Solana Network Expands by $6 Billion Since 2025 — What’s Driving It?

The Solana network continues to witness rapid expansion, with stablecoin issuer Circle minting a further 250 million USDC on Solana just hours ago, according to Spot On Chain data. This brings the total USDC minted on Solana in 2025 to a staggering $6 billion, including 1.25 billion USDC in the past week alone, indicating huge amounts of funds entering the crypto market.

As a result, the supply of stablecoins on Solana increased by 112% in January to a record high of $11.1 billion as demand for stablecoins grew amid the crypto bull market.

Circle’s USDC remains the stablecoin of choice among Solana ecosystem users, accounting for 77% of the market share.

Since the cycle's bottom in November 2022, Solana has outpaced Bitcoin and Ethereum in terms of price appreciation and relative capital inflows. A continuous period of favorable capital inflows has resulted in a net liquidity rise, providing significant tailwinds for price appreciation.

At the time of writing, SOL, the native token of the Solana blockchain, had dropped 4.92% in the previous 24 hours to $228. It had achieved an all-time high of nearly $300 last month, peaking at $294 on Jan. 19. Solana is the fifth largest cryptocurrency, with a market valuation of $111 billion.

Stablecoin market capitalization soars

The overall stablecoin market capitalization rose by 57% in 2024, from $130 billion to $204 billion. In January, the stablecoin sector's overall market capitalization increased by 5.68% to $223 billion, marking the 16th consecutive month-end increase. Tether (USDT)'s market capitalization increased by 1.38% to $140 billion, setting a new record for end-of-month market capitalization.

As digital assets retraced in value, stablecoins' market cap dominance increased to over 6%.

Stablecoins are a sort of cryptocurrency that normally maintains a one-to-one value with fiat currencies like the dollar. They are typically backed by cash and cash equivalents.