😵 Solana Founders Support Memecoin

A survey on January 3rd by Blockworks Research with 42 Solana founders shows that 76% support memecoin, but 16% believe AI agents are overrated. They are also concerned about the increasing MEV issue and would choose Base or Sui as alternative platforms if they cannot build on Solana.

➡️ Memecoin, AI driving capital flow

In 2024, the total value locked (TVL) of Solana increased from 1.5 billion USD to nearly 8.5 billion USD. The price of Solana rose 8 times, outperforming Ethereum. Grayscale believes this rise is due to retail traders and interest in memecoin along with AI tokens.

➡️ Memecoin market capitalization increased from 20 billion USD to over 120 billion USD, with Solana's Pump Fun generating 8.5 billion USD in revenue, periodically surpassing Ethereum in 24-hour revenue.

AI tokens reached a market capitalization of 16 billion USD in 2024, mainly in Q4, with many coins like Zerebro, Fartcoin, and ai16z on Solana.

However, Condz, the founder of Acolyte AI, warns that AI tokens may just be a bubble and that most of them are scams or impractical.

➡️ Growing concerns about MEV

More than 20% of Solana founders consider MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) to be the biggest issue of the network. Users tip validators to prioritize transactions, increasing transaction costs. In 2024, Solana earned more from MEV than Ethereum for the first time, with transaction fees nearly tripling.