Journalist
Posted: September 13, 2025
Key Takeaways
Solana DeFi growth hit a record of $13 billion, led by staking, on-chain trading, and tokenization. Similarly, the speculative interest in SOL price has exploded.
Solana [SOL] DeFi system has notched a record level of $13 billion in TVL (total locked value) for the first time in history.
Since April’s low $6.6 billion, the TVL has doubled in the past few months, underscoring investor confidence in the chain and an uptick in DeFi traction.
Source: DeFiLlama
In fact, in the past 24 hours, the TVL climbed higher 4%, suggesting the Solana DeFi ecosystem is attracting massive interest at the moment.
Staking leads Solana DeFi growth
In the past month, there has been a recovery in trading volume ahead of the Fed rate decision that might have partly influenced the DeFi growth.
Amongst the top 15 protocols driving the surge, six of them were decentralized exchanges (DEXes).
The TVL for these DEXes, including BonkSwap, Bybit’s Byreal, and others, increased 40% to 270% in the past month alone, underscoring the
Additionally, staking applications like Phantom, DeFi Development Corporation also recorded massive growth.
These showed investors were hunting for yield across the Solana ecosystem. Interestingly, the top platforms with over $3 billion in TVL were Jito [JTO], Kamino [KMNO], and Sanctum, which are all staking platforms.
Worth pointing out that tokenization buzz also spurred the interest, with xStocks recording a 50% surge in TVL in the past month.
Apart from the TVL expansion, the DEX volume also increased from June, rising from $81 billion to over $120 billion as of August.
Source: DeFiLlama
SOL’s price followed the DEX volume explosion, rallying from $126 to over $220 over the same period. And the speculative interest in the altcoin also hit a record high.
According to CoinGlass, SOL’s total Open Interest hit $16 billion, a massive demand in the Futures market that suggested players expected it to rip higher.
Source: CoinGlass
Next: Tron whales pile into TRX, yet volatility risks remain – Why?