Solana market cap hits all-time high, price surges 10% amid memecoin fever

Solana cryptocurrency’s market capitalization reached an all-time high of $81.1 billion on Friday morning in Asia, according to The Block’s Price Page. The market cap’s previous high was around $77.9 billion in November 2021.

The price of Solana rose by 10% in the past 24 hours to $183.55 at around 9:30 a.m. Hong Kong time, while its all-time high price of $259.96 — recorded in November 2021 — remains distant.

Memecoin-driven activity

“It’s memecoin-led chain activity that’s driving SOL up,” Benjamin Stani, director of business development at Matrixport, told The Block. Solana blockchain-based memecoins have excelled in the markets in the past day — Dogwifhat jumped 20%, Popcat surged 35%, and Bonk added 10%.

Stani said that Solana-based Bonk and Dogwifhat are the first non-Ethereum meme tokens that hit billion-dollar market capitalization. “It means that there’s clear usage for Solana, and the debate about non-EVM chains not being relevant, I think, is clearly settled,” Stani added.

Colosseum Co-founder Clay Robbins previously told The Block that memecoins are “having a moment” on Solana as they are fun and accessible.

Earlier this week, Solana network updated its record for the daily number of new addresses on the blockchain. The number of daily new addresses, based on a seven-day moving average, reached 738,040 on Wednesday, according to The Block’s Data Dashboard.