Solana vs. Base: Who will dominate the token launch market?

​Just a few years ago, Ethereum was the dominant blockchain for launching new tokens. Leadership then shifted to BNB Chain, while the market is now increasingly moving toward Solana and Base. Why do the leading networks for token launches keep changing?

Recent CryptoRank data shows that Solana and Base now significantly outpace other networks in the number of tokens making their first appearance on decentralized exchanges (DEXs). However, these figures do not represent the number of major projects or successful token generation events (TGEs). The data includes a massive flow of memecoins and experimental assets.

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This metric primarily reflects the volume of token launches rather than the quality of an ecosystem. A network may attract tens of thousands of new tokens every day without necessarily drawing comparable amounts of capital or producing an equivalent number of sustainable projects.

From Ethereum to Solana

In the early years, nearly the entire market for new tokens was concentrated on Ethereum. The ERC-20 standard effectively became the default model for issuing assets, while the largest DEXs, wallets and DeFi protocols emerged around the network.The situation began to change in 2021. At the time, BNB Chain offered an environment compatible with Ethereum smart contracts but with lower fees and access to Binance's large user base. As a result, PancakeSwap quickly became one of the largest DEXs, while launching a new asset became considerably cheaper.

Historical estimates illustrate the scale of the shift. By 2024, approximately 3.7 million tokens had been launched on BNB Chain, compared with around 1.4 million on Solana and fewer than 1 million on Ethereum. These figures cannot be directly compared with CryptoRank's latest data on tokens appearing on DEXs, but they show how the center of mass token issuance gradually moved away from Vitalik Buterin's blockchain.

Solana made the next major leap. According to Bitquery, approximately 11.5 million tokens that were traded at least once appeared on the network between November 2025 and early October 2026. That translates to roughly 32,000 launches per day.Around 9 million of those tokens, or 78%, were created through the Pump.fun launchpad. The scale of activity was no longer driven primarily by individual major projects, but by a continuous flow of small assets launched in enormous quantities.On Base, the market developed in a somewhat different direction. In 2025, integrations involving Zora and Farcaster made it possible to turn user posts into ERC-20 tokens with their own trading pools.

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On certain days, Base even surpassed Solana. On July 27, 2025, more than 54,000 new tokens appeared on Base, compared with approximately 25,000 on its competitor.

Launching a token in just a few clicks

Tens of thousands of daily launches became possible after specialized platforms took over much of the technical work. Users no longer necessarily need to create smart contracts themselves, configure initial trading or deal with other details that previously required at least basic development skills.

Pump.fun became the leading example on Solana. Launching a token requires little more than choosing a name, ticker and image, after which the service handles the remaining launch process. This allows a single user to create not just one project but an entire series of assets.

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On Base, Zora, Bankr and Doppler perform similar functions. In this ecosystem, tokenization has gradually become integrated into social applications: instead of a standalone cryptocurrency project, a social media post or another piece of user-generated content can become a token.

Doppler has also expanded from Base to Solana. This means the same launch service can operate across multiple ecosystems, making the choice of blockchain less restrictive for token issuers.

In terms of new asset creation, this model gives Solana and Base a significant advantage. However, the picture changes when looking at capital raised rather than the number of launches.

According to CryptoRank, Ethereum led all ecosystems in funds raised through public token sales in 2026. By August, the figure stood at approximately $334 million, compared with $288 million for BNB Chain, $269 million for Base and $241 million for Solana.

Of course, these datasets cannot be directly compared. One measures the flow of new tokens appearing on DEXs, while the other tracks capital raised through public offerings. Nevertheless, the difference illustrates why leadership in token launches does not necessarily translate into leadership in fundraising.

Millions of launches, just minutes of activity

The contrast becomes even more striking once tokens begin trading. Bitquery analyzed approximately 11.5 million assets traded on Solana between November 2025 and early October 2026. Among tokens launched through Pump.fun, more than 79% stopped trading after their first day.

For half of these tokens, the final trade occurred approximately three minutes after the first. By the fifth week, only 1.5% of launches still recorded at least one transaction, while just 0.2% registered ten or more trades.

Key metrics for new tokens on Solana. Source: Bitquery.

Cheap token launches dramatically increased the supply of assets but failed to generate comparable demand. Once a token is issued, the main challenge is no longer the technology itself but the ability to attract liquidity and maintain traders' attention.The broader market shows a similar gap between the growing number of tokens and the performance of individual launches.

According to analysts, the number of assets tracked by aggregators increased from approximately 5.8 million to 29.2 million over one year. Yet only around 15% of altcoins launched in 2025 are currently trading above their TGE prices.

Meanwhile, centralized exchanges are moving in the opposite direction. CryptoRank examined more than 10,000 listings on major CEXs and found that the number of newly listed memecoins fell from 196 in the fourth quarter of 2024 to 41 in the second quarter of 2026, a decline of approximately 79%.

At the same time, tokenized assets accounted for nearly one in five new listings during the first half of 2026. As a result, the composition of new listings on major exchanges differs considerably from the assets appearing on DEXs every day.

BNB Chain remains a major network for mass token launches, while Four.meme continues to compete for the memecoin audience. However, the network no longer holds its former position as the leading low-cost alternative for token issuance. The market has become distributed across several ecosystems and platforms.

The question of where the most tokens are created today therefore has a fairly clear answer: Solana leads in the flow of new assets appearing on DEXs, while Base has emerged as one of its main competitors. But this race reveals increasingly little about the financial strength of the networks themselves.

Launching a token now takes only minutes. Attracting liquidity, building an audience and maintaining trading activity even a few weeks later is far more difficult. This is where millions of launches are reduced to a relatively small number of sustainable assets.