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Stablecoin swaps have gained ground on Solana as memecoin trading loses market share, with institutional adoption helping drive the shift, according to Andrey Didovskiy, CEO of Solana DeFi protocol Seasons.
Memecoins accounted for 16% of Solana’s spot trading volume in the first half of 2026, down from 40% a year earlier, according to a September 1 report from 21Shares. Over the same period, stablecoin swaps increased from 6% to 19%, while general SOL trading rose from 41% to 53%.
Didovskiy described the decline in memecoin activity as “a return to reality,” citing growing interest in real world assets, macroeconomic uncertainty and the “extractive nature” of memecoins.
He said a lack of accountability and practices that drained users had damaged the sector’s reputation, pushing remaining capital toward safer alternatives.
“Recent growth has been definitely lead by institutions,” Didovskiy said in written responses shared with Crypto Briefing on November 13, pointing to the increase in stablecoin issuers and wrappers. He added that retail users and traders also contributed to adoption.
“Recent growth has been definitely lead by institutions,” Didovskiy said in written responses shared with Crypto Briefing on November 13, pointing to the increase in stablecoin issuers and wrappers. He added that retail users and traders also contributed to adoption.
The 21Shares report found that stablecoin assets on Solana grew 51% year over year to $15.7 billion in the first half of 2026, from $10.4 billion a year earlier. The network processed more than $1.9 trillion in stablecoin settlement value during the period.
Despite the broader shift, memecoin activity has shown signs of recovery. According to 21Shares, memecoins had rebounded to approximately 34% of Solana’s DEX volume by August, suggesting speculative trading remains a substantial part of the network.
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Didovskiy said most users who abandoned memecoins are unlikely to return, although a core group would remain and the trend could eventually reverse.
He also pointed to tokenization as an emerging growth driver. According to 21Shares, Solana’s share of onchain spot trading in tokenized equities rose from 7% in the first half of 2025 to approximately 97% in the first half of 2026, with trading volume reaching $4.9 billion.
Asked how far tokenization has progressed, Didovskiy estimated “2%,” describing the market as still small relative to its potential. He said wider adoption, improved tooling, education and additional legislation could accelerate growth.
Didovskiy identified liquidity provision, stablecoin lending and borrowing, and delta neutral liquid staking strategies as among the more sustainable sources of yield on Solana. He cited issuer counterparty risk, network reliability and smart contract vulnerabilities as the main concerns.
His protocol, Seasons, distributes gold, Bitcoin and dollar denominated assets to eligible holders using a mechanism partly funded by a 10% fee on SEAS token trades.
Looking ahead, Didovskiy projected that Solana could quadruple the volume and value it handles, along with the number of assets hosted on the network, over the next 12 months.
He said the metric investors should monitor is “prevalence,” referring to the number of applications integrating Solana and the number of unique individuals using the network.
