If you've been keeping an eye on the crypto space, especially the wild world of meme tokens, you've probably noticed Solana making waves again. A recent post from Token Terminal highlights just how much the Solana ecosystem is expanding, with its Total Value Locked (TVL) climbing impressively. For those new to the term, TVL is basically the total amount of funds deposited into applications on a blockchain—think of it as a measure of how much money is actively working within the network.

The chart shared by Token Terminal shows Solana's fully diluted market cap trading at around 3.7x its ecosystem TVL. That's a fully diluted valuation of about $146 billion against roughly $40 billion in TVL. But looking closer, the TVL has spiked to highs around $48 billion recently, dipping and recovering over the years but trending upward strongly into 2025.

What does this mean for meme tokens? Solana has become a hotspot for memes thanks to its speed, low fees, and vibrant DeFi ecosystem. Many popular meme launches happen on platforms like Raydium or Jupiter, which are among the top apps by TVL. As more capital flows into Solana—through staking protocols like Jito and Sanctum, or liquidity providers like Kamino—the overall liquidity and activity rise, creating fertile ground for meme tokens to thrive.

Token Terminal breaks it down further: the top applications driving this TVL include Circle (for stablecoins), Kamino (liquidity management), Jupiter (DEX aggregator), Jito (staking), Sanctum (liquid staking), Binance Staked SOL, Marinade (another staking option), Tether (stablecoin), Raydium (AMM DEX), Drift Protocol (perps trading), Fluid (lending), Meteora (DEX), Orca (DEX), PayPal (fiat integration?), Global Dollar Network, Ondo Finance (RWA), and Securitize (tokenized assets).

Notice how many of these are DeFi staples? They provide the infrastructure that meme traders rely on—swapping tokens quickly on Jupiter or Raydium, borrowing against holdings on Fluid, or staking SOL for yields via Jito. With TVL growing, it signals increasing user adoption and capital efficiency, which often spills over into the meme sector. We've seen memes like BONK or WIF explode on Solana precisely because of this robust backend.

For blockchain enthusiasts and meme hunters alike, this growth underscores Solana's resilience post-FTX fallout. The network's TVL dipped sharply in late 2022 but has rebounded dramatically, hitting new peaks in 2025. If you're building or trading memes, keeping tabs on metrics like TVL can give you an edge—higher TVL often correlates with more on-chain activity, bigger pumps, and yes, sometimes those epic dumps too.

As we head deeper into 2025, Solana's economy looks poised for even more expansion. Whether you're in it for the tech or the memes, this is a trend worth watching. Check out the full thread on X for more details, and stay tuned to Meme Insider for the latest on how these shifts affect your favorite tokens.