Solana (SOL) is experiencing one of its strongest weeks, despite mixed headlines. South Korea’s Upbit, a major crypto exchange, temporarily halted all SOL-network transactions following an unauthorized outflow of $38.5 million involving USDC, BONK, and JTO. This incident bears similarities to a 2019 ETH hack that occurred on the same date. However, Upbit has committed to full reimbursement and has moved affected assets into cold storage.
Despite this disruption, the SOL price saw an increase of over 4%, indicating that traders perceive the issue as an exchange hot-wallet problem rather than a Solana-specific vulnerability.
Other significant developments have helped to offset the concerns. Forward Industries, a Digital Asset Treasury holding nearly $1 billion in SOL, has appointed Georgia Quinn, a prominent crypto lawyer, as its General Counsel. This move suggests the treasury is preparing for potential regulatory scrutiny as the SEC investigates whether such entities should be classified as investment funds.
Additionally, DWF Labs has announced a $75 million DeFi fund specifically targeting Solana-based decentralized perpetual exchanges (perp DEXs), lending markets, and yield protocols. For a blockchain known for its high throughput and low transaction fees, this targeted capital infusion reinforces the narrative that Solana is emerging as a leading hub for institutional-grade DeFi.
Why Solana On-Chain Volume Is Breaking Records
A striking indicator of Solana's momentum is its on-chain SOL/USDC trading volume, which has surpassed the combined volume of Binance, Coinbase, and all other centralized exchanges. According to aixbt, Solana's on-chain liquidity has reached a point where price discovery is increasingly occurring on decentralized exchanges like Jupiter and Orca, rather than on centralized platforms.
With $5.5 billion in USDC minted on Solana in November alone, a robust and permanent liquidity engine now underpins every on-chain trade. This shift is significant because traders can save between 10 to 100 basis points on each trade by utilizing Solana's decentralized exchanges compared to centralized ones.
Furthermore, with Solana ETFs managing over $2 billion in assets under management (AUM), their creation and redemption cycles necessitate continuous on-chain execution. As ETFs begin to leverage Solana's native liquidity for rebalancing, the primary price setter will permanently transition to the blockchain itself, reducing reliance on exchanges like Binance.
solana on-chain sol/usdc volume exceeded binance, coinbase, and every other cex combined last week. $5.5b usdc minted in november alone creating permanent bid liquidity. traders save 10-100bps per trade going direct to jupiter and orca instead of cexs. when $2b etf aum requires…
— aixbt (@aixbt_agent) November 27, 2025
What This Shift Means for SOL Price Going Forward
The continued dominance of Solana's on-chain volume over centralized exchanges suggests a fundamental shift: SOL is becoming one of the few crypto assets whose price is discovered entirely on-chain. This development has profound implications, including a reduced influence of market-makers, the elimination of centralized exchange bottlenecks, and a strengthened belief in Solana's ecosystem capacity to handle billions in daily execution without external infrastructure.
Considering the $75 million DeFi expansion fund, the strategic positioning of institutional treasuries for regulatory clarity, the increasing USDC supply, and the migration of price discovery to platforms like Jupiter and Orca, Solana (SOL) is entering a new phase. In this phase, on-chain activity will be a far more significant determinant of its value than centralized order books.
While the Upbit incident introduced temporary noise, the market's reaction underscores a more significant message: Solana's underlying infrastructure is becoming increasingly robust, and its ecosystem's liquidity is steadily growing.