On March 16, Solanaās total trading volume soared past Ethereum, reaching $3.52 billion and beating out the daily volume on the Ethereum network by more than $1.1 billion, per DefiLlama.
However, the Solana network struggled to keep up with the influx of activity, with many users across X complaining about frequent instances of failed or missing transactions.
According to Solana ValidatorĀ data, cited by pseudonymous user āDagnumā on X, Solanaās ping time ran between 20 and 40 seconds at 8 pm UTC on March 16, resulting in approximately 50% of transactions failing for around 20 minutes.
The huge uptick in Solana network activity was driven by an outsized appetite for new memecoins. On March 14, degens began piling into a new memecoin called Book of Meme (BOME), which rallied from near-zero to a market capitalization of $1.45 billion in just 56 hours.