According to Messari’s "State of Solana Q1 2026" report, Solana experienced overall volatility with localized upward trends in the first quarter of 2026. On-chain transaction volume, application revenue, and DApp activity remained stable, but capital flows and user behavior showed significant structural shifts, particularly in RWA, AI Agent, and Prop AMM trading. These ecosystem changes indicate that Solana is shifting from high-risk, short-term trading toward a sustainable ecosystem and AI-native applications, with capital and user attention increasingly focused on structured assets and high-frequency trading tools.
Changes in Solana On-Chain Transaction Volume and Core DApp Activity
During Q1, Solana’s on-chain trading activity became more frequent and diverse. Prop AMMs (HumidiFi, BisonFi) emerged as the main drivers of spot DEX trading, accounting for 53% of total trading volume—up from 45% last quarter. This shift not only reflects increased demand for SOL and blue-chip asset trading, but also highlights the market’s preference for higher execution efficiency and lower trading costs. The share of long-tail asset trading declined, and the average holding period dropped from 81 seconds to 57 seconds, indicating rapid asset rotation under high-frequency trading strategies. Prop AMMs leverage off-chain price oracles for real-time price discovery, delivering tighter spreads and superior execution quality. As a result, they now offer trading costs that can even outperform some CEXs, gradually reshaping the on-chain trading landscape.
AI Agent applications further boosted on-chain activity and economic output. The expansion of x402 and MPP protocols positioned Solana as a primary settlement layer for AI-native payments and machine-to-machine transactions. AgentCard and AgentCash support API and prediction market payment integrations, while Agent Registry provides AI identity verification, ensuring machine-native economic activity is quantifiable and traceable. Platforms like PlayBabylon, StormRae, and Trends.fun attracted hundreds of thousands of trading users, creating an AI Agent-driven Agentic GDP and injecting new growth momentum into the Solana ecosystem.
DeFi and NFT Projects’ Contribution to Total Network Traffic
Despite a 22% drop in DeFi TVL to $6.16 billion, Solana maintained its position as the world’s second-largest DeFi network, accounting for 6.7% of global DeFi TVL. The decline was mainly driven by a 33% drop in SOL price rather than user attrition. Kamino and Jupiter remained the leading lending protocols, with PRIME assets in Kamino up 121%, reflecting increased short-term institutional financing demand. Raydium and Meteora saw decreases of 30% and 26% respectively, but the overall lending market remains decentralized, with no single asset dominating. Total active loans held steady, dipping slightly from $1.8 billion to $1.78 billion. USDC remains the primary lending asset, while PYUSD active loans surged 63%, indicating robust investment activity in stablecoins and new RWA assets.
The NFT market was mixed: average daily trading volume dropped 55% to $301,000, but Tokenized TCGs (such as Collector Crypt and Phygitals) saw weekly active volume rise 29%, showing sustained interest from core collectors. Collector Crypt accounted for 89% of NFT trading volume, with Phygitals at 11%, indicating high concentration. Consumer-facing apps like Play.fun, PlaySolana, and Star Atlas further drove user engagement and trading revenue through incentive distribution, mobile expansion, and AI Agent interactions—demonstrating Solana’s continued growth potential in consumer applications.
Q1 Capital Flow Analysis: Which Protocols Are Attracting Capital?
RWA assets stood out as the core highlight of Solana’s Q1 capital flows, with total market cap rising 43% to $2.01 billion. BUIDL (a tokenized money market fund by BlackRock and Securitize) saw its market cap climb 106% to $525 million, with about 81% custody held by Anchorage. PRIME’s market cap grew to $361 million, up 124%, mainly driven by Kamino integration and lending applications. ONyc’s market cap increased 101% to $145 million, with 48% of supply custodied by Kamino. Ondo Finance launched over 200 tokenized US stocks and ETFs, enabling 24/7 on-chain trading. Institutions like WisdomTree, Citigroup, and Hanwha Asset Management joined Solana’s RWA ecosystem, signaling large-scale institutional capital inflows.
Stablecoin capital flows also saw redistribution. USDC’s market cap fell 21% to $7.83 billion, while USDT rose 34% to $2.89 billion, and USD1 soared 473% to $883.5 million. Quarterly stablecoin trading volume reached $246.76 billion, up 13% year-over-year, reflecting increased on-chain capital utilization. Trading activity from Circle, Binance, and Coinbase accounted for a growing share of network liquidity, underscoring Solana’s continued appeal for stablecoin payments and cross-chain asset management.
