Recent data confirms a sharp drop in Solana’s share of Layer 1 (L1) blockchain fees, plummeting from over 50% earlier in 2025 to around 9% as of late October.
This isn’t due to declining absolute activity on Solana—its daily fees remain robust at ~$6.6M—but rather a redistribution of revenue amid fierce competition from specialized chains excelling in perpetual futures (perps) trading.
Platforms like Hyperliquid have surged ahead by capturing high-volume derivatives activity, highlighting a broader trend toward “chain specialization” in crypto. Hyperliquid, a derivatives-focused chain, has exploded with $2.41B in TVL and $20M+ weekly revenue from perps alone.
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Its low-latency engine and permissionless markets via HIP-3 upgrades attract pro traders seeking CEX-like speeds with on-chain perks. This has siphoned ~$58B in weekly perps volume away from generalist chains like Solana. BNB Chain complements this with Asia-centric retail perps and gaming, capturing spillover from Solana’s memecoin exodus.
Solana’s early 2025 dominance stemmed from memecoin frenzy (e.g., Pump.fun extracting liquidity) and NFTs, but that cooled post-TRUMP token launch.
Perps on Solana like Jupiter Perps, Drift still generate $1.7B daily volume, but traders are bridging out for better execution elsewhere—e.g., 90% of Solana-to-BNB bridgers chasing memes are underwater due to slippage and dumps. Absolute txns remain high 2.13M active addresses daily, but fees per txn have normalized.
Crypto’s “multi-chain era” favors niches—perps for volatility plays, DeFi for yield. Solana processed more txns than Ethereum + all L2s combined during recent crashes, median fee: <$0.01, proving its speed edge. But without a “killer perps dApp” or fresh speculative cycle, flows stay fragmented .
Solana devs are countering with scalability upgrades like stablecoin integrations, validator enhancements and institutional tools like BlackRock’s $1.2B tokenized fund. A native perps DEX could reclaim volume, boosting TVL and $SOL burns 50% of fees are burned for deflation.
Bitwise’s 0.20% Solana ETF fee signals strong inflow bets. If you’re on Solana, stick to battle-tested spots like Jupiter recent fee tweaks for balanced trades or Drift for cross-margining. But for max efficiency, Hyperliquid’s 20x leverage on SOL pairs offers tighter spreads—though watch for volatility wipes.
Perps are edging out memes as the go-to dopamine hit, with platforms gamifying access. This shift underscores crypto’s maturation: No single chain rules; specialization wins. Solana’s not fading—it’s adapting.
Perpetual futures (perps) trading on Ethereum Layer 2 (L2) solutions has exploded in 2025, driven by low fees, high throughput, and composability with DeFi primitives. While Solana and specialized chains like Hyperliquid dominate overall perp volumes.
Ethereum L2s collectively capture ~25-30% of decentralized perp activity, with Arbitrum leading at over 40% of L2 perp volume. This shift counters Ethereum L1’s high gas costs, enabling CEX-like experiences with on-chain settlement.
Total perp DEX volume hit $50B+ daily in Q3 2025, but much is incentive-driven—real open interest (OI) in alts like ETH or BTC pairs reveals sustainable traction. L2 perps emphasize security inheriting Ethereum’s, leverage up to 100x+, and integrations like oracles for low-latency pricing.
Platforms use hybrid models: off-chain orderbooks for speed, on-chain for trustless execution. However, risks like liquidations spiked during “Red Monday”, wiping $1.5B in longs amid negative funding rates -0.0021% on ETH perps.
The perp powerhouse, processing 2B+ cumulative txns. Dominates with $364M weekly perp volume. Builders like Lighter ($11B vol) and Ostrich ($1B+ traded) leverage Orbit chains for custom scaling. 1.7M weekly active addresses; integrations with Pendle ($375M TVL) boost yields on perps.
Base (Coinbase’s OP Stack L2, $4B+ TVL): Retail-friendly with $59B DEX vol shared with Arbitrum. Perps via Avantis conversational trades: “Open 2x long ETH” and QuickSwap/Orbs hub. Weekly vol: $4.16M, but growing 35% MoM via AI routing. 600K+ multi-chain users overlap with Arbitrum.
Optimism (OP Mainnet, $3B TVL): Focus on perps + options. Perpetual Protocol leads w/ $85M weekly vol; Derive $18B cumulative, 0% spot fees. 200K txns/hour record highlights scaling—ideal for high-freq trading. Pyth oracles ensure <1s latency.
Gains on Polygon ($1.5B vol) shines for synthetics; emerging like Vooi gasless cross-chain perps on Arbitrum/Base/BNB. Stablecoin supply $9.6B on Arbitrum dwarfs smaller L2s, limiting their perp growth.
Perp DEXs hit 10% of total futures up from 4.5% in 2024, but 93% of derivatives are perps overall. Arbitrum/Base overlap 12-23% shared addresses creates network effects—e.g., bridge ETH on Ethereum to Arbitrum perps seamlessly via Rainbow Wallet.
$700M campaigns (e.g., Aster’s 1001x leverage) inflate vols, but OI in alts reveals mercenaries. Real traction: Negative funding rates signal bearish shifts; platforms like Derive ($500M OI) attract institutions.
Chain abstraction (Vooi: unified balances across L2s/Solana); AI agents (Elsa on Base); ZK proofs (Lighter). Synthetix eyes L1 perps Q4 2025, but L2s win on cost (sub-$0.01 fees). Liquidations up 35% in volatile weeks; front-running mitigated by privacy features.
Multi-chain (e.g., Dexari: ETH to Arbitrum USDC swaps) reduces bridging hacks. L2 perps offer DeFi’s holy grail: Leverage without custody loss. Start on Arbitrum for liquidity (e.g., Lighter for pros), Base for ease (Avantis for degen 500x).
Arbitrum’s DRIP airdrop (24M ARB) and Base’s EP V2 points could juice volumes. As Ethereum L2s process 200K+ txns/hour, they’re reclaiming share from Solana—expect $100B+ monthly if volatility spikes.