4 Minutes
ARK Invest: Solana Leads Q3 2025 Blockchain Revenue
ARK Invest's latest DeFi report for the third quarter of 2025 shows Solana produced the largest share of real economic value (REV) among major blockchains, generating $223 million. That total places Solana ahead of rival networks, highlighting the Solana ecosystem's growing capacity to capture on-chain revenue through decentralized finance, stablecoin flows, and exchange activity.
Key Q3 Revenue and Network Rankings
According to ARK Invest, Solana recorded roughly $223 million in REV in Q3 2025, placing it first among chains tracked in the study. TRON followed in second with about $160 million. Despite these tallies, ARK Invest emphasized that aggregate blockchain revenue remains far below prior highs: total REV across networks plunged by 83% from its peak of $4.9 billion in Q4 2021 to approximately $655 million in Q3 2025.
ARK Invest’s report revealed that Solana leads the charge on real economic value | Source: ARK Invest
Why REV Has Fallen
ARK Invest attributes the steep decline in REV to two primary factors. First, uninformed capital flows that historically drove large revenue spikes have substantially receded. These flows were a major contributor to Maximum Extractable Value and fee generation during the market froth in 2021. Second, across multiple chains transaction costs have declined as networks compete for users, optimizing for lower fees and greater trade efficiency. Lower fees can increase utility but may compress on-chain revenue captured by validators and infrastructure providers.
Recent On-Chain Metrics for Solana
Supplementary data from DeFi Llama shows Solana's short-term REV reached about $1.1 million in the most recent 24-hour window reported by ARK Invest. The chain's total value locked (TVL) stood at approximately $11.36 billion, up 0.74% over the past day. Fee contributions within the Solana ecosystem were led by Gauntlet with around $12.71 million, while Jupiter accounted for the largest share of TVL among Solana protocols.
ARK Invest’s Direct and Indirect Solana Bets
ARK has been an active investor in Solana-related projects. On Sept. 19, ARK participated in a $300 million funding round and acquired roughly $162 million worth of shares in Solmate or BREA, now holding about 6.5 million BREA shares. Earlier in July 2025, ARK moved validator operations for its Digital Asset Revolutions Fund to SOL Strategies, a Toronto-based firm specializing in Solana validator services. In April 2025 ARK made its first direct Solana exposure via SOLQ, a Canadian SOL staking ETF; the purchases made ARKW and ARKF the first U.S.-listed ETFs to include Solana in their portfolios.
Implications for Investors and the DeFi Ecosystem
Solana's lead in quarterly REV demonstrates that a network can generate meaningful revenue even in a subdued macro environment, particularly when it offers low fees and high throughput that attract trading, liquidity, and DEX activity. For investors and ecosystem builders, the data shows a nuanced trade-off: lower transaction costs can expand usage and TVL but may reduce immediate fee-derived income. Monitoring REV alongside TVL, protocol fees, and capital flows remains essential for assessing long-term network sustainability and the profitability of staking, validator services, and DeFi infrastructure.
As the market continues to evolve, ARK Invest's Q3 DeFi report offers a snapshot of how revenue distribution across chains is changing and where value accrues in the current cycle. Solana's performance underlines the network's competitive position in capturing DeFi activity, while the overall drop in REV highlights the importance of diversified investment strategies and attention to on-chain economics.
Source: crypto
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