Solana Reaches New All-Time High Amid Trump Memecoin Surge
Solana's native token, SOL, has soared to unprecedented heights, hitting a new all-time high on Saturday, largely propelled by the explosive launch of the Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin. With the price touching $268.75, this peak surpassed the previous record set only a couple of months ago in November.
The catalyst behind this surge was none other than the debut of the TRUMP memecoin, which was unveiled through a series of posts on President-elect Donald Trump's social media channels late Friday night. The memecoin's initial supply was set at 200 million tokens, with plans to increase to one billion over three years. An intriguing aspect of the token distribution includes 80% allocation to "Creators and CIC Digital" with phased unlocks over three years, while 10% is earmarked for public distribution.
Solana DEX Tokens Experience Surge
The launch of TRUMP wasn't just a boon for Solana's price; it also had a ripple effect across several associated Solana-based platforms. Memecoin launchpad Moonshot, decentralized exchange Jupiter, and liquidity protocol Meteora were among those that partnered with this venture. This partnership pushed Moonshot into the top 10 apps on Apple's U.S. App Store, with the platform handling an impressive $400 million in volume within the first 12 hours of the memecoin's launch.
DEX tokens on the Solana network also saw substantial gains amidst a generally bearish day for the broader crypto market. Jupiter, for instance, saw a 33% increase to $1.094, and Raydium wasn't far behind with a more than 20% rise to $7.03, according to The Block's price data. This surge in activity did bring some operational challenges, as noted by Jupiter's pseudonymous founder "Meow", who mentioned that the spike in traffic led to higher error rates, prompting the team to roll out major system updates to address these issues.
The excitement around the TRUMP memecoin also sparked discussions about future regulatory implications for Solana, especially with the potential for a spot Solana ETF by the end of 2025 under the pro-crypto Trump administration. However, the classification of Solana by new SEC commissioners as either a commodity or a security will significantly influence this timeline.
This memecoin launch shows Solana's scalability and resilience under high transaction volumes and also showcases the network's growing influence in the crypto space. With Donald Trump's son, Eric Trump, publicly celebrating the launch, describing $TRUMP as "currently the hottest digital meme on earth," it's clear that the intersection of politics and cryptocurrency can lead to significant market movements.