Solana leads Ethereum in daily fees as Ethereum keeps the burn lead

Solana beat Ethereum on fees on Sept. 22

Solana generated more user fees than Ethereum on Sept. 22, while Ethereum burned more of its fees. The figures come from a dashboard snapshot by data provider DefiLlama, as reported by CryptoSlate.

The difference shows that what users pay to transact can go to validators and applications without giving the same benefit to someone who simply holds the network's coin.

DefiLlama's Solana overview showed about $1.1 million in chain fees over 24 hours and $117,138 in reported chain revenue. Ethereum's overview showed $649,423 in fees and $226,298 in revenue. For these two networks, the revenue measure counts fees reported as burned, meaning tokens removed from supply instead of cash paid to holders.

Key numbers from the snapshot

• 24-hour chain fees: Solana about $1.10 million; Ethereum $649,423.
• 24-hour reported burns: Solana $117,138; Ethereum $226,298.
• Seven-day chain fees: Solana $5.93 million; Ethereum $3.09 million.
• Seven-day reported burns: Solana $698,884; Ethereum $761,849.
• 30-day chain fees: Solana $23.58 million; Ethereum $12.04 million.
• 30-day reported burns: Solana $2.66 million; Ethereum $2.80 million.

DefiLlama's chain fee table put Solana at $23.6 million over 30 days against Ethereum's $12 million. Its chain revenue table showed the 30-day burn comparison of $2.66 million for Solana and $2.8 million for Ethereum.

Where the fees go on each network

On Solana, the base charge is 5,000 lamports per signature. A lamport is the smallest unit of SOL. Half of that base fee is burned and half goes to the validator that produces the block. The validator also receives all priority fees, which users pay to have a transaction processed first.

That split makes the mix of fees important. If priority fees rise, validators receive more while the burn stays comparatively small, so higher total fees can sit alongside a modest burn figure.

Ethereum burns execution base fees, while priority tips go to validators. DefiLlama's Ethereum data-collection code also counts blob fees in both total fees and reported burns. Two similar totals for user spending can therefore affect supply differently, depending on which kinds of fees were paid.

Burn figures rest partly on estimates

The data-collection programs, known as adapters, estimate parts of the reported burns. DefiLlama's Solana adapter estimates base fees by multiplying transaction count by 5,000 lamports, even though the protocol charges by signature.

Ethereum's adapter uses each block's minimum effective transaction gas price as a proxy for its execution base fee and gets blob fees separately from Dune. CryptoSlate reported that neither estimate should be presented as a fully reconciled measurement of tokens destroyed.

Staking rewards are separate from fee payments

Solana's staking documentation describes inflationary rewards paid to validators and delegated stake accounts, with commissions affecting what delegators receive. The yield also depends on total stake and validator performance. These newly issued rewards are separate from user fees.

On July 2, 2025, Solana staking infrastructure project Jito announced a live upgrade that lets validators distribute priority fees to their stakers. Validator choices and commissions determine the distribution, and a sharing mechanism does not turn all chain fees into a uniform return for SOL stakers.

For an ordinary holder, the distinction is between owning the asset and taking part in a particular reward arrangement. A passive holder receives no validator payment just because chain fees rise. A staker needs to know which rewards are included and what deductions apply before treating a quoted yield as fee income.

App revenue also favored Solana in the snapshot

The Sept. 22 overviews showed $7.7 million in 24-hour app revenue on Solana against $1.9 million on Ethereum. App fees were $18.2 million and $8.5 million respectively.

DefiLlama's definitions separate app metrics from gas fees, which are the payments made to process transactions. The provider also defines chain REV as chain fees plus maximum extractable value tips, a broader stream of transaction-related spending. CryptoSlate noted that adding REV to chain fees would count those fees twice.

What is confirmed

The displayed DefiLlama dashboard numbers for Sept. 22 show Solana ahead on daily fees and Ethereum ahead on daily burns, with those margins continuing in the seven-day and 30-day fee figures. The fee-destination rules for both networks, as set out in Solana's fee documentation, Ethereum's developer documentation and DefiLlama's data-collection code, are also confirmed by the available material.

What is still unclear

Exact window endpoints for the data were not disclosed. Ethereum's shared revenue table showed a different daily figure of $229,846. The comparison therefore applies to the displayed aggregates and carries synchronization limits.

The longer windows also soften the daily result. Ethereum's 30-day reported burn was only slightly larger than Solana's, even though its daily overview showed a much wider gap. Leading over seven or 30 days does not mean either network led on every individual day.

The article also states that without matched issuance and reward data, fee and burn rankings cannot establish better returns for holders.

Why the fee and burn split matters

Burning reduces supply relative to what it would otherwise have been. It does not credit a holder's wallet, does not establish that total supply is falling, and does not guarantee a price gain. Those are separate questions from how much users paid to transact.

Ethereum's larger dollar burn sits against a much larger token valuation. The same Sept. 22 overview snapshots displayed market capitalizations of $335 billion for ETH and $69 billion for SOL.

Sources

• CryptoSlate

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