Recently, the crypto community has been buzzing with discussions, as Solana's annual protocol revenue surprisingly surpasses that of Ethereum. This news caused a stir in the community, but a closer look at the data reveals that the underlying logic is much more complex than the surface suggests.

This year, Solana's protocol revenue has reached approximately $250 million, while Ethereum's is about $140 million, nearly double. At first glance, these figures seem exaggerated, but over a longer timeline, the changes become even more dramatic.

Looking back to 2021, Solana's annual revenue was only $28 million, which was hardly noticeable. At that time, Ethereum had already amassed $510 million and was the undisputed leader. In just four years, the positions of the two chains have completely reversed—by 2024, Solana's revenue reached $480 million, while Ethereum's dropped to $142 million.

This is not an isolated phenomenon. On-chain data shows that Solana demonstrates strong competitiveness across multiple dimensions. Recent 90-day data indicates that Solana's fee revenue has already reached 49% of the combined fees of Ethereum and other major L2s. In terms of DEX trading volume, the figure is even more impressive, accounting for 57%. Sometimes, Solana's daily DEX trading volume can soar to $3.98 billion, a number that exceeds the daily active user scale of many other chains.

Why is this happening? Low transaction fees and fast confirmation times are indeed Solana's strengths, but what truly attracts capital is the activity level of its ecosystem applications and the actual demand from users. When transaction costs are significantly reduced, users naturally vote with their feet.