Solana Hits All-Time High in Usage as SOL Surpasses $80

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Solana’s network upgrade helped push daily active addresses to nearly 7 million in mid-2026, with transaction throughput averaging 1,100 per second. SOL’s price passed $80 in early July, driven by rising real-world assets (RWA) news. The chain handled 3.77 billion transactions in June, while RWA value topped $2.5 billion by April’s end. Analysts highlight Solana’s DeFi appeal due to low fees and high speed, though usage and price trends remain loosely connected.

Solana just posted its busiest stretch ever. The network’s usage metrics are touching all-time highs across nearly every meaningful category, and the timing coincides with SOL finally punching through the $80 price level in early July.

SOL is still trading roughly 72% below its January 2025 peak of around $294. So the network is doing more work than it ever has, while its token trades at a fraction of its former glory.

The numbers behind the noise

Daily active addresses retested yearly highs near 7 million as of mid-2026. Transaction throughput hit a 7-day average of approximately 1,100 transactions per second, approaching all-time highs for the network.

June 2026 alone saw a record 3.77 billion transactions processed. The first quarter of the year had already clocked over 10 billion total transactions.

April 2026 marked an all-time high of 167 million monthly SPL token-holder addresses.

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SOL’s price crossed the $80 mark around July 1-2, trading in the $80-82 range. The network’s market cap sat in the $47-48 billion neighborhood.

What’s driving the surge

Solana’s high throughput and low fees have made it increasingly attractive for decentralized finance applications. The kind of trading activity that would cost hundreds of dollars in fees on Ethereum can run for pennies on Solana.

The total value of real-world assets on the network surpassed $2.5 billion by the end of April 2026. That includes tokenized treasuries, private credit instruments, and other financial products that institutional players are beginning to move on-chain.

The gap between usage and price

SOL’s $294 peak in January 2025 was inflated by the same speculative mania that lifted most crypto assets during that cycle.

Market analysts flagged the $80 level as a pivotal technical threshold for SOL. Successfully clearing it could shift sentiment and attract new capital from traders who use price levels as entry signals.

The $2.5 billion in tokenized real-world assets is particularly notable. RWAs represent the intersection of crypto and traditional finance that large institutions actually understand.

What investors should watch

The sustainability of the 7 million daily active address figure deserves scrutiny. Crypto networks are notoriously susceptible to bot activity and wash trading that inflate on-chain metrics.

Solana’s low fee structure means the network needs massive throughput just to generate meaningful revenue for validators and stakers.

The 167 million SPL token-holder addresses represent a significant network effect. In crypto, distribution advantages tend to compound over time.

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