The revenue generated by the Solana network and the total value locked on the blockchain have plummeted over the last two months as enthusiasm for memecoins has continued to decrease.
The weekly revenue on the Solana blockchain soared to an unprecedented $55.3 million in mid-January during the peak of the memecoin minting hype.
Nevertheless, this revenue has since fallen by 93%, dropping to approximately $4 million in the past week, returning to figures not observed since September, according to data from DefiLlama.
The revenue from decentralized applications (DApps) on Solana has also decreased by roughly 86%, from $238 million in mid-January to $32 million this past week.
In addition, the total value locked in DeFi on Solana has nearly halved during the same timeframe, declining from a January peak of just above $12 billion to current estimates around $6.4 billion.
Weekly revenue and TVL for Solana. Source: DefiLlama
Trading of memecoins, predominantly on the Pump.fun platform, constitutes approximately 80% of the revenues from the Solana blockchain, as per a report by VanEck dated March 5.
Pump.fun saw daily revenue peak at $15 million in late January, but has since fallen by about 95% to $800,000 on March 7, according to analytics from Dune.
The memecoin craze reached its zenith when Donald Trump introduced his eponymous token (TRUMP) on January 18, followed shortly by his spouse, Melania, who launched MELANIA on January 20.
“The introduction of TRUMP and MELANIA signified the pinnacle for memecoins, as it drained liquidity and focus from all other cryptocurrencies,” stated Bobby Ong, founder of CoinGecko, on March 6.
Both tokens experienced a surge post-launch but plummeted in the days that followed. TRUMP is currently down 86% from its peak, trading at $10.50, while MELANIA has fallen 95% in merely seven weeks to $0.71.
Related: Solana down 45% since Trump token launch as memecoins divert liquidity
The market capitalization of memecoins reached a zenith of $137 billion in December but has since fallen by 68% to $44 billion, as per CoinMarketCap data.
Collapse of memecoin market cap. Source: CoinMarketCap
Prices of Solana (SOL) have also faced a significant hit over recent weeks, resulting in a 58% decrease from their mid-January peak of $293. The asset was down an additional 5% for the day, trading at $122 at the time of this writing.
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