Solana Loses 97% Of Traders During 2025 As Institutional Money Exits

Solana network activity has collapsed 97% from its November 2024 peak as retail investors continue buying while institutional wallets exit. The cryptocurrency reached an all-time high of $296 in November 2024 but has since fallen nearly 58% as on-chain data reveals a stark divergence between wallet sizes and trading behavior.
What Happened: Institutional Exit
Crypto trader Ardi disclosed that buying pressure has been dominated by retail-sized wallets making purchases between $0 and $1,000 since Solana's November peak.
Distribution began before the all-time high, with selling volume accelerating months before Oct. 10, 2024, indicating major players planned exits well ahead of the drawdown.
Mid-sized wallets handling $0 to $100,000 and institutional-sized wallets managing $100,000 to $10 million have been in steady decline for approximately 13 months. Retail wallets showed consistent growth over the same period, suggesting smaller investors believe SOL remains undervalued despite institutional withdrawal.
On-chain data reveals near-perfect correlation between Solana demand and memecoin activity on the network.
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Why It Matters: Revenue Collapse
Investor and trader Jas reported that Solana's active monthly traders dropped from roughly 30 million to under 1 million in 2025, representing a 97% decline in network activity.
Network revenue fell fivefold year-over-year from $2.5 billion in 2024 to $500 million in 2025.
Ethereum generated $1.4 billion in revenue this year and outperformed Solana by 56% year-to-date. "SOL's future may depend less on memes and more on what follows them," Jas stated.
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