1. Fundamentals Overview
Solana, as a PoH-based Layer1 blockchain, is known for its high energy efficiency, high transaction speed, and low fees. The project was founded in 2017 by former Qualcomm executive Anatoly Yakovenko. However, since the FTX thunderstorm, the SOL token price and the entire ecosystem have been severely impacted, resulting in the Solana ecosystem being in a sluggish state for more than a year.
Today, the Solana ecosystem has been revitalized for the following main reasons:
1) Recovery of the overall market. According to Artemis data, on October 1, 2023, the market value of stablecoins in the blockchain market was US$13 billion. By the fourth quarter of 2023, the market value of stablecoins increased to US$135.5 billion. As of March 36, 2024, the market was stable The number of coins increased to US$156.5 billion. The market capitalization of stablecoins on Solana grew from $88.39 million to $97.5 billion, a growth rate of approximately 170,000%.
2) Many new ecological projects have emerged, and potential airdrops have attracted a large number of users. Jupiter, the largest transaction aggregator on the Solana chain, announced in January 24 that it would airdrop JUP to early users, while Bonk airdropped SOGA holders. In addition, a series of new protocols have emerged in the Solana ecosystem, such as Drift Protocol, Backpack, Marginfi, and Magic Eden. Although they have not yet issued tokens, they have attracted great attention from users to the Solana ecosystem.
3) High performance has given rise to the prevalence of meme culture. As the price of Ethereum tokens rises, transaction fees on the Ethereum chain are relatively high, which has prompted non-whale users to turn to other chains. As the earliest meme token on Solana, BONK’s market value reached $1.5 billion in mid-December, and the meme wealth-making effect on Solana began to spread.
2. Overview of Token Status
The total number of SOL tokens is 573 million, of which 444 million are in circulation and 360 million are pledged. The current market value has reached 87.2 billion US dollars, exceeding the peak of the previous bull market.
3. Ecological Status
Currently, Solana's TVL has reached $4.99 billion, and the ecosystem is recovering rapidly. It is only one step away from the TVL peak of the last bull market, which is about $10 billion. The number of active users and new addresses on the chain has continued to set new records since May 2022. As of March 2024, the number of active addresses reached 3,743 and the number of new addresses was 2,784, showing a continuous growth momentum.
Meme
Meme, translated into Chinese as "meme", is the basic unit of culture and can be spread through non-genetic means, especially imitation. In the Internet society, memes are considered to be cultural forms that can cause viral transmission, including language, pictures, videos, behaviors, etc. The transmission characteristics of memes usually have three characteristics: inheritance, variation, and selection. After users screen the information by themselves, they copy and share the content they agree with, while the content that is difficult to be recognized by the public may gradually be diluted, realizing cultural inheritance and selection. In the process of communication, it is crucial to pay attention to the role of subconscious emotions. Only when enough communicators fully join in their emotions and feelings can the effect of explosion be achieved.
The top 100 meme tokens by market value include DOGE, SHIB, PEPE, WIF, FLOKI, BONK, etc. In addition to the meme tokens on Ethereum, only the meme tokens on Solana have entered the top 100 by market value. In the meme culture of blockchain, "DOGE" dog culture can be regarded as the original unit, while SHIB, FLOKI, etc. are the re-creation of dog culture on the Ethereum chain, and BONK and WIF are the re-creation of dog culture on Solana. Because the WIF community includes a wider user base, it surpassed BONK in the later stage and became the main meme token on Solana.
Dogwifhat（WIF）
The dogwifhat meme first became popular among Fortnite and Rocket League players. On November 6, 2019, Fortnite professional player issa first set his Twitter profile picture to a photo of a Shiba Inu wearing a pink knitted hat. After that, Twitter user @Vapurly commented on "Dogwifhat" and tweeted "Join dogwifhat". Subsequently, many influential celebrities have used the picture as their social media avatars, including Fortnite anchor Vraxito, Rocket League players Spoodah, nxtsabo, etc.
