By 2025, with institutional funds withdrawing, Solana lost 97% of traders

Solana network activity has collapsed by 97% from its peak in November 2024, retail investors continue to buy in, while institutional wallets are exiting. This cryptocurrency reached a historic high of $296 in November 2024 but has since fallen nearly 58%, with on-chain data revealing a clear divergence between wallet sizes and trading behaviors.
What happened: Institutional exit
Crypto trader Ardi revealed that since Solana peaked in November, buying pressure has mainly come from retail-sized wallets, with purchase amounts ranging between $0 and $1,000.
Distribution began before the all-time high, with selling accelerating in the months prior to October 10, 2024, indicating that major participants had planned to exit before the decline.
Mid-sized wallets handle $0 to $100,000, while institutional wallets manage $100,000 to $10 million, which has been declining for about 13 months. Retail wallets showed continuous growth during the same period, indicating that small investors still believe SOL is undervalued despite institutional withdrawals.
On-chain data reveals an almost perfect correlation between Solana demand and memecoin activity on the network.
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Why this matters: Revenue collapse
Investor and trader Jas reports that active monthly traders on Solana dropped from about 30 million in 2025 to less than 1 million, representing a 97% decline in network activity.
Network revenue has fallen fivefold year-over-year, from $2.5 billion in 2024 to $500 million in 2025.
Ethereum generated $1.4 billion in revenue this year, surpassing Solana by 56% year-to-date. "The future of SOL may no longer rely on memes but more on their subsequent performance," Jas said.
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