The first quarter of the year has witnessed an unexpected rise of Solana-based meme coins, overtaking Ethereum’s meme coin ecosystem as well as the artificial intelligence (AI) tokens, as indicated by a recent CoinMarketCap market analysis. The reorientation of public interest towards meme coins demonstrates a shift of focus in the cryptocurrency marketplace. Meme coins, previously considered relatively arcane niches, now find their standing elevated, threatening to dethrone erstwhile hegemonic narratives concerning smart contracts, decentralized finance, and non-fungible tokens.
According to the report by CoinMarketCap, the Solana ecosystem has persistently remained a peak performer in the growth chart throughout the preceding eight months. The ecosystem saw the introduction of over 20 new tokens during the second quarter alone. Although Ethereum’s ecosystem was not far behind with the genesis of 14 new tokens, Derivatives and Stablecoins, in comparison, showed marginal growth, with five and four new tokens respectively. The increasing offerings of Solana-based tokens seem to corroborate a burgeoning interest in the inherent possibilities of the network.
The meme coin ecosystem of Solana, in particular, has been swept by significant dynamicity in both price performance and popularity since October 2023. Solana, despite Ethereum continuing to hold the overall dominance, has been making headways, making for an interesting trend in the world of crypto.
A startling revelation was that Solana’s memes dramatically outdid Ethereum’s memes, delivering an unprecedented average return of 8,469% as compared to Ethereum’s 962%. Unsurprisingly then, the speculative capital from alternate chains started being funneled into Solana, enticed by the extreme rallies of tokens like dogwifhat (WIF) and Bonk Inu (BONK). The result was a spike in the prices of additional meme coins, luring further attention and capital.
Prominent victors in the meme coin arena included cat characters MEW, POPCAT, and Book of Meme (MEME). These tokens outperformed even the previously established winners like WIF, BONK, Ethereum’s Pepe coin (PEPE), and Shiba Inu (SHIB). Politics found a place too, with political memes becoming a popular subcategory. The leading MAGA (TRUMP) meme coin showed a YTD surge of 5100%, attributed largely to unceasing support for crypto from former President Donald Trump and the use of crypto in campaign donations.
Ethereum, despite Solana’s momentous gains, continues to reign over the Layer 1 (L1) smart contracts market, accounting for 62.11% of the share among major L1s. Ethereum’s latest accomplishment was driven by the SEC’s endorsement of Ethereum Spot ETFs.
Binance Smart Chain (BNB) and Solana, however, have caught up, propelling their market share among L1 networks by $42 billion and $18 billion respectively. Solana currently enjoys over 1.6 million active daily addresses, with BNB trailing at 1 million active addresses.
The second quarter saw Ethereum recording an all-time low in gas fees, unseen since 2020. This can be attributed to the increased adoption of Layer 2 solutions and the buzz around Solana-based meme coins. Despite commanding a 62% market cap among major L1s, Ethereum was responsible for 70% of the daily revenue, approximately totaling at $2.7 million. Solana placed second with a daily revenue near $900,000.
Accrued statistics from Lookonchain saw Ethereum topping the fee income rankings over the past year with a colossal $2.728 billion, followed by Bitcoin at $1.302 billion. Other noteworthy networks included Tron ($459.39 million), Solana ($241.29 million), Binance Smart Chain ($176.56 million), Avalanche ($68.83 million), zkSync Era ($59.77 million), Optimism ($40.4 million), and Polygon ($23.91 million).
Although both the platforms recorded growth and success in different financial parameters, Solana’s native token, SOL, significantly outperformed Ethereum’s ETH token. At the current trading price, SOL is valued at $143.25, displaying a year-to-date growth of 650%, contrasted by ETH’s more moderate jump of 68% during the same period, with it being traded presently at $3,310.
This news is republished from another source.