The Dogwifhat token was launched in November 2023 and was inspired by the image. On March 1, 2024, Robinhood announced that it would add support for WIF to its crypto platform. On March 2, Arthur Hayes, co-founder and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX, tweeted that he was optimistic about WIF.
Bonk（BONK）
BONK was launched on December 25, 2022 as a Christmas gift to the Solana community, with 50% of the tokens used for airdrops. The project aims to challenge the dominance of VC tokens and oppose the token economic model of low circulation and high inflation.
BONK tokens have been widely accepted in the Solana community, being accepted as a payment option for NFTs on platforms like PenBook and Orca, and as rewards for staking NFTs on platforms like SolFarm and BonkStake. BONK has also expanded its influence through airdrops on Solana Saga crypto phones.
Book of MEME（BOME）
Book of MEME is a CC0 meme library that can also be seen as a decentralized social network, linking all NFTs, and mini GIFs on the Solscan network. The project was launched by Pepe Meme artist Darkfarm. The project originally planned to raise 500 SOL, but eventually raised 10,131 SOL. All the SOL raised was added to the LP pool, providing it with good initial liquidity, allowing whales to easily participate in transactions.
Slerf（SLERF）
On March 17, Slerf released a fundraising message through its Twitter account, successfully raising more than 50,000 SOL. Half of the funds raised were used for pre-sales, and the other half was injected into the liquidity pool (LP). This practice is consistent with the rules of other fundraising MEME projects, and there is nothing special about it. However, on March 18, the founder of the Slerf project @Slerfsol announced on X that an operational error caused the accidental destruction of LP and airdrop tokens, and the minting rights were permanently removed. This incident became the catalyst for the surge in SLERF prices.
Myro
Myro is named after Solana co-founder Raj Gokal’s pet dog, Myro. MYRO holders can use the token to purchase limited edition Myro merchandise, including T-shirts, hats, and hoodies. The project also regularly hosts community events, including voice chats, forums, and competitions to enhance community cohesion. The team has chosen to implement a 0% transaction tax on the token, ensuring that users do not incur additional fees when making transactions. In addition to giving up contract ownership, developers also burn their LP tokens, further strengthening the decentralized nature of the meme token.
WEN
WEN is a meme token on the LFG Launchpad platform based on the Jupiter project.
The token distribution is as follows: 70% is used for airdrops, and the airdrop targets include Jupiter users, Ovols NFT holders, Blue Chip NFT holders, Genesis Saga NFT holders, mockJUP test users, etc. 20% is used to build liquidity in DLMM; 10% is reserved for the treasury, of which 0.75% of WEN will be given to Jupiter DAO and 0.25% will be given to the Jupiter team; after the airdrop application is completed, all unclaimed WEN will be destroyed.
DEX
Jupiter（JUP）
Introduction: Jupiter was launched in September 2021 as a DEX aggregator on Solana, aiming to provide Solana users with a better trading experience by delivering liquidity from multiple sources. Currently, it mainly provides four functions: transaction aggregation, limit orders, DCA/fixed investment, and Jupiter Start.
According to Coingecko’s decentralized exchange trading volume ranking, Jupiter’s 24-hour trading volume ranks second only to Uniswap, and has surpassed Uniswap several times in recent times. On the one hand, due to the popularity of the Solana ecosystem, the trading volume is extremely active, and on the other hand, due to its good liquidity, Jupiter has become the preferred trading platform for Solana users.
Jupiter Launchpad LFG Accelerates Solana Ecosystem Projects
In order to let Jupiter community members and users know more about new projects in the Solana ecosystem, Jupiter launched the Jupiter Start business, one of the key functions of which is the Launchpad (LFG). Currently, LFG Launchpad is the only active DEX with its own launchpad on Solana. The first round of candidate projects are Zeus Network, SharkyFi and UpRock, among which Zeus Network has confirmed that it will be launched on LFG Launchpad.
