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Cardano, XRP, and Solana: Q1 2025 in a Nutshell
The Q1 Crypto Ledger: Behind the Scenes of Solana, Cardano & XRP
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Greetings, crypto curious and market movers 👋,
In cryptocurrency, While prices steal the spotlight, it’s the tech, development, and ecosystem moves behind the scenes that define real momentum.
And, a single quarter can tilt the tide.
So instead of bouncing between hype headlines, we dug into real data from Messari’s Q1 reports. on Cardano, Solana, and XRP. Now, the question is: which of them is writing the next chapter of dominance?
Let’s zoom into the top takeaways from Messari’s Q1 2025 reports on Cardano, XRP Ledger, and Solana. No fluff - just what you need to stay ahead.
Cardano: Governance Gets Real
Cardano (ADA) isn’t just talking decentralization - it’s doing it. In February, it enacted CIP-1694, putting real power into the hands of SPOs, DReps, and the Constitutional Committee. Big shift. Real community control.
But the market didn’t go easy on ADA. Price slipped 22% to $0.66, mirroring a broader crypto dip. Daily transactions fell 28%, and fee revenue dropped by nearly a third.
Source: messari
Still, it wasn’t all red. Cardano’s DeFi scene is diversifying. The DeFi diversity score rose, Cardano's stablecoin market cap grew 30% to $30.1 million, and treasury balance rose 5% QoQ to 1.7 billion ADA
👉Quick Thought:
Can stronger community control pull Cardano out of this bear stretch?
XRP Ledger: Building Bridges and Boosting Volume
XRP held strong this quarter, despite large blows to the sector. Demand for XRP is, therefore, strong, and the market is still waiting to see massive moves for the coin later in the year.
Also, the Q1 report says the quarter was good. As the Market cap rose 2% to $121.6B, even with only a slight price uptick. Ripple’s acquisition of prime broker Hidden Road stood out. Why? It links XRPL deeper into finance.
Their RLUSD stablecoin is taking hold, closing Q1 as the top XRPL stablecoin with a $44.2M market cap. A significant surge in payment transactions was also observed in the report, with a 36% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) increase, reaching a total of 1.12 million transactions.
Source: messari
Furthermore, the average daily number of Central Limit Order Book (CLOB) traders experienced a remarkable 23% QoQ increase, swelling to 11,500 traders.
In addition to the successful listing of LUX and TBILL, a diverse array of real-world assets (RWAs) from around the globe are being integrated into the XRPL ecosystem. Notably, LUX concluded Q1 with a market capitalization of $44.9 million on the XRPL.
Tech-wise, the XRPL EVM Sidechain went live on testnet. And there’s more coming: native smart contracts (via Extensions) are on the horizon. Moreover, multiple amendments have been proposed to enable regulatorily compliant institutions to adopt DeFi use cases on the XRPL.
👉Pause and Reflect:
How big of a role will stablecoins and smart contracts play in XRP’s next wave?
Solana: Back in the Fast Lane
Solana's comeback is in motion. Its application economy grew 20%, hitting a whopping $1.2B. In January alone, apps raked in over half of that.
Its App RCR (revenue capture ratio) jumped to 142.8%, meaning apps are squeezing more juice out of Solana’s ecosystem.
The report further highlights that the liquid staking rate on Solana increased 15% QoQ, from 9.1% to 10.4%, which was mainly led by continued growth in Jito’s jitoSOL product.
Meanwhile, Network usage saw mixed results, as Average daily non-vote transactions increased 17% to 95.3 million.
Source: messari
Stablecoin supply ballooned by 145% to $12.5B. Meanwhile, DEX volumes shot up nearly 41% — memecoins played a big part (yep, TRUMP was one of them). Overall, Solana’s ecosystem showed resilience in core metrics.
👉What Do You Think?
Will Solana’s DeFi and memecoin boom keep up the momentum?
Wrapping It Up
In short:
Cardano is doubling down on decentralized governance.
XRP Ledger is tightening its grip on finance with stablecoins and new tech.
Solana is revving its engine with app growth and trading frenzy.
Each chain is carving its lane. If Q1 is any sign, 2025 is shaping up to be competitive, creative, and packed with updates.
One-Liner Takeaways:
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Let’s Chat:
Read the full Messari reports:
Till next time, keep stacking insights.
Stay tuned.
We’ll be tracking Q2 week by week - and as always, decoding the signal from the noise.
Until next time,
From FOMOchain Team.