Cathie Wood: Solana Has Yet to Prove Itself Against Ethereum

At the Solana Accelerate conference in New York on May 23, 2025, ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood reiterated that Ethereum remains the primary gateway into smart contracts, while Solana “has yet to prove itself” as an enterprise-grade platform.

Wood told attendees that many investors still prefer Ethereum’s maturity and liquidity. She noted that Ethereum “remains the primary entry point for new users to understand the smart contract ecosystem”.

By contrast, Wood said Solana is in a proving phase — its growth and pricing model are under study — and cited the launch of Trump’s Solana-based TRUMP coin in January 2025 as a cautionary signal that could deter some older, institutional buyers. Solana’s native coin even briefly hit a new high around the Trump coin frenzy.

Ethereum vs Solana: Key Network Metrics

Comparing the two networks as of May 2025 highlights Ethereum’s larger scale. Market capitalizations and trading volumes remain higher on Ethereum’s network per Messari data.

Ethereum’s market cap is roughly $305 billion versus Solana’s $92 billion. Average daily trading volume is about $109 million for ETH vs $48 million for SOL.

Ethereum also leads in ecosystem size: it still hosts far more developers and DeFi projects. Messari reports Ethereum “commands the largest developer and liquidity presence,” while Solana has grown rapidly in usage.

In 2024, Solana onboarded about 7,625 new developers, surpassing Ethereum in annual new-dev count. However, Ethereum’s total developer community and Total Value Locked remain much larger.

DefiLama data show Ethereum’s DeFi TVL around $61.8 billion. Whereas Solana’s $9.2 billion, and Ethereum hosts over half of all stablecoin supply.

On-chain adoption trends are mixed. Since Ethereum’s spot-ETF launch in July 2024, Ethereum’s daily active addresses have declined 8.5%, while Solana’s have grown, up 220%.

This reflects Solana’s recent burst of retail and memecoin activity: as of May 23, 2025, Solana reported about 1.2 million daily active addresses, a 9% jump over two weeks.

By some measures (e.g., short-term wallet counts on Dune/Scans), Solana’s weekly active addresses exceed Ethereum’s by a wide margin.

Ethereum maintains the larger ecosystem: according to Messari, most new projects still launch on or integrate with Ethereum. Solana’s recent growth (including a post-FTX rebound in dev count) is notable, but Ethereum’s ecosystem remains deeper.

Overall, Ethereum’s network data shows ongoing leadership in institutional-scale metrics, while Solana’s metrics have risen sharply in 2025.

Analysts at CryptoQuant and other platforms note that Ethereum’s on-chain usage dipped modestly this year, even as Solana’s picked up – a sign of capital rotation.

In sum, recent data confirm Wood’s view: Ethereum still anchors the smart-contract space, with Solana growing fast but not yet matching ETH’s proven base.

ETF Flows and Institutional Demand

ETF inflows underscore the investor trends. Spot Ether ETFs (first approved in July 2024) have drawn significant but modest inflows: cumulative net inflows into U.S. ETH ETFs are on the order of $2.7 billion since launch (with $2.2 billion net into all ETH funds in 2024, per CoinShares.

Wood and ARK analysts see Ethereum’s spot ETF adoption as vital for smart-contract crypto, but they acknowledge current limitations.

In particular, regulatory hurdles remain. On May 21, 2025, the U.S. SEC delayed its decision on adding staking support to Ether ETFs, a move some market commentators described as a barrier to adoption.

Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart noted these delays were expected, but for investors and issuers, they postpone the yield enhancement that staking would offer. Until staking is approved, Ether ETF flows may lag expectations despite the long-term bullish setup.

Other analysts echo Wood’s caution about Solana’s institutional adoption. Farside Investors and on-chain data show spot SOL funds and products remain small relative to ETH and BTC.

MarketVector’s Martin Leinweber recently summarized that “Ethereum’s dominance is deeply rooted in its robust ecosystem”, citing Ethereum’s lead in TVL and real‑world asset adoption.

Cathie Wood also suggested that the debut of Donald Trump’s memecoin, the Official Trump coin on the Solana network in January might have dampened investor confidence in the platform. According to Wood, institutions—especially older investors—could have been put off by the events surrounding the token.

“Some older investors, the 60-year-olds, might feel uneasy about what happened with the Trump memecoin,” she commented. TRUMP plummeted roughly 50% just days after its launch on January 17, following the lack of any crypto-related policy announcements from the president.

“That could have made them nervous,” Wood remarked. These insights were shared in response to ETF analyst Eric Balchunas’ observation that explaining Bitcoin’s concept of “digital gold” to a boomer or adviser is straightforward, while other cryptocurrencies like Solana can be more challenging.

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