Solana prices are near an all-time high as speculators purchase crypto to invest in the next possible meme coin play.
According to ZachXBT, Solana (SOL) token presales have earned over $149.2 million since March 12 amid a meme coin frenzy sweeping the altcoin ecosystem. Influencers and large accounts raised over 796,000 SOL for meme coin cryptocurrencies backed by hype with little to no utility.
The slew of presales has incentivized users across cryptocurrency’s landscape to buy SOL for investing in tokens, otherwise known as “aping into coins”. The crypto grew north of 25% in the past week, rising above $200 at one point per CoinMarketCap. SOL traded around $182 at press time, about 26% below its November 2021 peak.
Solana meme projects duck launch after raising millions
ZachXBT’s analysis revealed that not every meme coin project launched a token after receiving thousands to millions in SOL from investors. At least 16 presale meme coin creators either refunded users or disappeared with the proceeds. The latter is called a rug pull within the crypto industry.
NFT project Milady raised over $18 million in Solana’s coin before announcing a U-turn on its proposed plan to tap the ongoing SOL meme coin mania. The team promised to refund all its presale investors and focus on other endeavors.
Solana Labs Co-Founder Anatoly Yakovenko encouraged the community to “stop doing this”, referring to the high volume of SOL deployed toward speculative virtual currencies inspired by crypto meme culture.
Meme coins have existed in cryptocurrencies since 2013, when Dogecoin (DOGE) was launched. Several animal-themed digital tokens have flooded markets in the decade since. Solana, in particular, noted a resurgence of this trend with the success of Dogwifhat (WIF).
The project has grown to a billion-dollar token, backed by a community that plans to advertise the meme on Las Vegas’ sphere.