User Behavior Trends: Wallet Activity and New User Growth
Wallet application revenue and user activity remained stable. Phantom generated $23.4 million in revenue, down 3%, but its built-in swap feature remains a key entry point for trading activity. Jupiter’s revenue fell 31%, but its diversified product lines (Perps, Aggregator, Lend, etc.) helped spread risk and maintain stable income. Short-term high-frequency trading and AI memecoin trading drove Fomo’s daily active users up more than 200%, with monthly trading fees rising 259%, indicating a shift toward higher-frequency, short-hold asset trading. User engagement is now expanding beyond trading and swaps to include AI Agent and social trading, resulting in multidimensional activity.
Cross-Chain Asset Migration and Liquidity Changes
Solana enabled cross-chain asset integration through protocols like Sunrise and Wormhole, allowing instant on-chain trading of external assets such as HYPE, LIT, AVAX, and DIME. This deep liquidity ensures efficient capital allocation across major DEXs and lending protocols for multiple asset classes. Prop AMMs provide high liquidity for SOL and leading blue-chip assets while reducing slippage and execution costs, offering a superior trading environment for institutions and high-frequency traders. The maturation of cross-chain tools and stablecoin payment infrastructure gives Solana a competitive edge in on-chain capital allocation and asset diversity.
Impact of High-Frequency Trading on Ecosystem Depth
Prop AMM and AI Agent applications have driven a surge in on-chain high-frequency trading. GMTrade’s RWA Perps saw daily average trading volume jump over 8,000%, with open interest reaching $89.2 million—its top five pairs are all forex assets. High-frequency trading, short holding periods, and faster asset rotation have made Solana’s trading ecosystem more efficient and predictable. Prop AMMs’ low trading costs and superior execution have attracted institutional and professional traders, while also deepening the overall on-chain market and enhancing price discovery. In the short term, this trading model accelerates capital turnover and boosts network economic output.
Ecosystem Expansion and Potential Risks
Solana is rapidly expanding in RWA, AI Agent, DePIN, and payments, but security and concentration risks remain concerns. The Drift V2 security incident reminded the market that protocol vulnerabilities can lead to TVL losses. The short-lived AI memecoin boom and high NFT trading concentration suggest some assets and user behaviors are subject to irrational volatility. While rising Prop AMM market concentration improves efficiency, it may also introduce systemic risk. Stablecoin cross-asset volatility also highlights the need to monitor network liquidity and capital distribution stability.
Solana’s Long-Term Growth Potential and Key Drivers
Solana’s long-term growth is driven by four key factors:
- High-performance base layer optimization: The Alpenglow upgrade and Rotor/Votor consensus improvements have reduced transaction finality to milliseconds, supporting high-frequency and AI trading;
- Expansion of AI Agent and Prop AMM economies: Automated trading and machine-native economic activity are forming a quantifiable on-chain GDP;
- Institutional capital inflows into RWA and stablecoins: Projects like BUIDL, PRIME, and Ondo are attracting institutional funds, providing stable liquidity for the network;
- Development of cross-chain and payment infrastructure: Tools like Sunrise, Wormhole, and SDP support multi-asset integration and enterprise-grade payment solutions.
Overall, Solana’s ecosystem in Q1 showed signs of structural upgrades, with capital and user attention increasingly focused on sustainable, high-frequency, and institutional-grade projects—laying a solid foundation for the network’s long-term economic growth.
Summary
In Q1 2026, Solana’s ecosystem achieved significant progress across RWA, AI Agent, Prop AMM, and cross-chain payments. While DeFi TVL declined due to the drop in SOL price, inflows into stablecoins and RWA assets helped offset the gap. User activity remained robust, driven by short-term high-frequency trading and AI applications. Overall, Solana is shifting from high-risk, short-term speculation toward structured assets and machine-native applications, providing new growth momentum for the ecosystem’s long-term development.
FAQ
Which types of DApps attracted the most capital in Solana Q1 2026?
According to the Messari report, Solana’s Q1 capital was mainly concentrated in RWA-related protocols (BUIDL, PRIME, ONyc), Prop AMMs (HumidiFi, BisonFi), and AI Agent trading applications, with institutional capital and high-frequency trading activity as the primary drivers.
What economic value have AI Agents generated in the Solana ecosystem?
In Q1, Solana’s AI Agent applications, through x402, MPP protocols, and Agent Registry, enabled quantifiable economic output. Trading, API payments, and prediction markets generated direct revenue, driving the formation of Agentic GDP.
How active were DeFi and NFT users?
DeFi TVL dropped 22%, mainly due to the decline in SOL price, but lending protocols like Kamino and Jupiter remained stable. NFT daily trading volume fell 55%, while Tokenized TCGs’ activity rose 29%. User attention remains focused on innovative consumer applications.
What are the trends in cross-chain and stablecoin capital flows?
Solana has enabled cross-chain asset integration through Sunrise and Wormhole. Outflows of USDC were partially offset by inflows of USDT and USD1, leading to a redistribution of stablecoin capital and improved network liquidity and capital utilization.
