Solana’s SOL token erupted this weekend after the release of a meme coin tied to self-proclaimed ‘crypto president’ Donald Trump.
According to data by Coingecko, SOL has increased by more than 16% in the past twenty-four hours, even as Ether plunged by 7%. Earlier, Solana’s gains had hit an intraday high of nearly 23%, making it the most profitable day for the token since this year started.
Meme coin mania ignites Solana’s rocket
Late Friday night, Trump announced on Truth Social that he was launching a meme coin called Official Trump (TRUMP) on the Solana blockchain and that instantly shook up the market.
The token quickly hit $6 billion in trading volume. The entire crypto community is partying like it’s 1999, especially since the launch came hours after Gary Gensler, crypto’s public enemy #1, officially resigned.
Meanwhile, Solana has always been pitched as a “faster, cheaper,” alternative to Ethereum. The blockchain hosts a wide range of DeFi projects, and since last year, it has become the meme coin capital of the world. PEPE, WIF, PENGU, and MOTHER are just a few of the meme coins that have now made Solana invaluable to the industry.
But TRUMP is different. See, just twelve hours after launch, it became the largest meme coin on Solana. SOL has already risen 25% this year, after posting an 85% gain in 2024.
Bitwise, VanEck, 21Shares, and Canary have all submitted applications to launch exchange-traded funds (ETFs) based on SOL, with a decision deadline set for January 25. And ProShares filed late Friday for four different ETFs tied to Solana.
The Trump era
A report from Bloomberg said Trump is preparing to deliver on a campaign promise to establish a crypto advisory council along with a strategic national reserve.
But Wall Street isn’t entirely sold yet. JPMorgan analysts warn that while a pro-crypto White House and Congress is great and all, policy changes will likely take time to actually materialize. During the Biden administration, crypto projects dealt with so many SEC lawsuits and what many have called “banking discrimination” or “Operation Choke Point 2.0.”
Bitcoin, on the other hand, remained in a consolidation phase since late December, after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s inflation warnings eased following cooler-than-expected December reports. But Bitcoin ETFs have seen over $1 billion in inflows in just two days.
JPMorgan said, “We don’t see a next wave of cryptocurrency [exchange-traded product] launches as being meaningful for the crypto ecosystem given much smaller market capitalization of other tokens and far lower investor interest.”
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