Solana-ETF and inclusion in the U.S. reserve
In January 2025, the price of Solana (SOL) reached a new all-time high (ATH) of $294, driven by a general crypto market rally following Donald Trump's re-election as President of the United States.
In March 2025, the Solana network — dubbed the "Ethereum killer" — celebrated its five-year anniversary since launch, processing over 408 billion transactions during that period.
Additionally, in November 2024, the Solana network set a blockchain record for the most transactions processed in a single day, reaching 6.4 million. The actual throughput of the Solana network reached just over 2,900 transactions per second (TPS), which is 46 times higher than that of the leading blockchain platform Ethereum.
Development of the Solana ecosystem and AMM protocol from Pump.fun
Solana ranks second after Ethereum in terms of total value locked (TVL) in DeFi protocols, which, as of May 2025, amounts to $9.5 billion according to data from DeFi Llama.
In 2024, Solana also became one of the fastest-growing DeFi ecosystems alongside Toncoin. With 219 DeFi protocols, Solana is among the top ten DeFi ecosystems in the crypto market.
At the end of February 2025, the team behind Pump.fun — the most popular platform for launching tokens on Solana — announced plans to create an automated market maker (AMM).
The new decentralized protocol from Pump.fun could become a serious competitor to Solana's leading decentralized exchanges (DEXs), such as Raydium. Amid rumors of a potential AMM protocol launch by Pump.fun, the price of Raydium's native token plummeted by nearly 30%.
If the mainnet launches, a large share of liquidity could "flow" from Raydium into the AMM pools of Pump.fun. As a result, Raydium's dominance in the Solana ecosystem could be at risk, especially given Pump. fun's popularity. According to a report by Solidus Labs, over 7 million tokens were issued on the Pump.fun platform since its launch in January 2024.
The AMM protocol PumpSwap officially launched in late March 2025. This new DEX increased competition within the Solana ecosystem. Less than a week after launch, PumpSwap reached $1 billion in trading volume and nearly 250,000 active users.
One of PumpSwap's key innovations is its revenue-sharing model, which distributes platform revenue among token creators. This is expected to attract more liquidity and new projects to its ecosystem.
According to analysts, Raydium accounts for approximately 46% of all Solana liquidity, but with the arrival of PumpSwap, the landscape may shift significantly. Moreover, the number of tokens created on Pump.fun surged after the launch of PumpSwap: in March, the average daily number reached 24,000, peaking at 32,000.
Solana in the U.S. state reserve
In early March 2025, newly re-elected U.S. President Donald Trump released a list of cryptocurrencies that will be included in the country's future strategic reserve. According to Trump, the reserve will consist of Solana (SOL) along with four other cryptocurrencies:
- Bitcoin (BTC),
- Ethereum (ETH),
- Ripple (XRP),
- Cardano (ADA).
It is still unknown what portion of the reserve Solana will comprise or the total size of the crypto reserve. Some members of the U.S. administration have suggested that Bitcoin alone might make up as much as 1 million BTC in the reserve.
After announcing the cryptocurrencies to be included in the U.S. reserve, Solana's price surged by 25%, from $142 to $178. However, shortly afterward, the price corrected and dropped even further to $138.
This drop was likely caused by dissatisfaction among the crypto community with Trump's decision to include altcoins in the reserve, as he had previously stated that only Bitcoin would be considered.
Experts believe it will be challenging for Trump to gain congressional approval for including altcoins in the strategic crypto reserve. The decision is viewed as a politically motivated gesture to reward crypto projects for their support during his election campaign.
Solana ETF
Following the SEC's approval of the first crypto ETFs, major investment firms such as Fidelity and Grayscale began planning to introduce new crypto instruments to the stock exchanges.
One of them is the Solana ETF. Grayscale was the first to apply to launch a Solana-based ETF in late 2024. As of May 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has postponed its decision on the application, citing the need for further reviews to ensure investor safety.
Other major firms such as VanEck and Franklin Templeton plan to launch their Solana ETFs. Meanwhile, in March 2025, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) launched Solana futures trading on its platform.