Top Solana Projects to Watch in 2025: Hottest SOL Ecosystem Gems

Solana’s total value locked (TVL) surged past $4.5 billion in April 2025, marking a 230% increase YoY and signaling a full-scale resurgence across its DeFi and memecoin ecosystems. From leading DEXs and liquid staking protocols to culturally explosive tokens like TRUMP and PENGU, Solana isn’t just scaling transactions — it’s scaling attention. In a landscape dominated by Ethereum and L2s, Solana is proving that speed, community, and capital efficiency still win. Here’s a look at the top Solana-native projects defining this bullish wave.

Top Solana Projects (April 2025)

Key Highlights

• Solana’s DeFi TVL crossed $4.5B in April 2025, signaling a strong ecosystem revival.

• Jupiter dominates liquidity with over $1.2B in weekly trading volume and advanced swap tools.

• Raydium powers core AMM and launch infrastructure with a hybrid order book model.

• Solayer is building across multiple verticals: stablecoin (sUSD), restaking, and high-speed L1s.

• Sanctum leads in liquid staking, hitting $1.05B TVL and simplifying access to LSTs.

• PENGU represents the cultural edge of Solana’s memecoin + NFT blend — speculative but influential.

1. Jupiter (JUP): Solana’s Liquidity Powerhouse

Jupiter continues to dominate Solana's DeFi stack, recently surpassing $1.2 billion in weekly volume and consistently ranking as the top DEX aggregator on the network. In 2025, its product expansion into perpetuals, bridge aggregation, and launchpad tools has made it indispensable for on-chain traders.

Jupiter isn't just a swap interface — it's a liquidity layer that stitches together Solana’s fragmented DeFi. Its ability to route trades across dozens of liquidity pools, execute DCA orders, and support complex limit strategies has made it the Uniswap + 1inch of Solana. With over 100,000 weekly active wallets and robust post-airdrop token activity, JUP continues to outperform both technically and narratively.

Noteworthy Features:

• DCA and limit orders for advanced DeFi strategies

• Cross-chain bridges via Portal and Wormhole

• LFG Launchpad to support new token projects

• Perpetual trading with low latency execution

• 10B token supply with strong liquidity since airdrop

Jupiter’s speed, UI, and community-first approach are setting the gold standard for what a DEX should look like in the Solana era.

2. Raydium (RAY): The AMM Backbone of Solana DeFi

Raydium remains the most battle-tested AMM on Solana, with a TVL that recently rebounded to $190 million and growing usage through perpetuals and token launches. With five years of uptime and deep integrations, it quietly powers a large percentage of on-chain liquidity — even for other Solana-native apps.

The platform’s unique hybrid model — combining an AMM with a central limit order book (CLOB) — enables better price discovery and slippage control. In 2025, its LaunchLab continues to incubate new Solana tokens, while its integration with Drift and other perps platforms reinforces its relevance in Solana's evolving DeFi stack.

What Makes Raydium Relevant:

• AMM + CLOB model for tighter spreads

• Integrated perpetuals trading for leverage traders

• LaunchLab support for token listings and initial liquidity

• RAY token utility through LP rewards and staking

• Strong multi-year community and dev ecosystem backing

Raydium’s slow and steady evolution gives it resilience in a space known for hype cycles — and that makes it a solid infrastructure asset for the Solana future.

3. Solayer (LAYER): The Multi-Vertical Infrastructure Play

In early 2025, Solayer raised $17 million in a seed round led by Dragonfly Capital and launched its own overcollateralized stablecoin, sUSD, alongside a novel Layer 1 chain, InfiniSVM, built for high-speed execution. What began as a restaking protocol has evolved into a DeFi + infra hybrid — positioning Solayer as one of the most ambitious plays on Solana.

Solayer is simultaneously building core primitives (like sUSD) and next-gen scaling infrastructure, leveraging Solana’s speed to push experimental capital efficiency tools. With early traction in its staking pools and governance token (LAYER) airdropped to early users, the protocol is gaining attention from both builders and investors looking for robust, multi-domain platforms.

Solayer Highlights:

• sUSD stablecoin backed by SOL-based collateral

• InfiniSVM chain targeting 100k+ TPS via hardware acceleration

• Restaking vaults for LST capital reuse

• Governance token: LAYER, distributed Feb 2025

• High integration potential across Solana DeFi protocols

Solayer is making the case that future DeFi won’t just be about yield — it’ll be about vertical integration and execution at scale.

