✦ As we approach the year 2026, 2025 stands out as a year full of paradoxes within the cryptocurrency market, where price performance has not always been a true reflection of actual usage and activity on the networks.
▣ Disappointing price performance despite record activity
From a technical perspective, most major assets ended 2025 with negative investment returns. SOL was among the weakest performers, having lost over 30% of its annual value, while ETH recorded a limited decline of no more than 6%.
◈ This significant gap has directly reflected on the SOL/ETH ratio, which has dropped by about 25%, meaning that last year clearly leaned in favor of ETH in terms of market value, despite the significant buzz around Solana.
▣ The story is deeper than just price
⚙️ Both networks belong to layer one chains, enjoying increased activity, a wide spread of decentralized applications, in addition to a strong presence in investment products linked to the crypto market.
But the surprise was in actual usage.
▣ Solana… the queen of activity in 2025
📊 In terms of numbers, Solana has asserted itself strongly:
👥 Monthly active users nearing 100 million
🔄 Tens of billions of executed transactions
💱 Annual trading volume exceeded one trillion monetary units
💰 Operating revenues are the highest among competing chains
✔️ These indicators make Solana the most actively used chain over the year, clearly leading in activity density and execution speed, even if that hasn't directly reflected on the price.
▣ Where does ETH excel then?
Despite this momentum, Ethereum has maintained its strategic weight through core elements:
🔐 Higher depth in locked liquidity
🧩 Stronger infrastructure for decentralized finance applications
🛠️ More stable developer activity
🪙 Wider spread of stablecoins
✦ These factors are not formalities; they represent the backbone of any long-term digital financial system.
▣ Summary of the scene ⚖️
➊ Solana leads in daily usage and operational volume
➋ Ethereum excels in infrastructure, financial depth, and sustainability
📌 For this reason, and despite SOL's leadership in activity, it remains difficult for its price performance to surpass ETH in the near term, especially with the entry into 2026.
✧ The final result:
High usage does not always mean price superiority, as the market rewards deep infrastructure as much as it rewards activity... and perhaps more. ◇
