Coin prices halved, Meme craze cools—can Solana still become the "Ethereum killer"?
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Coin prices halved, Meme craze cools—can Solana still become the "Ethereum killer"?
Memes are a game of attention; when attention fades,热度 drops sharply.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: 1912212.eth, Foresight News
The prolonged Solana meme craze has finally come to an end.
On February 27, amid a broader cryptocurrency market correction, SOL's latest quote dropped to $140, roughly half its all-time high reached in January.
From early tokens like bome/wif to subsequent AI-themed coins and finally celebrity-themed tokens, wave after wave swept through the market—some reaped massive gains, others left disappointed, while some still cling to hopes of finding the next 100x opportunity. As market liquidity deteriorated, not only meme coins but also various altcoins performed weakly, experiencing continuous downward pressure.
Some blame VC-backed tokens, others complain about the extreme volatility of meme coins, and increasing scrutiny is being directed at Solana itself, once widely praised, now seen as having significant flaws.
Celebrity Tokens Drain Market Liquidity, Insider Trading Rampant
After the sudden emergence of Trump-themed tokens, many were amazed by their enormous wealth effect. At that time, SOL approached $300, hitting a record high, while Ethereum remained stagnant. Several major ETH holders even considered switching into SOL. However, the subsequent SOL/ETH price action surprised everyone—ETH did not fall much, while SOL steadily declined, with the SOL/ETH ratio dropping from 0.09366 to 0.05981.
SOL has recently fallen to around $140 due to the massive March 1 unlock and negative impacts from celebrity-themed tokens.
What exactly did the Trump celebrity token phenomenon bring? Beyond massive attention, the crypto market quickly felt the backlash. Many teams, seeing how fast money could be made from memes, swiftly launched a Melania Trump-related meme coin, causing investor losses amounting to billions of dollars.
The market has grown tired of memes. No influential celebrity-themed tokens have emerged since late January. Yet some teams continue plotting to extract funds—on February 15, the team behind LIBRA leveraged the influence of Argentina’s president to launch a meme token, ultimately cashing out over $100 million. Correspondingly, 24 traders lost more than $1 million each on LIBRA, and 61 lost over $500,000. The biggest loser incurred a loss of $5.17 million, having spent $5.6 million to buy 2.1 million tokens, eventually selling them for just $430,000.
Solayer developer Chaofan Shou released a diagram showing relationships involved in the LIBRA token issuance, stating that a幕后 conspiracy group issued the LIBRA token through advisor Hayden Mark Davis (Kelsier Ventures), outsourced market-making to an Indian firm, and that Kelsier Ventures and the market makers were also insiders behind tokens such as MELANIA (Trump’s wife), ENRON, BOB, RAG, M3M3, and OGME. Meanwhile, KIP Protocol (founder Julian Peh), a key sponsor of LIBRA, facilitated connections with associates of Argentine President Milei, leading to Milei promoting the token on social media.
Insider trading continues eroding market confidence.
According to Lookonchain monitoring, before LIBRA launched, a whale created two new wallets and transferred funds into them. Immediately after listing, this whale used the new wallets to purchase 5.08 million LIBRA for $2.02 million and quickly sold them for $8.74 million, pocketing $6.72 million in profit.
In addition,网红 MrBeast is under investigation for links to over 50 crypto wallets potentially involved in insider trading, which collectively earned over $23 million in profits.
The game of celebrity-driven promotions and racing to exit before others has made most market participants increasingly cautious. The liquidity drained from the market has not returned. Dragonfly partner Haseeb Qureshi stated that the meme coin cycle is over, comparing the current meme ecosystem to a casino where each "slot machine" is owned by different individuals—a model he deems unsustainable. Haseeb also noted that the celebrity token frenzy has rapidly cooled or already ended, and called on the industry to unite against exploitative celebrity token projects, refusing support to fully end this trend.
Pump.Fun Sells Hundreds of Millions in SOL
Pump.Fun, the standout meme launch platform during this cycle, attracted significant attention for its performance. It birthed numerous meme and AI-themed tokens with market caps reaching hundreds of millions or even billions, enjoying a moment in the spotlight. However, its ongoing large-scale sales of SOL have sparked controversy.
On December 10, 2024, Pump.Fun’s total revenue reached 1,661,078 SOL, worth approximately $362 million, of which $289.5 million had been sold on exchanges and DEXs.
In 2025, the pump team accelerated its selling:
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On January 2, Pump.Fun.Fun transferred over 290,000 SOL (~$50 million) to exchanges, then transferred another 63,170 SOL (~$13.1 million) hours later.
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On January 8, Pump.Fun transferred 98,593 SOL (~$20 million) to exchanges;
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On January 14, Pump.Fun transferred 122,620 SOL (~$21.75 million) to exchanges;
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On January 21, Pump.Fun transferred 116,000 SOL (~$28 million) to exchanges;
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On January 29, Pump.Fun transferred 90,000 SOL (~$20.5 million) to exchanges;
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On January 30, Pump.Fun transferred 98,000 SOL (~$22.27 million) to exchanges;
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On February 7, Pump.Fun transferred over 140,000 SOL (~$26.6 million) to exchanges;
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On February 13, Pump.Fun transferred over 148,000 SOL (~$28.17 million) to exchanges;
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On February 20, Pump.Fun transferred over 65,000 SOL (~$10.97 million) to exchanges;
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On February 26, Pump.Fun transferred over 87,000 SOL (~$12.58 million) to exchanges;
The massive transfer and sale of SOL earned by ecosystem teams have undoubtedly cast a shadow over SOL’s price, further accelerating its downward movement during weak market conditions. On March 1, over $2 billion worth of SOL will unlock, a development likely to deepen market pessimism.
At its core, Pump.Fun may not represent true industry innovation. Its one-click meme creation feature intensifies the casino-like nature of crypto, fueling endless cycles of sharp rallies and crashes that continuously drain market capital and confidence.
Currently, Pump.Fun is building its own liquidity and testing token swap functionality. Affected by this, RAY—one of the platforms that rose on meme-driven liquidity—has sharply declined, falling from a peak of $8.7 to around $2.4.
Meme Coins Experience Massive Declines
While memes often deliver higher returns than other sectors during bull runs, they suffer severe drawdowns when market liquidity tightens. WIF, once extremely popular, plunged from over $4 to $0.6; BONK dropped from around $0.00006 to $0.000014; TRUMP fell from near $70 to around $13; PENGU dropped from $0.04 to $0.0086.
AI-themed tokens such as AI16Z and FARCTION also saw steep declines, with some losing nearly 90% from their peaks.
Nearly all meme and AI-themed tokens have been swiftly abandoned by the market, with sentiment turning highly cautious. After the hype fades, the capital willing to return may never come back.
Data shows that active addresses on the network dropped to an average of 9.5 million per week in February this year, down nearly 40% from 15.6 million in November 2024.
New King of Blockchains?
The FUD that once surrounded Ethereum has now shifted to Solana. Ethereum, backed by comprehensive ecosystem development, remains the largest public blockchain by market cap. Solana, leveraging its high performance, captured immense attention during this cycle’s meme wave due to its powerful wealth effect. However, from an industry perspective, Solana has not produced genuine innovations like DeFi, nor received broad acclaim from within or outside the crypto space. The harsh reality of PVP (player versus player) competition remains a zero-sum game—winners and losers alike.
Memes are games of attention; when attention fades, the aftermath is often chaos. This was true for NFTs at their peak, and may now be true for memes.
Solana still has a long way to go.
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