Solana's Marketcap Grows 140% QoQ: Is Solana Summer on the Horizon?

Solana, a layer one blockchain network, has demonstrated remarkable growth in the first quarter of 2023, overcoming previous challenges and conversations about outages. The network's performance has stabilized following several critical upgrades, such as QUIC, priority fees, and Stake-Weighted Quality of Service (QOS). This article explores Solana's QoQ growth in various sectors, including DeFi, GameFi, and NFTs. Could we see the highly anticipated Solana Summer this year?

DeFi Sector

According to a report by Messari, Solana's Total Value Locked (TVL) grew by 23.5% QoQ, amounting to $273.67 million at the time of writing. This growth can be attributed to the Liquid Staking Derivatives (LSDs), which have significantly supported the Solana ecosystem. Marinade Finance, Jito, Lido, and JPool, all experienced a 100% or more increase in TVL, while other protocols like Orca, Solend, and Raydium also saw significant growth as the broader market bounced back.

NFT Ecosystem

Solana's NFT ecosystem experienced a considerable surge in the first quarter of 2023. The total number of daily new NFTs increased by nearly 12% QoQ, from 2.6 million to 2.9 million. Furthermore, the sales volume of NFTs in the secondary market dominated in terms of USD, witnessing a growth of almost 36%.

DeFi Sales and User Base Expansion

In the DeFi sector, SOL-denominated sales increased by 20% before skyrocketing. This growth suggests that the increase in USD asset prices was not solely responsible for the "sales activity." Notably, the number of unique buyers surpassed that of unique sellers in Q1 2023, with 889,000 buyers and 887,000 sellers recorded. Additionally, Solana has passed Polygon and Ethereum in daily active addresses.

Despite its previous exposure to the now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried, Solana has managed to recover and continue its growth. The launch of multiple applications in 2023 contributed to the expansion of its user base, which, in turn, helped stabilize and increase the number of active programs in its ecosystem. The number of unique active programs rose from 58,000 in Q1 2022 to 96,000 in Q1 2023.

Conclusion

Despite facing challenges and conversations about outages, Solana has demonstrated impressive QoQ growth across multiple sectors in Q1 2023. With the support of LSDs, a thriving NFT ecosystem, expanding user base, and steady market performance, Solana is poised to continue its growth trajectory throughout the year.