As 2025 approaches, market experts are talking a lot about how much Ethereum and Solana compete with each other. Both cryptocurrencies have grown at a breakneck pace in 2024, but nonetheless, prospects vary as to which one will ultimately prevail in the altcoin industry in the coming year.

Solana’s quick domination

Solana’s excellent numbers attracted interest. In December, it outperformed Ethereum in several vital benchmarks, including app revenue and decentralized exchange (DEX) volume: Solana brought in about $141 million in app revenue; Ether it grossed $93.56 million.

Moreover, Solana’s decentralized exchange volume reached an impressive $67.43 billion, compared to Ethereum’s $52.37 billion. This development has led several experts to predict that Solana could surpass Ethereum as the dominant cryptocurrency by 2025.

Analysts attribute Solana’s success to its swift transaction speeds and minimal costs, which make it particularly attractive for decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible token (NFT) applications. The upcoming Firedancer update is expected to improve Solana’s network performance, potentially strengthening its status as a pioneer in the DeFi sector.

Will Ethereum overtake Solana?

While Solana’s stats are excellent, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan notes the rapid growth of the Ethereum ecosystem and projects that will allow it to surpass Solana by 2025. Highlights how Layer 2 solutions such as Base, Optimism, and Arbitrum aid Ethereum’s scalability, thus bridging the gap between institutional trust and everyday access.

The human mental model of Ethereum is antiquated. The general consensus is that Solana is economical/basic/fun and Ethereum is leisurely/clunky/costly.

But look what’s happening in the AI ​​agent space. Some of the most stimulating ‘fun’ projects like Clanker and Virtuals take place…

— Matt Hougan (@Matt_Hougan) December 18, 2024

Hougan points to Ethereum’s growing competitiveness combined with Solana’s user-friendly appeal, thus negating its antiquated reputation as leisurely and costly. He also mentions the success of initiatives like Clanker and Virtuals on the Ethereum Base network, proving their ability to encourage creativity while maintaining a forceful infrastructure.

Ethereum’s institutional attraction

Ethereum, on the other hand, remained dynamic. It recently attracted over $850 million in institutional capital inflows listed funds (ETF), which proves its lasting attractiveness for investors. The anticipation for Ethereum’s Petra update is increasing enthusiasm, promising significant improvements in speed and overall performance.

Additionally, the price of Ethereum is expected to boost. Depending on growth in ETF sponsorship and institutional interest, some analysts estimate it could be worth between $6,000 and $7,000 by 2025.

Competitive environment

Both cryptocurrencies are showing particular strengths and weaknesses as we approach 2025. According to Hougan, Ethereum is more likely to succeed in the future given the surge in transaction volumes and user interactions. However, Solana’s institutional support and wonderful ecosystem cannot be overlooked.

Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView