Early 2023 you could have been forgiven for believing that Solana had reached its end. Many in the industry had given up on Solana. It was not the end of its story. Instead, it accomplished one of the most remarkable recoveries in Web3 history — not fueled by institutional backing or VC largesse, but by a committed community and a new wave of experimentation that would redefine what Web3 stood for.
Solana underwent a major shift in its brand. Solana began positioning itself as a blockchain for institutions. It was supposed to be a high-speed network for the next generation of DeFi power users — it likened itself to a “decentralized Nasdaq” At the time. However, the money from the institutions was no longer there and many polished financial products constructed on these promises were now in ruins. In their place, a grassroots, community-driven movement began to fill the void, leaning hard into the irreverent culture of the internet: self deprecating humor, in-group copy pastas, and most of all — memes.
Solana was the first to become the People’s Chain.
Bonk, an early memecoin that was launched late in 2022, marked the beginning of this shift. Bonk was distributed by the entire community unlike many corporate-backed projects. It embodied an ethos that is playful and deeply resonated. The project brought in new users and rekindled the spirit that was lost after the collapse of FTX. The promise of cryptocurrency’s future was rekindled as memes became more popular. “next big thing.” Sensing this change in fortunes, a trio of English entrepreneurs — Noah Tweedale, Alon Cohen, and Dylan Kerler — opened Pump.fun in January 2024. The platform was an important cultural force. Platform made token creation and trading easier than ever (and more affordable) with near instantaneous results. The democratization of the platform sparked a flurry of highly-engaging, speculative onchain activities.
Gleichzeitig, Solana made some serious technological strides. Blinks was a revolutionary new way to conduct native, seamless blockchain transactions. Users could now transact directly from their X Feeds. Jump Crypto began development of Firedancer – a new client validator designed to increase network stability while reducing outages. The use of state compression allowed the minting and storage of non-fungible asset to be done at a much lower cost. Smart wallets replace seed phrases and traditional account abstraction with multifactor verification.
In just a few months, Solana’s community of creators gained a rapid narrative clarity. The builders who stayed through the most difficult part of the bear markets now have better infrastructures, lower costs and an engaged retail community. SOL, whose price had been below $10 after FTX’s demise, has steadily risen. Early 2024 saw the asset back at $100 and both its DeFi ecosystem and NFT ecosystem flourishing.
It was clear that the mood of people had changed. Solana became one of Web3’s most unpredictable, vibrant and community driven networks when the price surpassed the pre-FTX peak. The resilience of the builders and users proved that an ecosystem doesn’t survive or die based on its backers.
Our industry tends to discard failed projects. When capital and sentiment change, it is common for us to abandon networks, reallocate our resources, and move on to the next thing. But Solana did something rare: It survived, adapted, and thrived — not because it was favored to, but because its community refused to let it die. Solana showed that in a world where stories are rewritten and written at lightning speed, being the underdog can be a great advantage.
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