Solana Meme Coins Fall Behind the Pack as Sol DeFi Trading Slows
The prices of Bonk, DogWifHat and other Solana meme coins have collapsed since March. Credit: Hameem Sarwar
Key Takeaways
- Solana-based meme coins BONK, DogWifHat and Book of Meme have declined in value since March.
- Trading volumes of Solana’s top decentralized exchanges have fallen significantly in the last week.
- However, don’t count the blockchain’s DeFi space out yet.
With Dogecoin rallying over 10% in the past 7 days, leading meme coins Shiba Inu and Pepe have also made gains this week.
However, the same can’t be said of meme tokens that live on the Solana blockchain, which appear to have run out of steam in recent weeks after making significant gains earlier in the year.
Solana Meme Coins Sustain Losses
Since peaking at the beginning of March, the price of BONK, which first put Solana meme coins on the map, has collapsed by as much as 40%.
Losses have been even worse for Book of Meme, which exploded onto the scene in the middle of March only to crash to less than half of its all-time high price by the end of the month.
Likewise, DogWifHat has lost more than a quarter of its value since topping out at $4.80 on March 31.
With April so far looking bearish for some of the most well-known Solana tokens (and even for SOL itself) decentralized exchanges (DeXs) on the platform have witnessed trading volumes decline significantly.
Solana DeX Volumes Plunge
Although DeFi trading in general has stalled in the last week, Solana-based DeXs have been especially affected by the slowdown.
Trading volume on Orca is down around 10% in the past 7 days. Considering it accounts for roughly 40% of the Solana DeFi spot trading market, Orca’s dwindling activity indicates a wider problem.
Things don’t look good for other leading DeXs in the ecosystem either, with volumes on Pheonix, Raydium and Lifinity down between 13% and 30% in the same period.
The recent slowdown of DeFi on Solana could spell more trouble ahead for the blockchain’s nascent meme coin market. But long-term, there is good reason to believe the space will bounce back.
Outlook Remains Optimistic for DeFi on Solana
In the grand scheme of things, DeFi on Solana is still in its infancy, and only a few bumps in the road can be expected.
Imran Mohamed, CMO of the Solana-based DeX Zeta Markets , argued that the platform is more suited to onboarding large numbers of retail traders than other blockchains.
What’s more, he said that “meme coins have a very important place where they attract a lot of retail interests.”
For the average DeFi trader, Mohamed observed that coins like BONK and WIF provide the only accessible examples of investments that have delivered returns of 100 times their initial investment. As such, he anticipates them continuing to play a role as the Solana DeFi space grows.
