Solana Grabbed 41% of On-Chain Spot Volume in Q1 While Ethereum Fell Behind

By Jack • April 29, 2026 2:56 pm • Comments

Solana’s first quarter numbers are in, and they tell a story that should make every institutional allocator sit up straight. According to Blockworks Research’s Q1 2026 Solana Token Holder Report, the network captured 41% of all on-chain spot trading volume during the quarter, surpassing Ethereum and its entire L2 ecosystem combined.

That is not a cherry-picked stat. It landed during a broader market downturn, which makes it all the more notable. Volume across crypto was softer compared to prior peaks, yet Solana’s share of the pie grew anyway. The infrastructure is pulling demand even when the macro backdrop is not cooperating.

The Solana Foundation highlighted the key figures on X.

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The full report from Blockworks Research covers the scope of what happened across the network in Q1.

Blockworks Research put Solana at the center of on-chain spot trading in Q1 2026, with 41% market share and more volume than Ethereum and its L2s combined. SOL ETPs recorded $208 million in net inflows despite the broader market downturn. The network also ended Q1 with $1.23 billion in RWA lending deposits, up 115% quarter over quarter and ahead of Ethereum’s $1.13 billion. Tokenized asset DEX volume reached $1.3 billion, up 164% from the prior quarter. On the network side, Solana processed 10.1 billion non-vote transactions, a new all-time high and more than 1 billion above the prior record from Q2 2025. Non-vote TPS reached roughly 1.3K, while median transaction fees hovered near $0.0005 through the quarter. Beyond trading, the same Q1 data showed meaningful activity across lending, RWAs, consumer applications, and stablecoin infrastructure.

Let’s start with the money flowing in. SOL exchange-traded products attracted $208 million in net inflows during Q1, a strong signal that institutional demand did not dry up when prices cooled. That number sits inside a broader trend confirmed by CoinShares, which reported on April 27 that digital asset investment products logged a fourth consecutive positive week of inflows totaling $1.2 billion. Institutional capital is not retreating from crypto. It is choosing where to go, and Solana is getting a real share of those dollars.

The RWA lending numbers are arguably the most important data point in the entire report for anyone watching crypto’s path toward traditional finance integration. Solana ended Q1 with $1.23 billion in real-world asset lending deposits, a 115% increase from the previous quarter. That figure now sits above Ethereum’s $1.13 billion. A year ago, the idea that Solana would lead Ethereum in RWA lending would have been dismissed as fanboy talk. Now it is just the data.

Tokenized asset spot DEX volume tells the same story from a different angle. The $1.3 billion in tokenized asset volume on Solana DEXs, up 164% quarter over quarter, reflects growing confidence among issuers and traders that the network can handle real financial products at scale. When assets like tokenized treasuries, credit products, and other structured instruments move on-chain, they need a network that processes quickly and cheaply. Solana delivered on both fronts.

On the infrastructure side, the numbers are hard to argue with. Solana processed 10.1 billion non-vote transactions in Q1, blowing past the previous all-time high of 8.9 billion set in Q2 2025 by more than a billion transactions. Non-vote throughput reached roughly 1,300 transactions per second. Median fees stayed parked at around $0.0005. That is half a tenth of a cent. For context, that means the network scaled its workload by more than 13% from its prior record while keeping costs essentially invisible to users.

None of this means Solana is without risk. Overall spot volume across crypto pulled back during Q1, and a market share lead in a down quarter is not the same as dominance in a raging bull market. The network has also faced periodic congestion issues in prior cycles, though the throughput data here suggests meaningful progress. Investors should evaluate the trend honestly, not just the headline numbers.

Still, the trend is clear. Solana is no longer just the fast, cheap alternative to Ethereum. It is the primary execution layer for on-chain spot trading, the leader in RWA lending deposits, and a network that just posted a transaction record while keeping fees at fractions of a penny. Institutional ETP flows confirm that this is not just a retail phenomenon.

When the infrastructure data, the capital flows, and the real-world asset adoption all point the same direction, it is worth paying attention. Q1 2026 was not a breakout quarter for crypto prices. But for Solana’s network fundamentals, it might have been the most important quarter yet.

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