The Network's Busiest Month Yet
The ETF momentum lines up with a stretch of heavy on-chain activity. Solana processed 4.2 billion transactions in July, a record, up 13.5% from June and 91% from December 2025. The network also lifted its block limits by 66% in July, moving from 60 million to 100 million compute units.
That expansion made room for more usage. Tokenized real-world assets on Solana now sit at $3.73 billion, spread across more than 313,000 addresses. Weekly spot volume across Solana meme coins hit $5.2 billion in mid-August, the highest reading of 2026 and a sharp rebound from the $1.8 billion bottom in late May.
SOL's Price Tells a Different Story
Despite the busy network, the token's price has lagged. SOL trades near $96, down 2.36% on the day and 49% lower than a year ago. It's up 24% over the past week, but still sits 67% below its all-time high of $293.31.
The ETFs, which began trading in late October 2025, saw most of their inflows in the first two months. That was followed by a roughly half-year stretch of flat activity. Tuttle's TSOL has carried net outflows for almost the entire period, a sign that investor interest isn't evenly spread across funds.
What Traders Are Watching Now
Attention is turning to the Alpenglow upgrade, which targets faster finality. The upgrade's rollout could influence how the network handles growing demand, and whether the ETF inflows keep building.
For now, the record flows and the network's usage are moving in the same direction, but SOL's price hasn't caught up. The upgrade is the next concrete event traders are waiting on.
