SOL rebounds above $200, Aave deposits hit $33.4B record: Finance Redefined
2025-01-04
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The beginning of 2025 brought renewed excitement to crypto investors, boosting Solana’s price back above the $200 psychological mark despite $55 million worth of potential selling pressure from Pump.fun.
In the wider crypto space, investor enthusiasm is growing in anticipation of United States President-elect Donald Trump’s upcoming inauguration, and the Aave lending platform’s net deposits have surpassed record highs of the 2021 bull market.
Solana price rebounds above $200 following Pump.fun’s $55 million SOL sale
Solana’s price rose about 10% to more than $200 following a $55 million transfer from Pump.fun’s fee account to the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange.
Solana SOLUSD made the recovery after a dip to $189 at about 5:00 pm UTC on Jan. 1.
Its price began to rise at around 6:00 pm UTC after the fee account associated with the memecoin launch platform Pump.fun transferred $55 million worth of SOL to the Kraken exchange.
Pump.fun made two deposits to Kraken on Jan. 1. The first transferred $22.8 million worth of SOL at 4:37 pm in UTC, while the second transfer worth $32.7 million occurred at 5:45 pm, Solscan data shows.
Aave net deposits hit $33.4 billion, surpassing 2021 levels
Net deposits on the decentralized finance (DeFi) platform Aave hit $33.4 billion, marking a new all-time high for the lending protocol and surpassing levels seen during the 2021 bull market.
The protocol also expanded its presence in 2024 by adding BNB Chain, Scroll, ZKsync Era and Ether.fi to its supported list of markets.
Aave may add several new markets in 2025, pending community approval, including Sonic, Mantle, Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution Linea, Bitcoin layer-2 solution BOB, Spider Chain and Aptos.
DeFi experienced a surge in total value locked and activity following Trump’s US electoral victory on Nov. 5 due to expectations of a friendlier regulatory environment and pro-crypto policies.
Solana adds $1 billion worth of stablecoins in December
Solana onboarded an additional $1 billion in stablecoin total value in December, primarily in USD Coin (USDC), according to data from DefiLlama. 
The inflows highlight accelerating stablecoin adoption and the Solana network’s rise to prominence in 2024, particularly in DeFi.
Solana now hosts about $5 billion in stablecoin total value locked (TVL), with nearly $4 billion of that comprising USDC, according to the data.
Tether’s USDt (USDT) is Solana’s second most popular stablecoin, with roughly $1 billion in TVL. 
Pump.fun revenue nears $400 million despite memecoin slowdown
Solana memecoin generator Pump.fun’s overall revenue is nearing $400 million despite a downturn in the overall market capitalization of memecoins in December. 
Blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain reported that Pump.fun has earned 2,016,391 SOL tokens to date, pushing its total revenue to nearly $398 million. Pump.fun has reportedly deposited over $300 million in SOL tokens to Kraken and converted 41 million in USD Coin (USDC).
Pump.fun’s impressive start to the year followed a record-breaking performance in November, when the platform earned $106 million in decentralized application revenue, becoming the first Solana DApp to surpass $100 million in monthly revenue.
California man sues 3 Asia banks over $1 million pig butchering crypto fraud
A California resident is suing three Asia-based banks over allegations they failed to conduct basic checks that might have prevented crypto scammers from defrauding him of nearly $1 million. 
In a lawsuit filed in a California district court on Dec. 31, 2024, attorneys for Ken Liem claim their client was the victim of a pig butchering scam after being contacted on LinkedIn in June 2023 about a cryptocurrency investment opportunity.
Liem’s attorneys say their client was persuaded to transfer funds to the alleged crypto fraudsters over several months under the guise that they would invest on his behalf.
His attorneys said the funds went into accounts at Hong Kong banks Fubon Bank and Chong Hing Bank and Singapore-based DBS Bank, and the scammers then sent them to third-party accounts.
DeFi market overview
According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, most of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization ended the week in the green.
Of the top 100, the DeXe (DEXE) artificial intelligence launchpad token rose over 68% as the week’s biggest gainer, followed by the SPX6900 (SPX) coin, up over 53% on the weekly chart, after gaining momentum from its listing on Binance futures on Dec. 10.
Thanks for reading our summary of this week’s most impactful DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights and education regarding this dynamically advancing space.