Solana’s Rise to Stardom & Its Memecoin Surge

All aboard the Solana Express! In the last few days, Solana’s price has steadily been climbing up the hill, coming up close to its all-time high of $249.98 in 2021. At the time of writing, the price of this digital coin was above $235 – a 320.67% rise from the previous year.

As a major player in the crypto world, Solana has managed to push its native coin SOL into the ring with names like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Used to play at crypto casinos or purchase goods online, SOL currently works with a market cap of over $111.90 billion and has become the centrepiece of meme coin enthusiasts.

The question is, “How did Solana make it from a $1-per-token coin to one of the most promising cryptocurrencies on the market?”

Let’s dive into Solana’s recent growth and its memecoin craze.

Solana’s Rapid Growth: Why Is It Happening Now?

It was just this month (November 2024) that Solana’s DEX volume surpassed that of none other than Ethereum – $77.51 billion compared to Ethereum’s $38.81 billion. A big chunk of the gratitude cake definitely goes to the memecoin frenzy happening on the platform.

Which leads to the question, “Why now?”

SEC Chairman Changes

The first (and maybe most influential) reason is the US elections. President-elect Donald Trump has positioned himself as a big supporter of cryptocurrencies, vowing to set up more lenient legal frameworks. Or, in his words:

“The rules will be written by people who love your industry, not hate your industry.”

As a chain reaction, the current SEC chairman, Gary Gensler, announced that he would step down from the role, opening up the possibility for a new, crypto-friendly chairman. That will undoubtedly lead to coins like SOL, ETH, BTC, DOGE, and more to enter everyday transactions. With this opportunity dangling up close, the demand for cryptocurrencies has surged.

Spot Solana ETFs

In the last few days, a few Wall Street firms have applied for a spot Solana ETF. Once Bitcoin began the journey earlier this year, many other cryptocurrencies followed, with various investment companies filing requests for spot ETFs.

Asset managers like Bitwise and Canary Capital have already filed for a spot Solana ETF and are currently waiting for approval from the SEC. Bitwise has even set up a Delaware statutory trust for its spot Solana ETF. And considering that the future of this department is bright, many crypto experts consider this a done deal, stating that the chances for approval of spot Solana ETFs are “overwhelmingly high”.

Speed and Affordability

Solana is and has been a very affordable coin. Starting with only $1, today, holders of this digital asset have an over 200% increase in their investments. Moreover, this platform can process a large number of transactions in a few minutes, making it highly attractive to DEX users—hence the DEX volume growth.

To be exact, the Solana network can process around 65,000 transactions per second with fees that are almost nonexistent. With such numbers, many developers consider this a better alternative than Ethereum, simultaneously helping increase the number of partnerships and SOL inclusiveness in different projects such as crypto games and apps.

Solana & Pump.Fun: A Memecoin Heaven

Earlier this year (January 2024), a new memecoin platform running on the Solana network entered the crypto market – Pump.Fun. What started off slow and with a lot of doubt for success has now turned into a huge memecoin market. During the summer of 2024, Pump.Fun began its ascend. Its peak performance, however, came with the US elections. But it didn’t stop there.

Gaining the reputation of a fast, low-fee platform is what opened the doors for Solana’s memecoin frenzy. On 6 November alone, Pump.Fun had 35,156 new tokens, with the number rising ever since.

Leveraging its pros as a low-fee and fast ecosystem, developers shifted their projects, allowing the network to grow. That inevitably led to a bullish movement of many meme-coins on the Solana network. For instance, WIF tripled its price between 4 November and 13 November, holding a position of $3.04 at the time of writing.

Pump.Fun currently ranks as one of the top DeFi platforms, surprisingly outperforming Ethereum. Its current volume is over $4 billion (or 1 million SOL), with fees of around $264 million and more than 3 million launched tokens.

The Other Side of the Coin

As good as all of this sounds, Pump.Fun and Solana’s memecoin rage should be taken with a grain of salt. Mainly because, unlike Bitcoin and Ethereum, all of Solana’s meme coins are not available on centralized exchange platforms (CEXs), turning you toward decentralized exchanges (DEXs). The issue here is that sometimes, these platforms can have security problems, exposing traders to high risks.

Moreover, let’s not forget that meme coins are extremely unpredictable. Their main goal is short-term gains, with 99% of them perishing after the hype ends. Plus, many traders want to achieve the success of previous coins, flooding sites like Pump.Fun with various tokens – even ones that reference violence or unethical content.

Is Solana the New Memecoin Platform?

So what does the future hold for Solana? As a current memecoin star platform, it’s safe to say that Solana is here to stay. Memecoins are essential to the existence of the crypto world and as long as the SOL network maintains its core traits, it will sustain among the fierce competition.

Expert predictions set Solana between the mid-hundreds for the upcoming years, ranging from $220 to $750. Despite not having a unanimous amount, everyone agrees that SOL will steadily grow with a potential super bullish move this time next year!