 2024 to $500 million in 2025. Ethereum generated $1.4 billion in revenue this year and outperformed Solana by 56% year-to-date, with Jas stating 'SOL's future may depend less on memes and more on what follows them.'