Cross-Chain Tokens on Solana Break Through $1 Billion in DEX Volume

In the case of ZEC, daily volume on Solana-based DEXs swelled from roughly $400,000 to over $52.9 million, with cumulative DEX volume exceeding $878 million over a 45-day period. Meanwhile, MON, bridged via Wormhole through Sunrise at the same time its mainnet launched on Monad, generated over $201 million in trading volume within less than 10 days of launch, including more than $9.1 million in just the last 24 hours.

Notably, the trading activity was accompanied by rapid adoption: over 53,700 unique wallets have executed roughly 2.1 million ZEC swaps on Solana DEXs to date, with over 7,700 wallets trading ZEC over the past week alone. MON also saw a high level of uptake, with around 16,200 wallets executing 767,000+ swaps.

This liquidity supporting this trading activity is across a number of venues: for ZEC, more than $12.5 million is deployed across nine DEXs, with the largest pools in Aquifer (≈ $5.4 million), while others include Raydium (≈ $3.3 million) and Meteora (≈ $1.2 million). For MON the liquidity profile is more concentrated, with Aquifer providing roughly 57.2% of the ≈ $9.5 million liquidity deployed; Tessera and Meteora account for the remainder.

Several structural and behavioral factors explain this growth. Underpinning Solana are a combination of fast block finality and low fees that make the chain particularly suitable for providing low-cost liquidity and rapid trading. This makes it attractive for both retail traders and market makers.

In addition, the maturity of routing tools and DEX aggregators in the Solana ecosystem allows liquidity to be efficiently connected across multiple pools, reducing fragmentation and improving execution quality.

Lastly, user behavior seems very responsive; many traders appear ready to hunt newly bridged tokens the moment they become available, creating a self-reinforcing feedback loop where initial liquidity attracts more volume, which in turn draws more liquidity and trading activity.

This dynamic enables projects to bypass the traditional wait associated with listing on centralized exchanges. Instead, by bridging assets to Solana, they immediately tap into an existing pool of active users, liquidity providers, and routing tools, effectively front-loading liquidity and trading volume.

The case studies of MON and ZEC perhaps hint at a structural shift both in the ways in which tokens are brought to market and liquidity is seeded. For projects that need trading activity and discoverability early-including cross-chain tokens, tokenized assets, or LSTs (liquid staking tokens)-bridging into Solana rather than waiting for CEX listings increasingly appears to be an attractive value proposition.

This means Solana DEXs are evolving from niche trading venues to meaningful platforms for cross-chain assets and potentially a first stop for capital flows into newly bridged tokens. Over time, this could reinforce Solana's position as a hub for early-stage liquidity and discovery.

If that trend continues, then with each new wave of cross-chain token launches, Solana might be the default venue of choice for initial trading. That would reshape the way liquidity is spread out in the greater multi-chain ecosystem, with Solana DEXs consistently capturing the early volume well in advance of those tokens going live on major CEXs.

Key risks remain. Cross-chain bridges themselves represent one of the historically weak points in crypto security, with many high-profile exploits related to bridges. While the rapid liquidity on Solana does appear very healthy, any kind of security vulnerability or exploit that comes with the underlying bridge infrastructure for tokens such as MON or ZEC might have outsized ripple effects across the different liquidity pools and user funds.

High early liquidity, in particular, provided by speculative retail trading, is also not indicative of long-term sustainability. While tokens may experience a flood of activity in the immediate aftermath of bridging, maintaining that liquidity and trading volume over time is determined by long-term demand, project fundamentals, and wider market conditions.

Lastly, liquidity is currently concentrated in a few DEXs on Solana; there is a fragmentation risk if a large portion of that liquidity migrates elsewhere, or perhaps if pools become unbalanced.

This milestone, by MON and ZEC, of over $1 billion in combined DEX volume on Solana, underlines the pace at which modern cross-chain ecosystems are evolving. A potent combination of Solana's low transaction costs, fast finality, mature DEX tooling, and a responsive user base creates fertile ground for early trading and liquidity. For projects launching new tokens, bridging to Solana may increasingly replace the traditional path through centralized exchanges, offering a fast, efficient and liquid route to market.

Solana DEXs are emerging not just as peripheral venues but as core infrastructure for the next wave of cross-chain assets.