Solana has surged ahead of Ethereum in weekly on-chain trading volumes, driven by a remarkable uptick in meme coin activity that now accounts for 40% of its trading landscape.

The crypto landscape is shifting, with Solana recently eclipsing Ethereum in weekly on-chain trading volume. A recent report from Wintermute shows that Solana’s (SOL) trading volume jumped 50% to $51 billion, while Ethereum (ETH) reached $46 billion, reflecting the ongoing recovery of the crypto sector from recent lows.

A big driver behind this momentum appears to be the rise of meme coins, which now account for 40% of Solana’s trading activity, fueled by meme coin marketplace pump.fun, which now accounts for 35% of Solana’s total decentralized exchange volume. However, despite the extensive hype, only 0.76% of pump.fun wallets have generated $1,000 or more, as Coin Insider Daily reported earlier in an exclusive deep-dive report.

The influx of speculative trading has led to a dramatic increase in token generation on the network, capturing an impressive 86% market share, up from 60% in early September, Wintermute notes. Weekly token generation also skyrocketed from 45,000 to 110,000 tokens.

Meme coins themselves have outperformed other sectors as well, with the GMCI’s Meme Index rising 34% in September, closely trailing the 39% growth of the GMAI Index. Year-to-date, the index has surged 140%, far surpassing the GMAI Index’s 83% growth, Wintermute notes.

Analysts suggest that Solana’s burgeoning meme coin activity “could potentially catalyze broader growth across the entire industry,” adding that the calm in crypto markets may be the “prelude to a storm as the U.S. election approaches.”