The landscape for Layer 1 network fees has undergone a dramatic shift, with Hyperliquid and BNB Chain emerging as the new market leaders. This comes at the expense of Solana, whose share of fee revenue has fallen to just 9%. The change is particularly stark considering that only a few months ago, Hyperliquid and BNB Chain’s combined share was approximately 10%.

The Fading Meme Coin Frenzy on Solana

Solana’s declining position is largely attributed to a significant cooling of its once-booming meme coin trading activity. The frenzy, which previously accounted for the majority of the network’s fee revenue, has subsided since the launch of the ‘TRUMP’ token earlier this year. This downturn in speculative trading has directly led to reduced network traffic and, consequently, a smaller share of the fee market.

Derivatives Trading Drives New Leaders

In contrast, Hyperliquid and BNB Chain have built robust revenue models centered on derivatives trading. This strategy has proven highly effective, as derivatives generate substantially more fee revenue per transaction than meme coin trades. As a result, even a modest increase in their user base has translated into a major expansion of their network revenue and market share.

BNB Chain has also benefited from its integrated ecosystem with Binance Alpha and the Binance Wallet. This synergy effectively captures retail investor traffic from the world’s largest centralized exchange (CEX), boosting on-chain transaction volumes and solidifying its market position.

An Analyst’s View on the Future

According to The Block’s data insights team, Solana’s path to regaining its market share will require a native decentralized application (dApp) capable of driving large-scale adoption or the emergence of a new speculative cycle. The team suggests that without such a catalyst, Hyperliquid and BNB Chain are likely to maintain their strong positions, fueled by high derivatives trading volumes.

The report also noted that if volatility in the cryptocurrency market increases, the trend of expanding derivatives volume will continue. This would likely lead to an even greater concentration of fee revenue on these two chains.