Solana is quietly beating Coinbase and Kraken at their own game

@solana is taking market share from the biggest names in centralized crypto trading, and the numbers are hard to ignore.

Spot trading volume across Solana's decentralized exchanges has been consistently running ahead of both Coinbase and Kraken, according to Blockworks data. Solana now sits behind only Binance and Bybit, having achieved the third-highest weekly volume at roughly $7.19 billion, positioning the network as a serious contender even among the biggest crypto exchanges. Binance and Bybit recorded weekly volumes of approximately $34.4 billion and $9.5 billion, respectively.

A Recurring Trend, Not a One-Off

The milestone is not a flash in the pan. Blockworks data shows that at the start of April, Solana-based DEXs processed about $10.71 billion in spot volume over 24 hours, enough to move ahead of Coinbase and Kraken, something that would have been hard to imagine even a year ago. The network has led all blockchains in total DEX volume for 32 consecutive weeks.

There is an important caveat. On-chain DEX flow and centralized spot volume are not directly equivalent. DEX figures carry a higher proportion of bot activity and arbitrage trades, meaning the like-for-like comparison with a platform such as Coinbase is imperfect. The gap is real and recurring, but context matters.

Why It Is Happening

The latency gap that once favored centralized exchanges has largely disappeared due to Solana's network upgrades, allowing DEX aggregators like Jupiter to offer execution speeds comparable to centralized platforms. Fees are also a factor. For many retail users, trading on centralized platforms via instant buy can cost anywhere from 0.4% to 0.6%, while on Solana costs are often lower, even after factoring in network fees.

Solana has seen increased on-chain participation, new token launches, and growing interest from retail traders, driven by its fast transaction speeds and low costs that have made onboarding straightforward.

Centralized exchanges still dominate overall, accounting for roughly 80% of spot volume, but the direction of travel is beginning to shift. For the established players, Solana's rise is a reminder that on-chain infrastructure is no longer the slower, more expensive alternative it once was.

Sources
U.Today: Solana Surpasses $7 Billion in Trading Volume, Beats Coinbase and Kraken
CoinSpress: Solana Overtakes Coinbase and Kraken as DEX Volume Surges
Blockworks: Solana DEX Volume Analytics Dashboard