The Solana blockchain is experiencing a wave of activity as its native token SOL rallies to new highs and several decentralized exchanges (DEXs) announce lucrative airdrops for loyal users. According to data from DefiLlama, weekly trading volume on Solana DEXs reached a new record of $1.7 billion last week, surpassing the previous peak of $1.6 billion in November 2022.
One of the main drivers of this volume spike is the anticipation of token airdrops from two popular Solana projects: Pyth and Jupiter. Pyth is a decentralized Oracle network that provides high-fidelity market data to Solana applications. Jupiter is a DEX aggregator that routes trades through the best liquidity sources on Solana.
Both projects have announced that they will reward early and consistent users of Solana with their native tokens, PYTH and JUP, respectively. Pyth will distribute 100 million PYTH tokens, or 10% of its total supply, to Solana users who have interacted with the network before October 30, 2023.
The snapshot date for the airdrop is yet to be announced. Jupiter will airdrop 500 million JUP tokens, or 50% of its total supply, to Solana users over four rounds, starting from November 15, 2023. The first round will target users who have used Solana DEXs before November 1, 2023, while the subsequent rounds will prioritize users who have been active on Solana for longer periods.
These airdrops are seen as a way of rewarding the Solana faithful who have stuck with the network despite its challenges, such as the network outage in September 2022 and the collapse of FTX, the largest DEX on Solana at the time.
Orca Leads Solana DEXs with Concentrated Liquidity Protocol
Another factor behind the Solana boom is the impressive price performance of SOL, which has more than doubled in the last month and reached a new all-time high of $69.86 on November 15, 2023. The price rally has been attributed to several factors, such as the successful Breakpoint conference in Amsterdam, the launch of new projects and partnerships on Solana, and the growing adoption of the network by institutional and retail investors.
The most active DEX on Solana is Orca, which offers a concentrated liquidity protocol called Whirlpool. This protocol allows liquidity providers to offer liquidity at specific price ranges, which improves capital efficiency and reduces slippage for traders. Orca accounted for $674 million of the $1.7 billion trading volume last week, according to DefiLlama. Other popular DEXs on Solana include Lifinity, Serum, and Raydium.
