Insights: Layer 1 & 2 Chains - March 2026

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Syndica Insights: Layer 1 & 2 Chains - March 2026

Solana matched or beat the next nine chains combined across the median, P90, and P99 TPS.

At the median, Solana hit 500 TPS more than the other chains combined. At P90 and P99, Solana slightly edged all other chains combined in TPS.

Solana's REV share stabilized at 13% amid market contraction.

Total chain REV fell to $145M in March 2026, down 73% from the January 2025 peak. Hyperliquid (48%), Tron (20%), and Solana (13%) accounted for 81% of all chain revenue in March.

Solana held its lead in DEX volume for the 18th straight month.

Total DEX volume fell to $203B, the lowest since Sep 2024. Solana led at 33% ($66B), followed by Ethereum at 26% ($53B) and BSC at 15% ($31B).

Perps volume cooled to $616B as six chains each claimed at least 5% share.

Down from the $1.1T peak in Oct 2025, March volume was split across Hyperliquid (34%), edgeX (13%), zkLighter (10%), Ethereum (7%), Arbitrum (6%) and Solana (5%).

TVL retraced to Feb 2025 levels, but Solana kept its #2 spot behind Ethereum.

Ethereum still holds the majority of TVL while Solana ranked #2 at $6.7B, ahead of BSC ($5.7B), Base ($4.1B), and Tron ($4.1B).

Solana outperformed most chains in DeFi lending downturn.

Total supply fell 36% from a $118B Sep 2025 peak to $76B in March. Solana remained resilient, decreasing only 16% to $4.9B to hold #2 behind Ethereum.

Solana stablecoin supply grew 67% since Jan 2025, outpacing the market.

Solana grew 67% from $9B to $15B, outpacing the total stablecoin market (49%). In March, it ranked third behind Ethereum and Tron, ahead of BSC and Arbitrum.

Each dollar of Solana stablecoin changed hands 45 times in March.

Velocity measures how actively stablecoins circulate vs. sit idle. Solana's $14.8B supply produced $662B in transfers; #2 in absolute volume behind Base, which turned over 1,135x on a smaller base.

RWA TVL tripled to $23B as new chains chipped into Ethereum's dominance.

TVL grew from $7B in Jan 2025 to $23B, while Ethereum's share fell from 84% to 60%. BSC climbed to 13% and Solana to 7%, driving most of the diversification.

Solana's Tether Gold trading volume surged 15x in six months to $82M.

From $5.6M in Oct 2025 to $82M in March, Solana climbed from #4 to #2 in XAUT trading, overtaking Avalanche and HyperEVM. Only Ethereum ranks higher.

x402 transfers shifted to Polygon in March as the micropayment protocol diversified.

Polygon led March with 3M transfers (61%), overtaking Solana (23%) which had dominated since December. Base held 14%. This resurgence was driven by the Lisovo hardfork's $1M gas subsidy for agent-to-agent payments and Coinbase's x402 facilitator launch.

Solana captured 25% of on-chain TCG revenue, up from 14% a year ago.

Trading card game revenue hit a record $24.4M in March. Polygon led at $18.4M (75%), while Solana's Collector Crypt, Phygitals and Emporium combined for $6M.

Solana's NFT share held at 7% as the market contracted 90% to $63M.

On-chain NFT volume fell from $645M (Jan 2025) to $63M (Mar 2026). Ethereum led at 57% but ceded ground to TON (28%). Solana held steady at 7% ($4.2M) despite the broad downturn.