From cointelegraph by Marcel Pechman

The Ethereum network has long been criticized for high transaction fees, which often exceed $4. However, the exponential growth of layer-2 blockchains has created a sustainable solution for decentralized applications (DApps) that require higher scalability. This ecosystem saw a 70% increase in volumes over the past 30 days, but can it match Solana’s success?

While Solana may have surpassed Ethereum's base layer activity, it still falls short when considering Ethereum's layer-2 blockchains. Solana captured 35.4% of the decentralized exchange (DEX) volumes in November, up from 27.2% in October, according to DefiLlama data. In comparison, Ethereum and its layer-2 ecosystem accounted for 45.2% of the market share in November, down from 50.1% in October.

In terms of deposits, Ethereum's base layer has a clear advantage with $69.7 billion in total value locked (TVL), compared to Solana's $9.2 billion. More notably, some of Ethereum's layer-2 solutions, such as Base and Arbitrum, are already each at $3 billion in TVL. In total, the Ethereum layer-2 ecosystem has reached a TVL of $11.4 billion, according to DefiLlama data.

There is no doubt that Solana has emerged as a major player, securing the second position in terms of deposits. However, Ethereum’s dominance remains unchallenged. Additionally, the impressive growth of Base, an Ethereum layer-2 solution founded and controlled by the Coinbase exchange, offers promising prospects, particularly in the memecoin sector.

Memecoins have been a key catalyst for Solana’s adoption and growth, with several tokens surpassing $1 billion in market capitalization. Pump.fun has significantly altered the creation of liquidity pools for new token launches, leading to a substantial increase in trading activity on platforms like Raydium and Orca, which collectively amassed $24.6 billion in volumes over the past seven days.