Crypto World Changes: Solana and Ethereum’s Big Showdown
The world of cryptocurrencies is changing fast! Two big players, Solana and Ethereum, are now competing in the decentralized finance (DeFi) world. Franklin Templeton, a big investment company, recently noticed this change and told us about it.
Meet Solana and Ethereum
Solana: The Fast One
Solana, started in 2020 by Anatoly Yakovenko, is super fast and cheap to use. It can handle over 4,000 transactions in one second[2][3]! This makes it great for fast trading and gaming. Also, it’s a popular place to launch meme coins because it’s so cheap[2].
Ethereum: The Original
Ethereum, created by Vitalik Buterin in 2015, was the first to use smart contracts and make decentralized apps (dApps). It has a big ecosystem with lots of developer support and is the backbone of DeFi and NFTs[1][3]. However, it has some problems with being slow and expensive, which it’s trying to fix[1][3].
Big Changes in the Market
Solana Takes Over DeFi
Franklin Templeton found that in January 2025, Solana’s DeFi volume was bigger than Ethereum’s and all Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-based DEXs combined[4]! This is a big change because Ethereum has always been the leader in DeFi. Solana’s top DeFi projects are growing fast and are surprisingly cheap compared to Ethereum’s[4].
Fees and Money
Solana also made more money from fees in early 2025 than Ethereum. In January, it made nearly $250 million, and in February, it made over $80 million[2]. This shows that more people are using the Solana network.
Problems and Opportunities
Solana’s Challenges
Even though Solana is growing, it has some problems. It’s expensive to run a node on Solana, which means fewer people can do it, making it less decentralized[1][3]. Also, it has had some outages that affect its reliability[3].
Ethereum’s Strengths
Ethereum is safe and has a big ecosystem. It has lots of institutional support and is always being improved. However, it’s still slow and expensive[1][3].
What’s Next for Crypto?
The change Franklin Templeton noticed shows that a new era is coming in DeFi. High-speed chains like Solana are challenging Ethereum’s power. While Ethereum is still the best for security and maturity, Solana’s speed and efficiency are attracting more people. In the future, both blockchains will be important and offer different opportunities for investors and developers.
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Sources:
– tokentax.co
– nasdaq.com
– benzinga.com
– bitcoinist.com
– barchart.com
