86 million active Solana wallets are empty, according to data

Data from October 9 show that while Solana’s monthly active addresses have surpassed the 100 million mark, more than 86 million wallets on the network are empty, raising concerns about the validity of user activity metrics according to blockchain data from Artemis Terminal.

This sharp increase stems from 509,000 active addresses recorded at the beginning of 2024. However, despite this growth, most of these wallets remain unused, casting doubt on the authenticity of these figures.

A closer look at user engagement in Solana wallets

Data from the Solana analysis tool Hello Moon reveals that over 86 million Solana wallets held 0 SOL in the past month.

Additionally, around 15.1 million wallets held less than 1 SOL, while approximately 1.5 million wallets held less than 10 SOL. This raises the question of whether these active wallets truly reflect genuine user interest.

While many wallets remain empty, Solana has shown growth in other key metrics, such as the creation of SPL tokens and new accounts on the network.

After a slowdown in September, the network saw a significant increase in daily SPL token creation, with at least 17,000 new tokens being created daily since September 26.

Much clearer with this data from Hello Moon

Of the 5M "DAU's", 4.5M hold 0 $SOL (green bar), which indicates that they are single use generated wallets used by volume/washtrading bots

Notice the sharp rise at the end of August.https://t.co/NvvNpa4t8D

h/t @WelfBrandolf https://t.co/4bS94TiJ3a pic.twitter.com/00SNHTAToc

— Wazz (@WazzCrypto) September 15, 2024

SPL is the token standard for Solana, similar to Ethereum’s ERC-20.

On October 8, over 10 million new accounts were created on Solana, more than double the number from the previous day. Despite this activity, critics argue that bots may be responsible for inflating the wallet numbers rather than actual users.

Solana’s active metrics and competition from other Layer-1 networks

At the end of September, Dune Analytics revealed that the average transaction fees on Solana had risen to $0.02, still significantly lower than Ethereum’s average gas fee of $3. As of October 9, Solana ranks as the third-largest blockchain for DeFi, with a total value locked (TVL) of $5.41 billion, behind Ethereum’s $44.7 billion.

Despite its position as a major Layer-1 network, Solana faces increasing competition from other scalable Layer-1 networks like the Sui Network.

Analysts at K33 Research suggest that Sui’s architecture, along with its upcoming game console release, could present a challenge to Solana in terms of performance and user engagement.

Solana is known for its high transaction speeds and low costs. However, Sui aims to build on these strengths by expanding into various sectors, particularly the gaming sector. While the number of Solana wallets continues to grow, the network faces the challenge of translating these figures into meaningful user engagement.