The competitors between L1s has by no means been this tight.
As blockchain adoption grows, L1s are upgrading their infrastructure to draw extra real-world use circumstances. In 2025, the tempo of back-to-back upgrades has accelerated, pushing mainstream adoption even additional.
Notably, Solana and Ethereum stay at the heart of this rivalry. Over the years, each L1s have gone head-to-head.
Nonetheless, it seems like Solana [SOL] would possibly finally be residing up to its “Ethereum-killer” narrative.
Solana set to overhaul Ethereum in annual income
Over time, L1s have critically widened their playbook.
In different phrases, every chain is branching into new sectors. Take the RWA (Actual World Asset) house, which is a standout.
In response to RWA.xyz, it has added round $14 billion in worth this 12 months alone, up 240% in 2025.
From a income perspective, that’s a giant deal as community exercise ramps up. Notably, Solana appears to be leaning into this technique, placing it on monitor to surpass Ethereum [ETH] for the first time with $1.4 billion in Annual Income.
Supply: DeFi Growth Corp.
Naturally, it exhibits Solana’s on-chain utilization is firing.
In response to the chart above, Solana’s income has jumped from a measly $28 million in 2021 to $2.5 billion YTD in 2025, whereas Ethereum has slid from $5 billion+ peaks to $1.4 billion. However is that this mirrored on-chain?
RWA development, it’s clear: Solana’s up 372%, Ethereum 198%.
Technically, that’s 2× extra RWA capital flowing into Solana, which strains up with its rising income lead. In brief, SOL’s scalability is proving its edge.
Solana’s surge shakes up the SOL/ETH stability
Little doubt, SOL’s on-chain dominance hasn’t but translated into value motion.
From a technical perspective, the SOL/ETH ratio has skilled a totally bearish 2025, erasing all of the 27% rally it posted in 2024. Consequently, this has left Solana relatively weaker when it comes to holding help.
Nonetheless, once we zoom in, a notable divergence exhibits up.
Regardless of the total drawdown, the SOL/ETH ratio nonetheless managed to submit a better excessive on the 12-month candle, reaching as excessive as 0.93 in mid-January.
Supply: TradingView (SOL/ETH)
In plain phrases, Solana has proven pockets of relative power this 12 months.
From an investor’s perspective, that might be sufficient to maintain SOL in the race to compete with (and even overtake) ETH in the subsequent rally, with the SOL/ETH ratio chopping sideways round 0.042 on the weekly.
Add in Solana’s rising dominance, and its income lead turns into no fluke.
At this tempo, it looks like solely a matter of time earlier than this resilience begins exhibiting in value, making SOL one to observe heading into 2026.
Remaining Ideas
- Solana’s on-chain development is driving a income surge, placing it on monitor to surpass Ethereum for the first time.
- Regardless of a bearish SOL/ETH value ratio in 2025, Solana exhibits pockets of power, suggesting its on-chain dominance might quickly translate into value motion.
