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Real Vision founder Raoul Pal says Solana could potentially overtake Ethereum by market capitalization, but network activity alone may not settle that debate. Instead, he points to capital concentration, financial activity, adoption, and token economics when comparing both networks.
During a Cointelegraph Trade Secrets interview, Pal said Ethereum carries about USD 200,000 in total value locked per active user. He placed Solana's equivalent figure near USD 2,500.
That calculation divides DeFi TVL by an active-user measure. Therefore, the figures do not show how much an average Ethereum or Solana user personally owns or deposits.
Pal gives greater weight to lending balances, collateral, and other financial assets than to frequent low-value transactions. He described Ethereum as financially deeper while associating much of Solana's activity with speculation.
DefiLlama figures from October 3 show Ethereum holding substantially more DeFi deposits and stablecoins than Solana. Still, both networks hold billions of dollars across those categories.
Solana's balances therefore show financial activity beyond token trading. Stablecoin supply alone cannot reveal how users deploy those assets, so settlement infrastructure provides another measure.
Visa's April stablecoin settlement update lists Ethereum and Solana among the supported networks in its pilot. Visa does not disclose the transaction value processed through either blockchain.
Even so, the programme establishes a financial use case beyond speculative trading. Stablecoins can support payments, borrowing, and cash management alongside crypto-market transactions.
Pal did not provide the dataset or measurement period behind his USD 200,000 and USD 2,500 estimates. As a result, the interview alone does not allow independent reproduction of those ratios.
The denominator can change the result sharply. A network with USD 1 billion in DeFi and 10,000 active addresses would produce USD 100,000 in TVL per active address.
If active addresses increased to 100,000 while TVL stayed unchanged, the ratio would fall to USD 10,000. Capital would remain constant even as measured activity increased tenfold. The example also shows why active addresses do not equal individual users. One person can control several addresses, while one service can represent many customers.
Coin Metrics addresses that issue through its methodology. It counts unique addresses involved in defined ledger activity over a specific measurement period rather than treating addresses as verified individuals.
Token prices can also change TVL without fresh deposits. If deposited assets gain value, dollar-denominated TVL rises. DefiLlama separates asset inflows from price effects to help distinguish the two.
Read More: Is Solana a Smarter Investment Than Ethereum? SOL vs ETH
Network boundaries also affect comparisons. Pal includes Ethereum's layer-two ecosystem in his broader infrastructure argument, while mainnet-only figures cover a narrower capital base.
Combining Ethereum and its layer twos on the capital side with only mainnet users would produce a different ratio. A consistent calculation requires matching the same networks on both sides.
Pal also focused on adoption when discussing low transaction costs. He described blockchains as infrastructure layers rather than traditional businesses, making token economics important when assessing how usage reaches investors.
Ethereum users pay transaction fees in ETH. The protocol burns the base fee and sends the priority fee to validators, directly linking transaction demand with ETH usage and supply changes.
Solana also charges transaction fees in SOL. Its system burns half of the base fee and sends the other half to validators, while validators receive all priority fees.
These mechanisms connect blockchain use with demand for native tokens. Still, neither structure creates a fixed relationship between transaction growth and token prices.
ETH and SOL holders also do not receive a claim on every application's revenue. Applications can grow on either network without distributing their profits to holders of the underlying token.
Ethereum currently holds the larger pool of DeFi and stablecoin capital, while Solana combines lower-cost activity with growing financial uses. Comparing their investment value requires consistent activity measures, capital retention data, and an understanding of how network demand affects ETH and SOL token economics.
