Validators process transactions and receive fees from users (supply-side fees).

Solana is a smart contract platform for decentralized applications (a blockchain). Solana was founded by Anatoly Yakovenko, Greg Fitzgerald, Raj Gokal, etc. and launched in 2020.

SOL holders own and govern the protocol. They currently take a cut of the transaction fees paid by users (revenue). Solana’s investors include Polychain Capital, ParaFi capital, Passport capital, etc.

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Solana

# Solana Average fees per user (AFPU) Methodology

## 1. Overview

Average fees per user (AFPU) measures the average transaction fees paid by an individual active user on the Solana network over a 24-hour window. This metric is calculated by dividing total daily fees by the count of active users (daily), reflecting the daily cost of interaction for a typical participant. All transaction-related costs, including base fees and priority fees, are included to provide a comprehensive view of network unit economics.

## 2. Data sources

- **Fees**: Derived from the Fees metric
- **Active users (daily)**: Derived from the Active users (daily) metric
- **Blockchain events**: Transaction and block data from the Solana network
- **External data**: End-of-day price feeds for SOL

## 3. Step-by-step calculation

### Component A: Fee extraction and normalization

- **Purpose**: Captures the total value of fees paid to the network for transaction processing.
- **Logic**: Total fees are extracted from network blocks. These values represent the sum of all fees paid within each block, including both base execution fees and priority fees. Amounts are normalized by decimal precision to account for SOL's native formatting.
- **Key fields**: `total_fee` (summed at the block level), `block_timestamp` (timing).

### Component B: Active user identification

- **Purpose**: Identifies the number of unique participants interacting with the network daily.
- **Logic**: For data recorded from January 1, 2025, onwards, distinct transaction signers are extracted from both successful and failed transaction records. For historical data prior to this date, the daily count of unique signers is aggregated from transaction records. This ensures that every account initiating an on-chain action is counted as an active user (daily).
- **Key fields**: `signer` (unique account identification), `block_timestamp` (timing).

### Component C: USD conversion and AFPU calculation

- **Purpose**: Normalizes the network activity into a standard currency and calculates the per-user average.
- **Logic**: Normalized SOL fee amounts are multiplied by end-of-day price feeds to determine the total daily fee volume in USD. Average fees per user (AFPU) is then calculated by dividing this total daily USD fee volume by the number of active users (daily). The results are aggregated at a daily granularity using UTC day boundaries.
- **Key fields**: `fees` (in USD), `user_dau` (count of active users (daily)).

_This methodology was automatically generated by Token Terminal's methodology analyzer._

SolanaSOL

Average fees per user (AFPU)

Average fees per user (AFPU)

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