Solana Co-Founder Slams Meme Coins as ’Digital Slop’—Even as Tokens Pump Networks to New Highs
Anatoly Yakovenko isn't buying the hype. The Solana co-founder just torched meme coins—the speculative, often absurd tokens flooding crypto exchanges—calling them 'digital slop' in a blistering critique.
But here's the irony: Those same joke tokens are driving record activity on Solana. Transaction volumes hit all-time highs last quarter, fueled largely by degenerate gamblers chasing the next dog-themed lottery ticket.
Yakovenko's dilemma? How to reconcile his chain's tech-first ethos with the frothy casino that's paying its bills. 'Build useful things,' he pleads—while traders gleefully ignore him to ape into meme coins with utility roughly equivalent to a lottery scratcher.
Wall Street analysts would call this 'product-market fit.' The rest of us call it another day in crypto.
Solana and meme coins
Despite Yakovenko's criticism of meme coins, the blockchain remains heavily dependent on the tokens.
Solana has seen a surge in trading volume due to platforms such as Pump.fun, the launchpad responsible for the debut of nearly 12 million tokens and over $776 million in revenue since its launch in 2024, as per Dune Analytics data.
NFTs and meme coins are "short term trends,” Arjun Vijay, founder of crypto exchange Giottus, told Decrypt. “It can be a good channel to drive traffic revenue to the blockchain for a short period but it may not be sustainable."
"Long term growth comes from attracting long term capital in the form of TVL and long term traction," Vijay added, noting that while solana has proven its technical capabilities, sustainable adoption requires more than speculative trading.
As Vijay stressed long-term value, others warned against losing meme-driven momentum.
If Solana attempts to distance itself from meme coins and NFTs, it risks “disconnecting from the source of the energy that brought its ecosystem back to life,” Ray Youssef, CEO of crypto marketplace NoOnes, told Decrypt.
He cautioned that sidelining meme coins risks turning Solana into "a sterile database and ghost town of unrealized potential," adding that sustainable value requires active user engagement with the chain's technology.
