Daily active users are 8? The truth behind the data in the Solana and Starknet controversy

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Author｜Golem (@web 3_golem)

On the evening of January 14th, the official Solana account unexpectedly posted a mocking comment about Starknet, claiming “Daily active users only 8, daily transactions only 10, yet supporting a $1 billion circulating market cap and a $15 billion maximum valuation,” and outright stating that Starknet should be worth zero.

An hour after the post was made, Starknet’s official account quickly responded with an image of an ugly black chimpanzee and retorted, “Who told Solana this data?” StarkWare CEO even began personal attacks, commenting under Eli Ben-Sasson’s sarcastic post, “Solana has 8 marketing interns (all bald), posting 10 tweets every day.” Solana co-founder Toly also posted, “This post has a great response, should be promoted to responsible marketing personnel.”

As tensions escalated, some crypto community members began to mediate. He Yi posted, “Take a deep breath and relax, we are all friends, harmony is precious,” but also accompanied it with “Peanuts, sunflower seeds, mineral water,” showing a spectator stance. The Near official account also issued a statement, suggesting that Solana and Starknet should become friends again.

However, some opinions believe this was a deliberate traffic exposure event orchestrated by the officials to warm up future cooperation between the two sides. Meanwhile, netizens uncovered that Solana’s post was not original; the same tweet had been posted by a user as early as April 2024.

Solana’s mocking Starknet tweet was copied and pasted from a user’s tweet in 2024

Regardless of the true reason behind Solana’s “sudden illness” to mock Starknet, from a data perspective, Starknet is no longer the “ghost town” on-chain that it once was.

Thunder in silence

In 2024, the market’s Layer 2 competition was fierce, with strong leader effects. Arbitrum and OP mainnet already covered many common use cases, so after Starknet’s airdrop ended, user numbers plummeted, making it a target for criticism and mockery.

But after more than a year of perseverance, Starknet now can hold its own against most Layer 1s. According to DeFiLlama data, Starknet’s TVL has been rebounding since September 2025, now exceeding $300 million, returning to 2024 levels. In blockchain rankings, it ranks 22nd, surpassing Monad, Scroll, Linea, Sei, and other Layer 1s and Layer 2s.

At the same time, its stablecoin market cap, transaction fee income, and ecosystem DEX trading volume have also started to recover after September 2025. Over the past four months, Starknet’s daily transaction fee income has remained between $5,000 and $10,000. Although it cannot compare to the daily fee income of over $150,000 in 2023-2024, it still ranks among the top in many blockchains.

Odaily Planet Daily once compiled a ranking of 40 mainstream blockchains’ fee income in mid-December, with Starknet ranking in the top 15, surpassing blockchains like Monad and TON in daily fee income.

In terms of on-chain activity, Starknet has finally cultivated a group of truly loyal users (not just token farmers). According to the Dune dashboard created by the Starknet Foundation, Starknet currently maintains 2,000-4,000 daily active users (independent addresses), with over 240,000 daily transactions.

Compared to Starknet’s peak of over 100,000 daily active users in 2023, the current daily active user count is still modest. However, in terms of transaction count, the transaction frequency of these addresses, which is less than 2% of the peak, has reached about one-third of that period (over 600,000 daily transactions in 2023). This data indicates that the remaining users on Starknet are high-quality users with genuine transaction needs, contributing most of the network’s fee income.

Do not simply view Starknet as a gathering place for niche enthusiasts; in fact, Starknet has attracted external funding and maintains a relatively high retention rate. According to Artemis data, Starknet’s net fund inflow over three months reached $502.4 million, ranking first among blockchains, with Polygon in second place at a $100 million difference, far ahead of Solana and BSC.

Breaking free from the Ethereum L2 label, All in BTCFi

The reason Starknet can turn the tables is quite simple: it does not compete with Solana, BSC, or Base by copying memes or hot narratives, but instead fully commits to BTCFi.

Today, Starknet is shedding its Ethereum L2 label, with its official account adding a note (BTCFi arc) after the Starknet name. In March 2025, StarkWare, Starknet’s parent company, announced the establishment of a “strategic Bitcoin reserve.” Many initially thought this was just hype, but it turned out Starknet was serious. By the end of September 2025, after more than half a year of development, Starknet announced the launch of BTC Staking and a 100 million STRK incentive, allowing users to stake BTC on Starknet to earn staking rewards and STRK incentives.

As of now, BTCFi has been live on Starknet for over three months, and the product launch correlates highly with the recent on-chain data recovery.

According to Dune data, the value of staked Bitcoin on Starknet exceeds $214 million, accounting for about 70% of Starknet’s total TVL ($300 million). About 50% of the assets deposited are native BTC, with the rest being wrapped BTC versions, mainly SolvBTC and WBTC.

The Bitcoin ecosystem on Starknet has also gradually improved, covering wallets, cross-chain bridges, staking, lending, and yield protocols, with all functions operational.

Starknet BTCFi Ecosystem Map

Users can stake Bitcoin on Endur and Voyager platforms and delegate it to validators. In return, stakers receive STRK tokens (Endur’s current APY based on STRK is about 2.09%). Then, the obtained LST tokens can be further deposited into lending protocols like Vesu to generate interest. For institutional investors, Re7 Capital can also tailor customized yield schemes.

As for why Starknet dares to fully commit to BTCFi, it may be related to the founder’s personal experience. As early as 2013, before Starknet was born, Eli Ben-Sasson was already researching how to improve Bitcoin using zero-knowledge proofs, which ultimately became one of Starknet’s core technologies (STARK cryptography). Therefore, embracing BTCFi now can be seen as a return to the original intention.

Although the blockchain world does not always reward idealists and silent workers, without the “kidnapping” of airdrops, Starknet’s steps have become lighter and more steady.