Solana News Today: Why Ethena, Solana, and BlockDAG's Divergent Strategies Fuel Blockchain's Expansion

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Ethena (ENA) has surpassed $14.5 billion in total value locked (TVL), marking a significant milestone in its growth trajectory. The surge in TVL reflects heightened institutional and retail adoption, driven by Ethena's integration into DeFi protocols and its role in yield-generating strategies. Analysts attribute this growth to Ethena's stablecoin ecosystem, which has attracted over 130,000 active wallets in Q3 2025, with an average daily transaction volume exceeding $2.1 billion. The asset's resilience is underscored by its ability to maintain support above $0.78 despite market volatility, with on-chain metrics indicating a 30% increase in active stakers since mid-2025 .

Meanwhile, Solana (SOL) continues to solidify its position as a leader in institutional-grade blockchain infrastructure. The network's Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) ecosystem has expanded rapidly, with entities like Forward Industries (NASDAQ: FORD) and DeFi Development Corp staking over 8.5 million SOL to generate yield and participate in governance. Solana's transaction throughput now averages 726 transactions per second (TPS), with peak performance reaching 7,229 TPS during stress tests, outpacing competitors like Tron and Base . The network's low fees-$0.00025 per transaction-have further cemented its appeal for cross-border payments and DeFi applications. Institutional players, including Pantera Capital and Galaxy Digital, have allocated $1.25 billion to Solana-based DATs, signaling confidence in its scalability and enterprise readiness .

BlockDAG, a hybrid Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) and Proof-of-Work (PoW) blockchain, has launched its AWAKENING TESTNET, achieving 2,000 TPS in live conditions. This testnet milestone validates the project's architecture, which combines DAG's parallel processing with PoW's security. BlockDAG's presale has raised $410 million, with 25.9 billion BDAG tokens sold across 30 batches, priced at $0.0013 in the final phase. The project plans a $0.05 listing on August 11, 2025, with early buyers projected to realize a 3,025% return from Batch 1 pricing. Over 3 million daily miners and 20,000 hardware units sold highlight its grassroots adoption, supported by partnerships with sports teams like Inter Milan and the Seattle Orcas .

The testnet's success is attributed to BlockDAG's UTXO-removal upgrade, which streamlines ledger management, and account abstraction features that enhance smart contract flexibility. Unlike speculative projects, BlockDAG's infrastructure is operational, with explorer tools and Stratum Protocol enabling real-time miner synchronization. Analysts note that BlockDAG's ecosystem, including 300 dApps in development and EVM compatibility, positions it to compete with established Layer-1s like Ethereum and Solana. However, post-launch liquidity and regulatory scrutiny remain critical risks .

Comparative analysis reveals stark differences in strategic focus. While Solana prioritizes institutional adoption and high-speed execution, BlockDAG emphasizes utility-driven growth and decentralized mining. Ethena's TVL growth, meanwhile, underscores the demand for stable, yield-bearing assets in a volatile market. These developments highlight the diversification of blockchain use cases, with each project addressing distinct market needs-be it institutional-grade infrastructure, scalable DeFi, or hybrid consensus models.

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