Solana loses top spot as Hyperliquid claims 35% of July blockchain revenue

Hyperliquid, the decentralized derivatives exchange, raked in 35% of all blockchain revenue in July, according to a VanEck report. It outpaced Ethereum, BNB Chain, and even Solana, once seen as the king of on-chain trading. This suggests that Hyperliquid’s adoption boom might have come at Solana’s expense.

SOL shot past $260 in January 2025, riding on the meme coin mania. At its peak, Solana was generating more in transaction fees than the next four chains combined. Meanwhile, the continued decline has led Solana to hover around $165, as it remains down by 13% on a year-to-date (YTD) basis.

HYPE steals the show from Solana

According to VanEck’s crypto recap, July marked a dramatic reversal of fortunes for Solana, which in early 2025 had been the dominant force in on-chain trading. It was hitting as much as four times of revenue of all others put together when factoring in MEV. 

Hyperliquid has successfully poached Solana’s most valuable users and kept them engaged. This happened because it turned out to be a simpler and more functional product, and that too in the perpetual futures (perps) trading space.

Hyperliquid’s HYPE has broken into the top 15 cryptos with a market cap of more than $12.5 billion. It is up by 57% on a YTD basis while Solana’s run has fizzled. However, the HYPE lost its momentum recently. Its price dropped by 12% over the last 7 days to trade around $37.50.

Solana is still the 6th biggest crypto with a market cap of $88.1 billion. SOL is trading at an average price of $163.75 at press time. DeFiLlama shows that Solana’s DEX TVL dropped by 2% in the last 7 days, but it is still up by 11% over the month.

HYPE has outshone almost every major crypto with its YTD surge. Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) are up by 22% and 8%, respectively. XRP and TRON also rose by 41% and 32%, respectively, still below Hyperliquid.

Can Ethereum regain the crown?

The report mentioned that Solana’s thesis rested heavily on its technical edge and a robust builder ecosystem. But despite its vaunted throughput, the chain has failed to deliver the improvements needed to maintain its lead.

Central to that disappointment is the Firedancer upgrade project, which was supposed to supercharge Solana’s performance and reliability. Instead, the initiative missed key deadlines, suffered talent attrition, and became mired in internal disputes. This even raises questions about Jump Trading’s suitability to revamp.

The Anza team has stepped in to salvage momentum, but the damage is already showing in SOL’s sluggish price and slipping market relevance. Most of the Solana-based meme coins have posted losses on the longer frames. Tokens like BONK and WIF are down by 22% and 53%, respectively, on YTD.

Solana only matters if it can channel that throughput into real economic activity. But many financial institutions remain hesitant to build on Solana due to persistent reliability concerns.  It seems like Solana has a narrow but crucial window to make its case

Ethereum is again appearing to be the default pick for large-scale blockchain deployment, with L2s gaining traction for institutional remittances. ETH price soared by 41% over the last 30 days while SOL saw a jump of just 7%.

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