4. Sanctum (CLOUD): Liquid Staking at Scale

With Solana staking participation crossing 70% of total circulating supply, platforms like Sanctum are becoming crucial to ecosystem fluidity. In Q1 2025, Sanctum surpassed $1.05 billion in TVL, becoming the largest liquid staking platform on Solana by a wide margin.

By unifying liquid staking tokens (LSTs) under a single interface, Sanctum simplifies staking access for retail and institutions alike. Its protocol issues CLOUD, a governance token that anchors vault strategy, LST liquidity pools, and validator alignment. This makes Sanctum a pivotal layer in maintaining Solana’s decentralization and economic stability.

Why Sanctum Matters:

• $1B+ TVL, growing 40% QoQ

• Offers unified access to top LSTs like mSOL, bSOL, jitoSOL

• Composable vaults for auto-yield and LP deployment

• CLOUD token incentivizes ecosystem participation and governance

• Enhances validator decentralization via reward routing

Sanctum’s rapid growth indicates that liquid staking isn’t just a utility layer — it’s becoming a competitive moat.

5. PENGU: Memecoin Meets NFT Culture

PENGU launched in December 2024 as a fusion between meme coin energy and NFT-driven community mechanics. Built in collaboration with elements of the Pudgy Penguins brand and cross-chain creatives from the Abstract Chain, PENGU capitalized on viral launches and mass airdrops — reaching a $170M market cap within its first month.

Though primarily speculative, PENGU’s success showcases how Solana-native memecoins are tapping into deeper culture and collector ecosystems. With integrations into NFT games, meme-driven liquidity pools, and a hyperactive Telegram following, PENGU remains one of the top-performing cultural tokens on Solana.

PENGU Highlights:

• Tied to NFT + memecoin crossover narratives

• First-month market cap: $170M+

• Airdropped to early JUP users and NFT collectors

• Fueled by Twitter campaigns and art drops

• Built for high-velocity speculation, not long-term utility

While it may not have deep fundamentals, PENGU reflects how narrative, culture, and timing still drive upside in early-stage token markets.

6. Final Thoughts

Solana’s resurgence in 2025 is more than a memecoin mania — it’s a broad, foundational revival across liquidity, staking, and infrastructure. From Jupiter’s DeFi dominance to Sanctum’s billion-dollar liquid staking layer, the network is evolving into a full-spectrum ecosystem with real user activity and developer velocity.

Projects like Solayer are bridging DeFi with infrastructure, while cultural tokens like PENGU demonstrate Solana’s edge in community virality. What makes these projects worth watching isn’t just price action — it’s their positioning at the core of Solana’s scalable, fast, and expressive Layer 1 vision.

As new capital flows in and users demand more intuitive, cost-effective platforms, Solana’s top projects are set to become both the backbone and the face of the chain’s next chapter.

Platforms like Laika AI are already tracking these trends — from token velocity and protocol TVL to staking flows and memecoin momentum. Explore Laika AI or add the Laika Chrome Extension to stay in sync with Solana’s evolving ecosystem in real time.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are the most promising Solana projects to invest in for 2025?
Jupiter, Raydium, Solayer, Sanctum, and PENGU are among the top Solana-native projects in 2025. They cover critical areas like liquidity aggregation, liquid staking, DeFi infrastructure, and viral community tokens.

2. Why is Jupiter considered a DeFi leader on Solana?
Jupiter aggregates liquidity from across Solana, enabling efficient swaps, perpetual trading, and cross-chain functionality — all while maintaining 100K+ active wallets and $350M+ daily volume.

3. What is Sanctum, and how does it support Solana staking?
Sanctum is the largest liquid staking platform on Solana, offering users access to popular LSTs and yielding over $1 billion in TVL, helping decentralize and secure the validator ecosystem.

4. Is PENGU a serious project or just a memecoin?
PENGU blends memecoin hype with NFT culture and gamified distribution, attracting a strong but speculative community. It’s high-risk and not fundamentally utility-driven, but culturally significant.

5. How can I track these Solana project metrics in real time?
Use Laika AI to monitor token performance, wallet activity, DeFi TVL, staking rewards, and new protocol launches across Solana and other L1s — all in one dashboard.