How It’s Impacting the Network

At the beginning of 2025, Layer-1 (L1) blockchain network Solana found itself in the spotlight, thanks to meme coins. 

Donald Trump’s Official Trump (TRUMP) meme coin launch on January 17 ignited a flurry of activity across the network, driving demand to levels unseen since the 2021 bull cycle. 

While these volatile assets boosted Solana’s network activity and pushed up SOL’s price, they also present a paradox. They have brought in liquidity, users, and attention—but at what cost?

Presidential Memes Pump Solana Into Overdrive

Solana’s cheap, lightning-fast transactions and highly composable DeFi infrastructure make it one of the most preferred blockchains for launching meme coins. So when newly elected Donald Trump launched his TRUMP meme coin on the network in January, it came as no surprise to many.

Following TRUMP’s launch on January 17, demand for Solana skyrocketed, driven on the one hand by developers eager to launch their own meme coins and on the other by the frenzy of trading activity surrounding them.

Melania Trump followed her husband’s lead by launching her MELANIA meme coin on the same chain two days later. This move exacerbated the meme hype and drove significant trade volumes across multiple meme coins, both existing and newly created.

For example, within a day of launch, MELANIA’s trading volume soared 396%, jumping from $1.33 billion to $6.6 billion, according to CoinGecko data. 

Solana Memes Took It to the Moon, Then Back Down

This development drove significant user engagement on Solana.  According to Glassnode, by January 24, the network was processing 832,000 active addresses per hour, over 26 times more than Ethereum, which recorded just 31,000 per hour.

Due to the huge influx of new users on the network, transaction fees rocketed. Per Glassnode, Solana’s total transaction fees climbed to an all-time high of $32.43 million on January 19 after MELANIA launched. On the same day, SOL climbed to an all-time high of $293. 

However, market exhaustion set in shortly after this price peak was reached. The meme coin mania began to fade, taking Solana users with it. Daily active addresses and new demand for the L1 plunged, dragging down DEX volume, SOL’s price, and DeFi TVL.

For example, SOL’s DEX volume hit an all-time high of $36 billion on January 19. But as the meme coin hype cooled off, by January 31, it had plummeted to just $3.8 billion, dropping nearly 90%. As of April 15, this totaled $1.5 billion.

Solana’s network revenue was not spared. Daily revenue, which rose to an all-time high of $16 million on January 19, plummeted to under $5 million by the end of January. Yesterday, the network’s total revenue from all transactions completed was under $115,000. 

Solana Has Bigger Plans, Analyst Says

While TRUMP, MELANIA, and the slew of other meme coins that launched on Solana in the first few weeks of the year drove unprecedented network activity and boosted SOL’s value, the drop in their values and overall trading volumes has impacted the network’s performance. 

It then raises the question of whether Solana’s actual value is now tied to this highly volatile, borderline chaotic asset class.

In an exclusive interview with BeInCrypto, Binance Research spokesperson Marina Zibareva noted that while these meme assets contributed to the network’s growth at the beginning of the year, Solana’s performance remains “increasingly driven by broader ecosystem fundamentals.”

According to Zibareva:

“We’ve seen DeFi TVL grow nearly 4x in SOL terms since January, and stablecoin supply has increased over 6x – pointing to lasting interest in real utility. Developer activity is also accelerating, with smart contract deployments rising almost 6x, suggesting strong long-term potential beyond the speculative wave.”

Although Solana’s inherent features make it a go-to destination for launching meme coins via platforms like Pump.fun, Jupiter, and Meteora, Zibareva sees a future for the network that stretches beyond meme coins. 

“Meme coins have brought attention and users, but the long-term trajectory likely points toward use cases like DeFi, DePIN, Gaming, and SocialFi. Solana’s daily active addresses have increased nearly 6x year-to-date, and with its infrastructure battle-tested, we expect to see more developer activity focused on sustainable value creation,” she added.