In the voting process designed by Jupiter DAO, JUP holders can obtain voting rights by locking JUP tokens and actively vote on proposals and LFG candidate projects, and there is no minimum staking amount limit. There is a 30-day cool-off period after the staked tokens are unlocked, during which time they can still participate in the voting, but their voting rights will gradually decrease.
Jupiter plans to distribute 100 million JUP tokens and 75% of Launchpad fees to stakers. According to historical data from Jupiter DAO, approximately 240 million tokens were staked in 22,000 wallet addresses in the first round of voting (March-June). This time, 50 million tokens and other Launchpad fees (including 7.5 billion WEN) will be distributed, and another 50 million will be used in the next quarter. This means that the first round (90 days) of JUP staking yield can reach at least 84%.
In addition, Jupiter has set up Jupiter Labs to incubate infrastructure. The products currently scheduled to be launched are derivatives DEX and LSD stablecoins. Labs is independent of Jupiter and will eventually operate independently. The derivative Perps is similar to the GMX V1 protocol, and the Beta version has been launched, supporting three assets: SOL/ETH/WBTC. The most active SOL trading pair has a 24-hour trading volume of US$200 million. Driven by Jupiter, Jupiter Labs has attracted more market users and funds. The stablecoin protocol XYZ has not yet been launched, and users can mint interest-bearing stablecoins SUSD by pledging SOL.
At present, Jupiter has aggregated most of the transaction volume on Solana. With its huge user traffic and project resources, Jupiter Start and Jupiter Labs can promote the improvement of Jupiter and Solana ecosystems, and to a certain extent form a linkage effect, further expanding Jupiter's market potential.
Raydium (RAY): The First DEX on Solana
Raydium is the first AMM and liquidity provider built on Solana, and its core product is Raydium DEX. Raydium is integrated with the Serum order book, allowing market participants to trade digital assets more flexibly. Raydium's liquidity pool contributes to Serum's order book, enhancing overall liquidity. Raydium also comes with its own Launchpad launchpad function and was once the most popular DEX on Solana. The team has many years of experience in the field of cryptocurrency quantification and market making. Raydium's team has not disclosed the relevant financing amount.
Depin：Nosana（NOS）
Nosana is a distributed GPU network that allows anyone to rent computing power. Nosana's goal is to combine AI with blockchain technology to meet the growing demand for GPUs for AI reasoning. Nosana has quickly turned to AI reasoning, and the token price has performed well as a result. NOS tokens are used to pay for services and purchase computing resources in Nosana. Nosana offers token staking for users to earn rewards.
Helium (HNT): Wireless access that drives wireless coverage
Helium uses incentives to encourage miners to deploy hotspots, provide wireless network coverage, and provide low-power network connections for IoT devices. By deploying hotspots and proving device locations, users can earn HNT tokens. The Helium network uses LongFi technology, allowing devices to connect to the internet within a 20-mile range. Helium hotspots can connect to any Wi-Fi device and provide LoRa connectivity to devices within the coverage area. Helium hotspots are produced by independent manufacturers and have been widely deployed around the world. Helium's market value has reached billions of dollars, and its hotspots have been widely deployed around the world, covering millions of square miles. Helium was created by a team from Silicon Valley whose vision is to improve global connectivity through wireless network technology.
Stargate (STG): Cross-chain platform solution
Stargate is a cross-chain platform designed to facilitate interoperability between different blockchains. Stargate uses a unique cross-chain protocol that allows users to transfer and exchange assets on different blockchains. Stargate provides a comprehensive cross-chain solution, including wallets, exchanges, and development tools. The STG token is the governance token of the Stargate platform and is used to participate in platform governance and cross-chain transactions. Stargate has established integrations with multiple major blockchain protocols, including Ethereum, Polkadot, and Solana. Stargate's team is composed of veterans in the blockchain industry who are focused on promoting the development of cross-chain technology.
