Key Takeaways:
Solana became the top blockchain for meme coins in 2024, with platforms like Pump.Fun driving token launches and activity. The U.S. presidential election sparked record-high transactions for Solana, far outpacing rivals like Base. Solana is also growing in Real World Assets and decentralized exchanges, strengthening its market leadership.2024 marked a breakthrough year for Solana (SOL), as the cryptocurrency regained its 2021 price levels and surged beyond $250.
What fueled this success? Solana data indicates that Solana significantly enhanced its performance ahead of the U.S. presidential election, although its upward trajectory began even earlier.
While meme coins lack the utility and features of major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), or Solana, they have become integral to the market cycle and have emerged as some of the top-performing assets.
The Solana ecosystem has established itself as a key hub for meme coins. Its position in this space became even stronger in early 2024 with the launch of Pump.Fun, a platform made for quickly creating and launching meme coins.
Here are some of the most notable meme coins that gained popularity on Solana, according to CoinGecko data as of Nov. 25:
Fwog (FWOG): The price difference between the lowest ($0.009) and the highest ($0.73) is 5295%. Moo Deng (MOODENG): The price difference between the lowest ($0.01) and the highest ($0.68) is 2415%. Peanut the Squirrel (PNUT): The price difference between the lowest ($0.03) and the highest ($2.44) is 3975%.Let’s take a closer look at how Solana established itself as a major platform for meme coins in 2024.
Solana’s Transaction Count Surges After the US Elections
The week leading up to the U.S. presidential election brought significant volatility to the crypto market. Traders experienced sharp price increases followed by declines. However, as November 5th—Election Day—approached, cryptocurrencies began to stabilize, and the Solana ecosystem showed notable confidence.
Solana’s on-chain transaction count surged to 172 million during election week. This marked a strong recovery from a summer decline, with transaction growth becoming noticeable as early as September.
On Election Day, Nov. 5, Dune data revealed that Solana recorded 69.5 million transactions, making it the clear leader among blockchains. By comparison, Base, the second-ranked blockchain, registered just 7 million transactions that day—a difference of 894%.
Source: DuneSolana’s growth didn’t stop there. Blockchain activity continued to climb post-election, further solidifying its dominance. On November 22, Solana’s transaction count reached 83.7 million, capturing 79% of all blockchain transactions over the past 90 days.
Source: DuneMeme Coins Are Shaping Solana’s Rise
Solana has been gaining momentum as a major blockchain. Although this trend began before the U.S. presidential election, the event significantly accelerated its growth. But what factors contributed to this rise?
In recent months, new meme coins have flooded the crypto market. While some faded as fleeting trends, others have maintained their popularity. Their peak performance coincided with the U.S. election week, a phenomenon partially attributed to the crypto-friendly stance of Donald Trump and his supporter Elon Musk, a well-known Dogecoin (DOGE) enthusiast.
The launch of the meme coin platform Pump.Fun in January 2024 was another major milestone. Although its popularity began to rise in the summer, the platform remains rooted in the Solana ecosystem, despite expanding to Ethereum and its Layer 2 (L2) solutions like Base and Blast.
This strong foundation opens doors for Pump.Fun to expand into decentralized finance (DeFi). According to DefiLlama, Pump.Fun ranked 6th among DeFi protocols by fees in November 2024, generating approximately $77 million.
While Ethereum, ranked just below it, earned a higher total of $177.75 million, Pump.Fun outshines in daily fee generation. On Nov. 24, Pump.Fun earned $5.31 million in fees, surpassing Ethereum’s $4.2 million for the day.
Source: DefiLlamaThe number of tokens launched on Pump.Fun surged significantly as the U.S. presidential election approached. According to Dune, 35,156 tokens were launched on Nov. 6, the day after the election—a staggering 141.5% increase compared to Oct. 6, when the figure was just 14,556.
This growth didn’t stop after the election. By Nov. 20, the total number of tokens on Pump.Fun reached a new all-time high (ATH) of 69,046 units.
Source: DuneWhat Else Drives the Surge?
According to TokenTerminal, Solana boasts nearly 140 million monthly active users.
Source: TokenTerminalMeme coins are just one part of Solana’s rapid expansion. The blockchain is also gaining traction in the Real World Asset (RWA) sector, with projects like Ondo (ONDO) leveraging Solana’s ecosystem and integrating with other protocols.
Ondo, with a market capitalization of $1.5 billion, is the second-largest RWA project, trailing only MANTRA (OM), which holds the top spot at $3.3 billion.
In terms of year-to-date (YTD) growth, RWAs have outperformed meme coins. According to Dune, RWAs have grown by 492% YTD, placing them at the forefront of emerging crypto narratives. Meme coins follow with a 379% growth, while derivatives coins round out the top 3 at 292% growth.
Source: DuneBeyond these, Solana is also advancing in decentralized exchanges (DEX), where its Raydium (RAY) platform is positioning itself as a main competitor to Uniswap (UNI), one of the pioneers in the space.
The Flip Side of Popularity
Solana’s rapid growth, driven by the popularity of meme coins, has brought both success and challenges. The surge in meme coins has led to an oversupply of tokens, with many creators trying to replicate past successes on platforms like Pump.Fun.
However, this growth has also included projects with questionable themes, such as tokens referencing violence or other unethical content. The lack of regulation around meme coins has made it harder to moderate these issues, revealing some of the downsides of Solana’s rapid rise.
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