Airdrop Army

Solana’s monthly active addresses just skyrocketed, crossing the 100 million mark. Blockchain data from Artemis Terminal confirms this, reflecting an extraordinary jump from the mere 509,000 seen at the year’s start. So, one might think the network is buzzing with real users, right? Not so fast.

Are Bots Taking Over Solana’s Ecosystem?

But here’s the catch: most of these so-called active wallets are not holding any Solana (SOL) at all. Blockchain data from Hello Moon shows that over 86 million wallets have 0 SOL sitting in them. Even more curious, about 15.5 million wallets hold less than 1 SOL, while just around 1.5 million contain less than 10 SOL. Justin d’Anethan, from Keyrock, noticed something off, saying, “Most Solana addresses have a lifetime value under $10.” The suspicion grows that bots could be puffing up these numbers artificially.

So, how do so many zero-balance wallets stay “active”? Dan Hughes, the Radix DLT guy, suspects a lot of these empty wallets are proxy addresses. When users send SOL to centralized exchanges (CEX) or interact with DeFi protocols, these platforms generate temporary addresses. The funds quickly get transferred to hot wallets, and the proxy addresses remain empty, artificially inflating wallet numbers.

Token Boom and Wallet Frenzy

Even though there’s skepticism, Solana’s activity is still roaring. In late September, daily token creation had dropped, but by the 26th, it shot up again. According to Solscan, the network now churns out more than 17,000 new SPL tokens daily. And the number of new accounts is also soaring. On October 8th, more than 10 million new accounts joined the network in a single day, doubling the figure from the previous day. But critics still insist that bots are padding these numbers by just moving funds between addresses or triggering small, cheap interactions.

Solana’s Cheap Fees and Inflation Management

Solana’s claim to fame has always been low fees and fast transactions, and that hasn’t changed much. Although transaction fees doubled in late September, they are still tiny compared to Ethereum. Dune Analytics reports Solana’s average fee as just $0.02, about 0.67% of Ethereum’s $3 median gas fee.

But the low fees, while great for users, are fueling concerns. Critics argue that low transaction costs make it easy for bots to flood the network with activity, inflating Solana’s metrics. Still, fees are part of how Solana controls its inflation, burning half of what users pay. So, as the network grows, more fees get burned, keeping inflation in check.