Meme coins are still the leading use case for Solana (SOL).
Meme trading still dominated DEX activity as Solana carried relatively smaller volumes linked to stablecoins or other types of assets.
Tokenization on Solana is lagging behind the wave of meme tokens. In March, over 92% of DEX token swaps were for meme tokens, with a smaller share for SOL trading, stablecoins and other types of tokens.
The share of meme tokens on Solana rose gradually from the appearance of the first meme projects in 2023. Initially driven by giants like WIF and BONK, Solana later moved to Pump.fun and other small-scale tokens. The share of meme trading on DEX expanded to over 90%, still rising in March.
Solana memes make up over 885 of the entire meme token market. Source: Dune Analytics
Solana DEX also carries several utility pairs based on stablecoins and SOL, as well as WBTC, but meme tokens win out by their sheer numbers and social media appeal. Meme tokens also attract amateur retail traders taking a risk with relatively small bets. While the main SOL DEX pair on Solana has monthly volumes of around $1B, some of the hottest meme tokens easily achieve monthly DEX volumes of over $500M.
Solana remains the go-to meme chain
The crypto market as a whole fluctuates between macro narratives, global news, local social media hype and bets on the next hot meme trend. Solana has shown it remains the go-to chain for meme activity, despite offering other features and utility tokens.
Currently, Solana’s meme activity makes up over 88% of the entire meme market. Ethereum, the initial chain for deploying memes, has fallen to a minimal share.
BNB Smart Chain has been growing in terms of daily activity, but its meme token launches lagged behind Solana. As a result, BNB Smart Chain carried less than 4% of all DEX meme token activity.
Solana leads not just for newly launched memes, but for legacy tokens that have achieved a cult following and retain relatively high volumes. Raydium remains a venue for legacy meme coins and the occasional cult token like POPCAT or CAT.
In the past month, eight out of 10 top memes belonged to Solana. The chain got a boost from trading TRUMP, FARTCOIN, AI16Z, POPCAT, PENGU, GIGACHAD, MELANIA, and CATS. However, only the top two assets had volumes above $1B from decentralized activity for the past 30 days, with all other memes having under $200M in trades.
Most of the top 10 meme tokens on all DEX were launched on Solana, some coming from Pump.fun. Source: Dune Analytics
Ethereum only got a brief moment in the limelight from PEPE and SPX due to their cult status.
BNB Smart Chain benefits from tokens mentioned by Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao, while Base aims to take a cut from the meme market by higher volumes and fun on-chain activity. However, Solana remains the main meme casino, both for its established communities and for over 64,000 Pump.fun tokens launched on DEX.
Meme token trading has slowed down, as overall crypto trading activity is also down 70% from its peak at the end of 2024. This time, the share of DEX volumes is also lower at 11% of all CEX activity. Despite the lowered demand, memes remain a chief narrative, offering relatively cheap entry prices and a higher potential for rallies.
Pump.fun returns to sustainable daily fees
The appeal of Pump.fun has not stopped, and the platform continues to produce and list new tokens. After a temporary lull, where daily revenues fell to under $1M, Pump.fun is back with regular launches.
Currently, the platform still produces up to $2M in daily fees, as there are now more than 30K daily launches. A total of 4,076 addresses are creating new tokens, up from around 1,000 a few days ago. The platform attracts 146K daily active users, with 64K new wallets in the past day.
Despite the warnings of risky assets, meme launches remain attractive, especially if they are community-driven. Whales still snipe early memes and sell for profit, but some tokens feel smaller effects and have a wider distribution to retail wallets.
The recent meme activity continues to grow despite the relatively weak performance of SOL. The asset fell to $115.02 after the latest market correction, leaving the top 5 of coins and tokens. However, the chain’s utility for bot-driven trading and memes has not diminished.
Cryptopolitan Academy: Want to grow your money in 2025? Learn how to do it with DeFi in our upcoming webclass.
Save Your Spot