Have you ever looked through the Solana charts and thought, “I missed that again”? Same here, until I found this. I spent some quality time diving deep into the Solana ecosystem. 2 I talked to the developers, checked the TVL data, and tracked where the smart money was moving. What I discovered really shocked me.
Four Solana projects seem to go unnoticed. If they deliver on what they’re building, they could redefine Solana’s next wave of growth. Most people are always looking for hype. Not me, I look for utility, innovation and early traction. Let me show you what I discovered… because in crypto, being early is not luck. It’s all about research.
Jupiter ($JUP)
Jupiter ($JUP) is the leading DEX aggregator on Solana. It has the highest TVL of all Solana protocols. It is also transforming into a complete DeFi platform. Additionally, it routes transactions between different Solana DEXs to find the best prices. It also offers various features, like,
- Limit orders
- Periodic cost calculation (DCA)
- Perpetual futures
- Prediction Markets
- A launchpad for new tokens
It claims to control up to 95% of DEX aggregator volume on Solana. For example, all trades you make in the Phantom wallet go through Jupiter.
Jupiter has evolved from a simple swap/routing layer to a lending/money market. Along with the already mentioned features, this increases the product depth and monetization angles. For example, the public beta of “Jupiter Lend” launched with over 40 vaults and over $500 million in TVL in 24 hours.
Why Lenders Choose Jupiter Lend:
• Competitive and market-driven APYs
• Instant deposits and withdrawals
• Zero intermediate
• Built by Fluid X JupiterThe proof is in the cat bite
Just use Jupiter
– Jupiter Lend (@jup_lend) October 22, 2025
These extensions help strengthen the ecosystem. They give the project and its $JUP token more relevance beyond pure trading.
Jupiter also continues to deliver significant technical upgrades. This month, it launched the “Ultra v3” trading engine. It’s faster and provides better MEV protection. The team also introduced reduced blocking times from 30 to 7 days. It also restructured its governance.
Introducing Ultra V3 – the most advanced end-to-end trading engine ever created.
It offers what traders want most:
– Best Price: Meta aggregation which includes Iris, our new router
– Best execution: ShadowLane for optimal private landing and predictive execution for… pic.twitter.com/XEubTUmKwM– Jupiter (🐱, 🐐) (@JupiterExchange) October 17, 2025
Another big news this month is the introduction of the $jupUSD stablecoin. This is in partnership with Ethena Labs. It is designed to deepen composability and liquidity within its ecosystem.
BREAKING: Jupiter launches its own stablecoin 🥳
Built in partnership with @ethena_labsdesigned to connect the Jupiverse.$JupUSDput online in the fourth quarter. pic.twitter.com/MWTNTwpvHJ
– Jupiter (🐱, 🐐) (@JupiterExchange) October 8, 2025
Unfortunately, one thing stands out. $JUP price remains lagging. It is currently 35 cents with a market cap of $1.1 billion. Only 31% of its token supply is circulating, so it could be better. However, it seems to me that $JUP is very undervalued.
Chubby penguins ($PENGU)
With the Pudgy Penguins ($PENGU), we have an NFT collection that has gotten out of control. But in a good way. It has a strong brand and consumer crossover. To clarify, Pudgy Penguins is not just a niche NFT collection. Instead, it has much more to offer. For example, he has,
- Physical merchandise that you can purchase at Walmart or Amazon.
- Global awareness.
- The Pudgy Party game.
- Huge brand muscle.
Pudgy Party is now live on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store!
Join your friends, choose your costumes and waddle to the finish.
The party starts today. Download it here: pic.twitter.com/0DFwBpTFUp
– Chubby Party (@PlayPudgyParty) August 29, 2025
Its IP brand expansion means it has more leverage than just a token. Its $PENGU token also has more utility beyond being a collectible. You can dive into DeFi with it. The team launched a $penguSOL-branded liquid staking token. This means you can stake on SOL, get a return while maintaining liquidity. So, it creates real utility beyond pure hype.
Presentation of the penguSOL LST with @sanctumso.
With penguSOL, you can now stake and earn yield with our Pengu validator and support $PENGU without any blockage on your $ SOL.
More information below. pic.twitter.com/B15OcoJ0QD
– Pudgy Penguins (@pudgypenguins) October 9, 2025
The Penguin team also has its own validator through a partnership with SOL Strategies. There is also the liquid staking token already mentioned. This shows that the team has deeply ingrained itself into Solana’s infrastructure. It’s not just about riding the wave.
Presentation of the official Pengu Validator in collaboration with @solstrategies_.
Staking with Pengu Validator will give you the best competitive APY (7-11%) on your SOL while contributing to the institutional adoption of Pengu.
Issue below. pic.twitter.com/DHZazVdf1y
– Pudgy Penguins (@pudgypenguins) April 15, 2025
The Penguins have 5 million followers on their various social networks. Together, that’s 254 billion views. This is where their branding strength comes into play.
