Donovan Choy

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Talk about a crazy weekend in crypto!&nbsp;



Here’s what played out over the weekend leading to Trump’s inauguration today:



<ol class="wp-block-list">
<li>Trump launches the TRUMP memecoin (with an egregious <a href="https://x.com/martypartymusic/status/1880511255103844602">80% insider allocation</a>) on Friday, catapulting to a $14 billion market cap — and $50+ billion fully-diluted valuation — over the next 33 hours.</li>



<li>On Sunday evening, Melania Trump <a href="https://x.com/MELANIATRUMP/status/1881094861279129643">announced</a> on her Twitter page the launch of her own MELANIA memecoin. It’s not clear if these are created by the same teams, though Anthony Pompliano <a href="https://x.com/APompliano/status/1881139314832359566">claims</a> they are not.</li>



<li>TRUMP cratered 50%, and MELANIA soared to a $13 billion market cap in four hours (Crypto Twitter laughs up an imminent divorce).</li>



<li>SOL places new time-highs again at $292.</li>



<li>Crypto speculators are feverishly awaiting the rest of the “<a href="https://x.com/clairekart/status/1881235816527397231">roadmap</a>” involving tokens from the rest of the Trump family.</li>
</ol>



Amid the frenzy to ape onchain, Solana the network did not go down, though many key infrastructural stacks suffered instabilities.



Jito’s block engine, which provides off-chain auctions for MEV protection, saw a brief three-hour window where transactions couldn’t be submitted. Median priority fees (tips) rocketed in this period.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">Yep During today&#39;s chaos, Jito experienced severe degradation &#8212; namely a 3 hour window following the melania token launch where Jito transaction submission was effectively broken During this window: &#8211; median prio fee jumped 5000x &#8211; transaction count fell 66% (reverts stayed… <a href="https://t.co/ODd1pnvm5s">https://t.co/ODd1pnvm5s</a> <a href="https://t.co/z1SLithW7h">pic.twitter.com/z1SLithW7h</a>&mdash; Dan Smith (@smyyguy) <a href="https://twitter.com/smyyguy/status/1881191943675219996?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Many users on Phantom wallet <a target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://x.com/R89Capital/status/1881114518291710362">reported</a> wallet loading failures and inability to send transactions, due to <a target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://x.com/phantom/status/1881112436549599328">a high amount</a> of transaction requests. Phantom claims there were at least 10 million transactions processed on Sunday.



Jupiter exchange founder <a target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://x.com/weremeow/status/1881166068196233399">says</a> its price API and quoting engine were temporarily disrupted.



Users also <a target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://x.com/KookCapitalLLC/status/1881293403012690067">reported</a> long wait times for transfers from Coinbase to Solana, or frozen withdrawals from Binance.



Solana daily DEX volumes shot up from $6 million (Friday) to $28 million (Saturday) and $39 million on Sunday.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXc83SjbsmdyD-7nQlPDuJg6AOrmzBdcSPsTqyQ_0eQeKn17jO_Xfpxb-hwx_E0M-0Qi9VvChaq3kpIcCum-zGFjEx9hMG8Np5ZZ0cHt_vaa9LnKhfBOgFCs6BIO4EAAD6fLq8zqUQ?key=rHxXDmnAl21ExxFmkBexQWzW" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/sol?dashboard=sol-financial">Blockworks Research</a></figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Impact on Solana’s onchain metrics</h2>



Solana’s real economic value (REV), defined as all fees (including MEV tips) users are paying to transact onchain, spiked to $57 million on Sunday.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXf97KewAucxHHZkz2O2m-fd3zck9YYTU7T0MYxbUmw4nrBjzH4O6vlokB9IUuzHYpJ9jg4UTyKGZaTJKAtH1LjpmHyp6xElZ9L0rRoqZTGCWpwVLwck5yMMyOS3IyqHJKbOzhMhlw?key=rHxXDmnAl21ExxFmkBexQWzW" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/sol?dashboard=sol-financial">Blockworks Research</a></figcaption></figure>



In sum, onchain speculators have a lot of fun gambling, Solana takes a big win, while Nic Carter calls the memecoin launch “<a href="https://x.com/nic__carter/status/1881129532981444999">preposterous</a>,” and Alex Becker calls it “<a href="https://x.com/ZssBecker/status/1881097888157364522">embarrassing for the United States</a>.”



Proponents of the metaphorical “<a href="https://x.com/BobLoukas/status/1880587393402867777">simulation</a>” definitely got a boost.



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Trump memecoins rock Solana

Morgan Chittum

<div id="highlights-block_620eb6ad49980" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The new collection will consist of 10,000 NFTs and each will cost $50</li>
 <li>The forthcoming sale will begin on Feb. 21 — Presidents’ Day</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Despite <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-16/who-won-the-melania-trump-nft-auction-trump-crypto-wallet-linked-to-185k-funds" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reports</a> that Melania Trump herself won an auction for her first NFT, the former first lady is rolling out another set of digital collectibles.



“POTUS NFT Collection” will “recognize important moments in [America’s] history,” such as NFTs (non-fungible tokens) depicting Mount Rushmore, the White House and Air Force One, Trump said in a statement. Up for sale: 10,000 solana NFTs priced at $50.



“Collectors will enjoy an element of surprise, as the artwork of each NFT is revealed only after purchase,” Trump said. “Of course, collectors can make multiple purchases to own the entire POTUS Trump Collection.”



The sale is set to begin on Feb. 21 — Presidents’ Day.



Trump’s NFT efforts are in question after <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-16/who-won-the-melania-trump-nft-auction-trump-crypto-wallet-linked-to-185k-funds" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bloomberg reported</a> the former first lady purchased her first NFT herself. The funds used to purchase Trump’s collection were traced back to a wallet that belongs to the creators of the project.



Trump announced her <a href="https://melaniatrump.com/head-of-state" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">“Head of State Collection”</a> late last year, which featured a white hat, along with a painting of herself and voice recording, as part of the “historic auction.”  Although the starting bid was $250,000, the NFT sold for roughly $180,000.



A spokesperson for Trump denied that the project&#8217;s creator purchased its NFT.



&#8220;The nature of Blockchain protocol is entirely transparent. Accordingly, the public can view each transaction on the [blockchain],” a representative said in a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-16/who-won-the-melania-trump-nft-auction-trump-crypto-wallet-linked-to-185k-funds" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statement</a>. “The transaction was facilitated on behalf of a third-party buyer.”



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Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Subscribe to the Empire newsletter</a>.



Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/onthemargin">Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter</a>.



Get alpha directly in your inbox with the <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research">0xResearch newsletter</a> — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.



The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Subscribe to daily Solana news</a> from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.