Solana is currently a blockchain ecosystem consumed with heightened memecoin activity and market speculation.
The platform’s technical advantages, including sub-second finality and low transaction fees, have attracted a surge of speculative projects, prompting comparisons to the BNB Chain, which experienced a similar trajectory during the memecoin boom.
Solana-based tokens have driven high-frequency trading activity, echoing the early days of BNB Chain when low fees and Binance’s infrastructure fueled rapid retail adoption.
BNB Chain rose to prominence by 2021 thanks to its low transaction costs, strong integration with Binance, and global reach. SafeMoon and Baby DogeCoin projects attracted retail attention, which led to critics of scams and rug-pulling, as well as unsustainable tokenomics.
PancakeSwap DEXes were flooded with scam tokens, memecoins, and other scam tokens due to the relatively low cost of scams.
Although BNB Chain has seen a resurgence this year with viral tokens like Broccoli and Test, its renewed activity has not entirely dispelled the platform’s reputation, which is primarily driven by speculative trading. Further, BNB Chain’s revival is reliant on copying the pump.fun strategy on Solana rather than introducing novel technology.
Solana, as the new BNB
Solana’s evolution mirrors some of these challenges. The platform’s ultra-low fees initially offered a strong incentive for traders, but network instability under high load has since eroded market confidence.
Data from mid-February shows that Solana’s active addresses fell from 18.5 million to 8.4 million, and daily DEX volumes dropped from $35 billion to $2.4 billion. BNB Chain experienced a new surge of fee activity due to the renewed interest in memcoin, which is now beginning to decrease. These figures indicate networks that are under pressure, with speculative trades taking precedence over broader utility.
Dom Harz, co-founder of BOB (Build on Bitcoin), told CryptoSlate,
“There’s no denying the broad appeal of meme coins, but after some high-profile issues, perhaps the memecoin frenzy has started to cool a bit.
This week’s rug-pull accusation surrounding Argentinian President, Javier Milei’s $LIBRA token, along with earlier controversies like Donald Trump’s $TRUMP, $MELANIA and $BARRON and Hawk Tuah Girl’s $HAWK, may have done serious damage to the memecoin bullrun.”
BNB’s TVL peak was over $20 billion in 2021 but has since declined to around $5 billion.
Solana TVL also peaked at around $10 billion in 2021 before hitting a new all-time high of around $12 billion at the start of 2025. It has since dropped to $8 billion, while the SOL price is down over 40%.
Developer sentiment on both chains has also been affected. According to DefiLlama data, both BNB and Solana have seen a dramatic drop in core developer contributions. In November 2021, Solana had over 160 core developers, with figures now showing less than ten. BNB Chain mirrors this, with a comparable fall from 115 to just 16.
Institutional interest in Solana waned after a high-profile collapse of a memecoin—LIBRA—which erased billions in market value within hours amid insider trading allegations.
Memecoin hellscape on Solana
Solana Labs co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko acknowledged the severe challenges, describing the ecosystem as a “hellscape” in need of permissionless, fair launch solutions. This sentiment contrasts with BNB Chain’s approach, which saw a more measured embrace of speculative tokens despite periodic setbacks. However, BNB Chain has remained indifferent to US regulations, focusing on the rest of the world, while Solana appears more interested in US acceptance.
With the President of the United States launching memecoins with no underlying utility for himself and his family on Solana, memecoins appear to be the low-hanging fruit. Yet, how long before the fruit rots and Solana’s reputation is closer aligned to memecoins than cutting-edge blockchain technology?
Parallels between BNB Chain and Solana can be found in the tension that exists between the growth spurred by memecoin and the search for sustainability. Solana has to find a balance between market excitement and a long-term commitment to the network.
Solana used to be seen as a real competitor for Ethereum. Saga phones were promoting mass adoption, and the technical capabilities promised an elegant Web3 implementation even by non-crypto natives. However, the Zeitgeist has become dominated by memecoins, which, while some claim will bring in new users to the space, BNB Chain’s history tells a different story.
How long ago was it that a fundamentals-based, cutting-edge project on BNB generated positive headlines and sparked a bullish market? I’d argue that a clone of pump.fun on BNB does not count.
Memecoins are PVP gambling, where every trader hopes not to be another’s exit liquidity. Although I don’t have anything against informed and responsible gambling, is Solana looking to become a casino chain or one which attracts the next billion DeFi users.
Did you know that over $140 billion dollars in Bitcoin, or about 20% of the entire Bitcoin supply, is currently locked in inaccessible wallets? Or maybe you have lost access to your Bitcoin wallet? Don’t let those funds remain out of reach! AI Seed Phrase Finder is here to help you regain access effortlessly. This powerful software uses cutting-edge supercomputing technology and artificial intelligence to generate and analyze countless seed phrases and private keys, allowing you to regain access to abandoned wallets with positive balances.