The current price of $PENGU is only 2 cents. That’s 70% of its ATH of nearly 7 cents. With a market cap of $1.2 billion and high circulating supply, it has all the ingredients necessary for price growth.
Kamino Finance ($KMNO)
Kamino Finance ($KMNO) is a DeFi protocol. It automates liquidity provision, lending and borrowing strategies. One of its exciting features is how it simplifies complex DeFi activities. It offers one-click “set it and forget it” safes. They automatically manage and rebalance liquidity positions concentrated on Solana DEXs. So you can make your assets profitable in a simple way. There is no need to manually manage complex positions.
Kamino’s Lending Vaults have now generated over $5 million for users, across 14 vaults, 6 assets, and 7 vault managers.
Secure, open source, formally verified loan yields. pic.twitter.com/t7NIyZ9xEn
– Kamino (@kamino) October 24, 2025
Kamino also offers an “all-in-one” approach. This means you don’t need to bundle separate protocols to access yield, leverage and liquidity. By making these advanced tools accessible, it lowers the barrier to entry for more users.
Where is the best return on Solana?
On Kamino. The most secure? On Kamino.
Here’s how I use it, and calculation of earnings: 🧵👇
> bbSOL multiplies the position by 100 SOL, generates 20-40% return for me, in 1 month it’s 1.5 – 3.3 SOL profit
(None of the SOL multiplication positions were… pic.twitter.com/NYuU2VtCsO
– Jussy (@jussy_world) October 22, 2025
Furthermore, he suggests,
- Loop strategies. With loopback, you deposit an asset, borrow another asset against it, and convert the borrowed asset back to the original. You now repeat this process to increase leverage and amplify returns. It also increases your risk, so be aware of that.
- Profit from trading.
- Staking and governance.
Here’s an interesting observation I made. Kamino Finance is second in TVL on the Solana channel. A strong TVL indicates user confidence, depth of liquidity, and product-market fit. However, the $KMNO token is a real gem with a very small market capitalization.
The current price of $KMNO is almost 6 cents. Its market capitalization is only $181 million. 30% of its token circulates, so it could be better. It nevertheless presents great growth potential. A small market cap and an ATH of almost 25 cents. It’s a 4x from here.
Ghost Wallet
Phantom is a non-custodial crypto wallet. It is by far the most popular wallet in the Solana ecosystem. But it also goes well beyond that. It offers different networks, including,
- Ethereum
- Bitcoin
- Sui
- Base
- Polygon
- And the Monad testnet
If you want to enable or disable Sui or any other network, you can do so in the settings under “Active Networks”. pic.twitter.com/0WhxjSIDR4
– Ghost (@phantom) May 12, 2025
It is considered one of the best non-custodial wallets currently available. It has massive user adoption and positioning in the ecosystem. Currently, it has around 15 million monthly active users (MAU). Not only that, but it offers an intuitive user interface, integrated exchange (Jupiter), staking and NFT support. Solana also has an impressive NFT ecosystem.
Phantom has 15 million monthly active users @ArtimusLeton pic.twitter.com/ExeclTNbqt
— nfy (@nonfungibleyash) February 14, 2025
Phantom does not have its own token. However, it recently launched its own dollar-pegged stablecoin $CASH. This was accompanied by a super payment app on Solana. This makes the wallet an easy-to-use payment platform. This bridges the gap between crypto and everyday payments.
This expansion in payment rails intensifies the “stablecoin wars” on Solana. This now positions Phantom as a key player in crypto. It offers real spending options. By adding new features such as stablecoin, payments, perps and staking, Phantom is not just a wallet. It is moving towards a broader consumer financing platform. Rather, it becomes a wallet as a hub.
Presentation: Phantom Perps 👻 ♾️
Go long or short in just a few clicks.
More than 100 markets. Leverage up to 40x. It’s all in your pocket.
Powered by @HyperliquidX pic.twitter.com/YDKjUGBdEn
– Ghost (@phantom) July 8, 2025
So which of these Solana gems is your favorite? Or did I miss yours? Let me know in the comments. Be sure to follow our X and Discord channels and join our lively discussions.
Disclaimer
The information discussed by Altcoin Buzz does not constitute financial advice. This is for educational, entertainment and informational purposes only. All information or strategies are thoughts and opinions relevant to the author/reviewer’s accepted levels of risk tolerance, and their risk tolerance may be different from yours.
We are not responsible for any losses you may incur as a result of any investment directly or indirectly related to the information provided. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are high-risk investments, so please do your due diligence.
Copyright Altcoin Buzz Pte Ltd.
The article Top 4 Solana Gems – Don’t Ignore These Altcoins from the SOL Ecosystem appeared first on Altcoin Buzz.
