86 Million Active Solana Wallets are Empty: Data Shows

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Data from October 9 reveals that while Solana’s monthly active addresses surpassed 100 million, over 86 million wallets on the network remain empty, raising concerns about the validity of user engagement metrics, according to blockchain data from Artemis Terminal.

This sharp increase stems from 509,000 active addresses recorded at the start of 2024. However, despite the growth, most of these wallets are not being used, leading to skepticism about the authenticity of these numbers.

A Closer Look at User Engagement in Solana Wallets

Data from the Solana analytics tool Hello Moon indicates that over 86 million Solana wallets have held 0 SOL in the past month.

Additionally, around 15.1 million wallets held less than 1 SOL, while approximately 1.5 million contained less than 10 SOL. This raises questions about whether these active wallets reflect genuine user interest.

Source: Hello Moon / Solana Wallet Balance of Daily Active Users

While many wallets remain empty, Solana has still experienced growth in other key metrics, such as the creation of SPL tokens and new accounts on the network

After a slowdown in September, the network saw a substantial uptick in the daily addition of SPL tokens , with at least 17,000 new tokens created daily since September 26.

SPL is the token standard for Solana, similar to Ethereum’s ERC-20 .

On October 8, Solana witnessed over 10 million new accounts being created, more than double the number from the previous day.

Despite this activity, critics argue that bots may be responsible for inflating wallet numbers rather than actual users.

Solana’s Active Metrics and Competition from Other Layer-1 Networks

In late September, Dune Analytics revealed that the average transaction fees on Solana rose to $0.02 , still lower than Ethereum’s median gas fee of $3.

As of October 9, Solana ranks as the third-largest blockchain for DeFi , with a total value locked (TVL) of $5.41 billion, trailing behind Ethereum’s $44.7 billion.

Despite its position as a major Layer-1 network, Solana faces growing competition from other scalable Layer-1s like the Sui Network .

Analysts from K33 Research suggest that Sui’s architecture and upcoming game console release could rival Solana in terms of performance and user engagement.

Solana is known for its high transaction speeds and low costs. However, Sui is looking to build on these strengths by branching into different sectors, particularly gaming.

As Solana wallets grow in number, the network faces the challenge of translating these figures into meaningful user engagement.