With Unichain Posting a 3,000% Surge in Activity and Near $12B in Volume, Solaxy's Solana-based Layer-2 Vision Positions It as the Next Big Name

The Ethereum Layer-2 landscape saw a major shift last month as Unichain – the Optimism-based rollup from Uniswap – logged a massive spike in user activity

Unichain, the Optimism-based rollup, has seen a 3,000% surge in activity and nears $12B in volume as traders move away from Ethereum. But Solaxy’s Solana-based Layer-2 vision positions it as the next big name in blockchain scalability.

The Ethereum Layer-2 landscape witnessed a remarkable shift last month as Unichain, the Optimism-based rollup from Uniswap, logged a massive spike in user activity and cemented its role as a dominant force in DeFi.

With transaction volume nearing $12 billion and daily user metrics eclipsing older networks, the pressure is mounting on Layer-1 chains and new alt-layer solutions to respond.

However, while Ethereum-based rollups steal headlines, attention is turning to alternatives like Solana. Among its emerging projects, Solaxy stands out as the first true Layer-2 solution for Solana, offering a parallel scaling vision that directly addresses the challenges posed by congestion, throughput, and cost.

Unichain Posts Explosive Growth, Leaving Rivals Behind

Launched earlier this year as part of Uniswap v4’s strategy to reduce gas fees and transaction latency, Unichain has quickly integrated with Uniswap v4’s activity. This month alone, it processed over 76% of Uniswap v4’s total trading volume, compared to just 15.5% on Ethereum mainnet, according to DeFiLlama.

New data from Nansen also confirmed what traders already sensed: the network saw a staggering 3,071% increase in active addresses over 30 days, with 5.9 million users now connected. Unichain now ranks as the fourth-largest Layer-2 network by total value locked, according to L2Beat.

Uniswap’s decision to build Unichain on Optimism’s Superchain promises 95% cheaper gas fees than Ethereum and delivers one-second block finality for key use cases like token swaps, lending, bridging, and liquidity provision.

The catalyst? A $45 million liquidity incentive campaign and rising frustration with Ethereum’s mainnet costs during the latest meme coin boom. Uniswap’s response was swift and clearly effective.

However, while Ethereum users are moving to Unichain in search of scale, Solana developers are eyeing a different kind of solution: decentralized, green, and fast by design.

Solaxy: Solana’s Layer-2 Answer to the Unichain Boom

The surge of Unichain highlights a broader market trend: users demand efficiency, speed, and cost-effectiveness. This is exactly where Solaxy comes in.

Solaxy ($SOLX) is the first Layer-2 blockchain purpose-built for the Solana ecosystem. While Solana itself is already known for high throughput and low fees, network congestion during periods of extreme demand – such as major NFT drops or meme coin launches – has exposed its scaling limitations.

Solaxy aims to change that by offloading traffic from Solana’s mainnet and syncing data back seamlessly, keeping the core network lean and responsive. On May 15, the Solaxy testnet bridge officially went live, marking a pivotal step in the project’s roadmap.

Now connected to the Solana Devnet, the testnet enables users to send native SOL between chains using a secure validator network built with Hyperlane. The test environment is designed to simulate real-world bridge functionality and will soon expand to support Ethereum in its upcoming mainnet version.

These innovations – combined with recent updates to Solaxy’s node infrastructure – enable fast recovery from resets, optimized data refresh cycles, and a smooth developer experience.

Final Weeks of Presale: Solaxy Eyes Full Launch

As Unichain nears a $12 billion valuation and sets new user engagement benchmarks, Solaxy is making quiet but serious strides of its own.

The Solaxy presale has already raised over $38.1 million, and just 27 days remain before the token (SOLX) is released on decentralized exchanges. Early adopters are buying in at $0.00173, with stakers earning an impressive 105% APY via the Best Wallet interface.

Unlike many meme coins, Solaxy isn’t just capitalizing on hype. The project’s upcoming Igniter Protocol will let $SOLX holders create and launch their own tokens on the Solaxy Layer-2 chain, further decentralizing the innovation process.

Tokenomics have been carefully designed to support liquidity, development, staking rewards, and community incentives. With a 138 billion total supply and features that extend well beyond typical Layer-2 utility, Solaxy could soon become a foundational tool within the Solana stack.

Why the Market Is Primed for Multi-Chain Layer-2 Expansion

Unichain’s rapid rise shows how urgent the need is for Layer-2 solutions across the board. While Ethereum continues to lead in terms of DeFi value locked, it also remains