Analysis

Solana Price Prediction: Memecoins Drive Record User Activity to 120 Million

Solana's rise could be attributed to the growth in broader crypto markets, specifically in the memecoin sector. Further, there is also a growth in crypto user count throughout the market.

Dhirendra Chandra Das

Key Insights:

  • Solana saw the highest number of users among all blockchains at 120 million.

  • The factor that supported Solana the most in making this achievement was the memecoin market.

  • However, Solana also sees serious challenges in the future in sustaining this memecoin-led growth.

Solana has achieved one of the highest monthly network activity figures. The blockchain had over 123 million active addresses in October 2024.

The high activity comes as crypto markets witnessed a recent surge in user activity, and the markets almost reached an all-time high. Among all chains, Solana had the highest activity.

This could be largely attributed to the memecoins on the Solana blockchain. However, a significant portion of the traffic was also due to Solana's DeFi and Dapp protocols.

The Memecoin Growth Outshines Every Other Sector

Among all other factors, Solana memecoins outperformed most crypto markets, beating institution-heavy sectors such as RWAs. The Solana-based memecoins were the leading cryptocurrencies driving the memecoin overall industry. The only non-Solana memecoin that was a major gainer was Pepe.

Among the top growing memecoins in Solana were BONK (2327%), WIF (1078%), and POPCAT (7514%). These memecoins, on average, generate around $2 million in daily revenue.

The memecoin markets on Solana now stand at $10 billion on press time.

Will This Growth Sustain?

There are a lot of questions regarding memecoin sustainability. Most of the memecoins (including non-Solana ones) are based on some funny memes like SHIB, DOGE, WIF, and PEPE.

Except for Shiba Inu, no other memecoin has any real-world utility. Also, except SHIB and DOGE, no other memecoin has any utility. Even with these two, Shiba Inu's blockchain and ecosystem have very marginal utility with many competitors.

Top Projects on Solana

Besides memecoins, Solana also has a DeFi ecosystem and several Dapps that contribute to its growth.

Among memecoins, Solana's top performer is dogwifhat (WIF) with a $2 billion market cap. The crypto has also seen a 10x growth in the last year, outperforming Bitcoin's growth by 900%.

Solana also has a very mature DeFi ecosystem with a TVL of $6 billion. Among all DeFi projects on Solana, the few that stand out are Jupiter(decentralized exchange), Moonshots(crypto-fiat ramp), and Dexed (analytics app).

Among non-DeFi dapps Metawin (on-chain casino), Pump.Fun (memecoin creator) and Magic Eden (NFT marketplace) stand out.

However, none of them would have become as successful as they are if it were not for the $3.7 billion worth of stablecoins present on the blockchain. USDC leads this space in Solana.

A Look at Broader Crypto Markets

Crypto markets have been witnessing the highest growth in user activity this year. Overall user engagement was 200 million last month, up from 65 million just 10 months ago, in January 2024.

The majority of users hail from developing economies like India, Nigeria, and Argentina. The reasons why crypto markets have been growing there are very different from the other two. While India has seen an economic boom lately, being the fastest-developing major economy, Nigeria sees headline inflation of 32%, and Argentina has been going through its worst economic crisis in decades. In all three, crypto seems to be the most sought-after asset.

Amid all these growths in user activity, the most shocking revelation made by the a16z report was that Solana was the most active blockchain on the market, even beating Ethereum in terms of a number of users.

Solana Future Outlook

On the upside, Solana seems to be the most popular platform for memecoins. Due to this, it has been a preferred destination for crypto users worldwide to trade on its blockchain and DEXs.

However, one challenge could threaten the entire Solana ecosystem and could even push it below BNB in terms of user metrics.

This toughest challenge for Solana is to anchor these memecoins to some utility because just like the NFT markets, its utility is going to matter in the long-run. NFTs like BAYC that were once sold in millions, now see their values drop by over 90%.

Unless Solana or the memecoins attach some real-life tangible value to them, their future remains weak.

Disclaimer: Voice of Crypto aims to deliver accurate and up-to-date information, but it will not be responsible for any missing facts or inaccurate information. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile financial assets, so research and make your own financial decisions.