CoinGecko report says Solana (SOL) is outpacing Ethereum (ETH) in several ways

According to their Q1 Crypto Industry Report, CoinGecko says that Ethereum lost all gains from last year, while the rest of the crypto market cap only fell 18.6%

In a newly updated 2025 Quarter 1 (Q1) report, CoinGecko says that Solana (SOL) is outpacing Ethereum (ETH) in several ways.

According to their Q1 Crypto Industry Report, CoinGecko says that Ethereum lost all gains from last year, while the rest of the crypto market cap only fell 18.6% in the first few months of 2025.

“ETH closed 2025 Q1 at $1,805, representing a -45.3% decrease within the quarter, having fallen from $3,336. It has erased its gains from 2024, returning to levels last seen in 2023. It has severely underperformed majors such as BTC, SOL, XRP, and BNB, all of which declined to a much lesser degree.”

Trading volume dropped in Q1 as well, from a daily average of $30.0 billion in 2024 Q4 to $24.4 billion in the latest quarter. Days in which volume spiked saw the price of ETH plummet.

“The total market cap fell by 18.6% in Q1, compared to a -45.3% change for ETH. This difference can be attributed to the gains of meme coins, which drove up the prices of altcoins in general. As a result, the market cap for altcoins only decreased by 13.9%, while the DeFi market cap grew by 10.7%.

However, the rate of decline in the crypto market cap slowed in Q1. After falling sharply in December 2024, the market cap remained relatively stable in January and February, before resuming its decline in March.”

CoinGecko also found that Solana has continued its dominance of the decentralized exchange (DEX) space.

“Continuing the trend from end-2024, Solana continued to dominate DEX trades, hitting 52% dominance in January 2025; newcomers Sonic & Bera make their mark.

Solana was the dominant chain for DEX trading in 2025 Q1, with its market share hitting 39.6% for the quarter. It grew +35.3%, from $217.0 billion in Q4 to $293.7B in Q1.

In January, Solana accounted for 52% of on-chain trades amongst the top 12 blockchains, driven by the ‘political memecoin’ frenzy led by TRUMP. It recorded over $184.8 billion in trading volume, an all-time high for the chain. This caused Ethereum’s market share to drop below 20% for the first time.

However, as the meme coin trend receded, Ethereum managed to reclaim the top spot in March, with a 30.1% market share compared to Solana’s 23.4%.

Optimism and Polygon were edged out of the top 10 in March by newcomers Sonic and Berachain. However, over the entire quarter, both chains stayed ahead.”