Solana co‑founder Anatoly Yakovenko called memecoins and non‑fungible tokens (NFTs) “digital slop” during a debate with Jesse Pollak, the creator of Coinbase’s Base blockchain. The remarks came even as memecoins and NFTs now account for the bulk of Solana’s growth.
Yakovenko Compares Memecoins to Loot Boxes
Yakovenko said that memecoins and NFTs resemble loot boxes in free‑to‑play mobile games, where players spend money on uncertain rewards.
I’ve said this for years. Memecoins and NFTs are digital slop and have no intrinsic value.
he wrote.
Loot boxes have been reviewed by regulators in Australia and Germany, who argue they push players toward repeated spending without clear odds. Yakovenko said memecoins work in much the same way, relying on hype and timing rather than substance.
Pollak disagreed, saying NFTs hold value in the same way art does. “The content itself is valuable, just like a painting is fundamentally valuable, regardless of whether you charge people at the museum to see it,” he said.
Memecoins Deliver 62% of Solana’s Revenue in June
Despite Yakovenko’s criticism, memecoins remain Solana’s main revenue driver. According to Solana‑focused infrastructure firm Syndica, memecoins made up 62% of the network’s decentralized app revenue in June 2025, the highest share on record.
In the first half of 2025, Solana reported $1.6 billion in revenue, nearly four times higher than the same period in 2024. Most of this came from memecoin trading.
Platforms such as Pump.fun and PumpSwap led the surge. LetsBonk recently emerged as a serious competitor, at times surpassing Pump.fun in daily revenue. Pump.fun alone has supported millions of token launches, with nearly half a million created in a single month in 2024.
Solana’s memecoin market has now grown into a $258 billion sector, with leading tokens such as BONK ($2.7B market cap), DOGWIFHAT ($1.1B), and Fartcoin ($1.3B). Institutional interest has also begun to surface. In Q3 2025, Grayscale added BONK to its “Assets Under Consideration” list, sparking a 12% price rally.
Not all launches have been sustainable. In July, Pump.fun’s own PUMP token raised $500 million but lost 75% of its value within 24 hours. The sharp drop showed the risks behind the memecoin boom.
NFT Trading on Solana Jumps 94% to $6.6 Billion in July
NFTs have also seen strong activity on Solana. In July, NFT trading volume reached $6.6 billion, up 94% from the previous month. Collections such as DeGods, Solana Monkey Business, and Okay Bears remain among the most traded. Most sales happen on Magic Eden, which handles more than 90% of Solana NFT transactions.
While memecoins and NFTs have driven strong activity on Solana, they may not guarantee lasting growth. Analysts note that speculative tokens often generate short bursts of revenue but can struggle to maintain momentum once the hype fades. Sustained adoption is more likely to depend on areas such as decentralized finance (DeFi), total value locked (TVL), and broader infrastructure use.
Solana’s fundamentals support that potential. The network’s total value locked in DeFi stood at $10 billion in July, ranking among the top three blockchains.
Solana processes about 65,000 transactions per second with fees around $0.00025 and supports more than 2,500 active developers.