- Solana’s co-founder calls meme coins and NFTs “digital slop” despite a $15.5B market in 2025.
- Despite Yakovenko’s criticism, Solana’s meme coin market generates billions in trading volume.
- Solana’s NFT market hit $6.6B, driven by popular collections like DeGods and Okay Bears.
Solana’s co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko, referred to meme coins and NFTs as “digital slop,” claiming they lack intrinsic value. He expressed these views during a conversation on X with Jesse Pollak from Base. Yakovenko compared meme coins to mobile game loot boxes, criticizing their speculative nature. However, Solana’s blockchain hosts one of the most active meme coin markets, generating billions in trading volume.
Yakovenko’s criticism comes despite the fact that Solana’s meme coin market reached $15.5 billion in July 2025. Platforms like LetsBonk have captured 70% of the market share, generating $1.72 million in daily fees.
Solana’s Meme Coin Boom Fuels Speculation and Growth
In 2024, Solana introduced over 1.1 million new tokens, fueling speculation. Nearly 500,000 tokens were launched in just one month. Popular meme coins on the platform include BONK, DOGWIFHAT, and Fartcoin, with market caps of $2.7 billion, $1.1 billion, and $1.3 billion, respectively.
Solana’s meme coin ecosystem has played a key role in its success, with its low fees and high transaction speeds. These features have made it a popular choice for meme coin trading. Despite Yakovenko’s comments, these advantages continue to support substantial trading activity and growth in speculative tokens.
Yakovenko recognized that Solana contributed to speculative trading. While he distanced himself from meme coins, he couldn’t overlook the ecosystem’s strong activity. The platform’s focus on speed and low fees has made it a favored choice for meme coin traders, driving market growth.
Solana’s NFT and Token Markets Surge with Record Growth
A boom has also been witnessed in the Solana NFT market. The NFT listing and trading had grown to billions by July 2025, with revenues of $6.6 billion on the platform. Most of this success has been attributed to popular collections such as Solana Monkey Business, DeGods, and Okay Bears. The majority of trading takes place on Magic Eden, which is the major platform for trading Solana NFTs.
Related: Solana Reveals Roadmap for Internet Capital Markets by 2027
LetsBonk, has emerged as a top Solana token launchpad, releasing 16,820 tokens in just 24 hours, surpassing Pump.fun in token production. It has since become the seventh-largest revenue-generating protocol in the crypto space.
Although meme coins draw most of the attention, Solana hosts a rich ecosystem of projects that can leverage its advanced technical infrastructure. The network boasts over 2,500 active developers, with half of them having more than three years of experience. Such developers extend to the DeFi space of Solana, which now has a total value locked of over $10 billion.
Solana, with its low cost and developer-friendly features, has contributed a large amount to the NFT and meme coin mania. The rapid growth in the NFT ecosystem of the platform has been facilitated by The Candy Machine, which is a mechanism to launch NFTs smoothly. The network also has reverse-transfer charges and improves compliance, making it favorable to developers.
The blockchain of Solana keeps expanding, with more than 1,000 projects in its ecosystem, including DeFi, NFTs, gaming, and infrastructure. Therefore, the network stands a chance of continuing to be a significant force in the meme coin and NFT business in the future.
