Ethereum still leads DEX trading in 2024, but Solana almost caught up

Ethereum (ETH) was still the leader of DEX activity for 2024, at least in terms of trading volumes. The Uniswap V3 contract was among the most widely used throughout the year, offering the best liquidity for wrapped ETH and stablecoins. 

Ethereum still surpassed other chains in its yearly DEX activity and volumes. Despite lagging meme token launches, Ethereum hosted significant liquidity through Uniswap V3, which still has not been replaced on L2 chains or any other network. 

In the past 12 months, Ethereum DEX achieved $674B in trading volumes, still surpassing Solana’s $626B. BNB Chain took the third spot with $352B. The year-end results formed after Solana led DEX activity for the last quarter. 

Over the year, DEX activity was mostly concentrated on 15 chains, which reflected other metrics such as daily active wallets and transaction counts. In total, eight L1 chains took up a significant part of the DEX traffic. In addition to Solana and Ethereum, DEX activity concentrated on BNB Chain, Avalanche, SUI, TRON, Aptos, and TON. 

Meme tokens drove DEX activity on most top chains, with the most active dedicated markets on Ethereum, Solana, BNBChain, and TON. DEX also had a different profile, with a mix of meme activity and high-liquidity pairs of blue-chip assets. The 2024 trend does not yet reflect Hyperliquid, which only recently launched its native HYPE token and increased its activity.

DEX activity is back to 2022 levels

DEX value locked is yet to return to the levels of 2021. Currently, DEX on all chains lock in $24.46B, recently reaching a yearly peak. Ethereum retains $8.46% of overall DEX liquidity, with pools available in some of the leading stablecoins. 

Both the market as a whole and Ethereum’s DEX activity have rebuilt their value to levels not seen since the end of 2022. The overall DEX sector will end the year with an expansion streak for December.

Overall DEX activity has been recovering gradually. While liquidity providers still receive rewards, the available DEX have seen a decrease of farming tokens. In 2024, DEX also carried more high-quality, high-liquidity pairs. 

In the last two months of 2024, Uniswap achieved more than $90B in trading volumes, double the activity compared to Q3. Net deposits grew to $7.25B, the highest level in the second half of the year, based on TokenTerminal data.  

One of the reasons for Uniswap’s growth is also Base, which offers much cheaper transactions. As a whole, Uniswap’s volumes grew on both Ethereum and L2, boosting the overall score for all DEX. 

Just checked the chain:

Monthly L2 volume on the Uniswap Protocol just hit a new all-time high

What a way to end the year 🦄 pic.twitter.com/TrygEaa2OS

— Uniswap Labs 🦄 (@Uniswap) December 30, 2024

Over the course of the year, most DEX were in close competition, depending on the currently viable trend. Solana’s activity with meme tokens and AI agents put Raydium and Jupiter among the top performers, but Ethereum retained older and highly liquid pairs against stablecoins. 

Ethereum DEX was also key for moving between Wrapped ETH (WETH) and stablecoin, helping Uniswap V3 reach nearly $1B in daily volumes. 

Solana saw a migration of protocols in 2024

One of the initial ideas of Solana was to compete with Ethereum, possibly with its own collection of apps. The past year saw a migration of DEX and other protocols, leading to the increased inflow of stablecoin liquidity. 

After the crash of FTX, Solana spent years without significant apps and DeFi. As a sign of regained trust, Solana attracted several protocols. One of the most notable migrations that started in 2024 was Sky Protocol, formerly Maker DAO. Ondo Finance, one of the largest RWA tokenization protocols, also launched its app on Solana. Renzo Protocol also built its re-staking version on Solana, partnering with JitoSOL.

Solana also attracted bridged cbBTC, Coinbase’s wrapped version of Bitcoin (BTC). Pudgy Penguins also chose Solana for the launch of its native token, PENGU. Simon’s Cat (CAT) also chose the network for its high-profile meme token. 

The increased Solana activity depended on Raydium, while also using the routing and optimization services of Jupiter. Solana trading remains heavily dependent on bots, carrying more than 86% of bot traffic.

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