Solana risks becoming memecoin ‘hellscape’ mirroring BNB Chain in 2021

Solana is currently a blockchain ecosystem consumed with heightened memecoin activity and market speculation.

The platform’s technical advantages, including sub-second finality and low transaction fees, have attracted a surge of speculative projects, prompting comparisons to the BNB Chain, which experienced a similar trajectory during the memecoin boom.

Solana-based tokens have driven high-frequency trading activity, echoing the early days of BNB Chain when low fees and Binance’s infrastructure fueled rapid retail adoption.

BNB Chain, which rose to prominence in 2021, capitalized on low transaction costs and strong integration with Binance. Projects such as SafeMoon and Baby DogeCoin spurred retail interest, eventually leading to criticism over scams, rug pulls, and unsustainable tokenomics.

DEXes like PancakeSwap became filled with memecoins and scam tokens as the low monetary cost of attempted scams became an opportunity for criminals.

Although BNB Chain has seen a resurgence this year with viral tokens like Broccoli and Test, its renewed activity has not entirely dispelled the platform’s reputation, which is primarily driven by speculative trading. Further, BNB Chain’s revival is reliant on copying the pump.fun strategy on Solana rather than introducing novel technology.

Solana, as the new BNB

Solana’s evolution mirrors some of these challenges. The platform’s ultra-low fees initially offered a strong incentive for traders, but network instability under high load has since eroded market confidence.

Data from mid-February shows that Solana’s active addresses fell from 18.5 million to 8.4 million, and daily DEX volumes dropped from $35 billion to $2.4 billion. BNB Chain saw new fee activity driven by renewed memecoin interest, but this is already beginning to decline. Such figures point to networks under strain, where speculative trading may come at the expense of broader application utility.

Dom Harz, co-founder of BOB (Build on Bitcoin), told CryptoSlate,

“There’s no denying the broad appeal of meme coins, but after some high-profile issues, perhaps the memecoin frenzy has started to cool a bit.

This week’s rug-pull accusation surrounding Argentinian President, Javier Milei’s $LIBRA token, along with earlier controversies like Donald Trump’s $TRUMP, $MELANIA and $BARRON and Hawk Tuah Girl’s $HAWK, may have done serious damage to the memecoin bullrun.”

BNB’s TVL peak was over $20 billion in 2021 but has since declined to around $5 billion.

BNB Chain TVL (Source: DefiLlama)

Solana TVL also peaked at around $10 billion in 2021 before hitting a new all-time high of around $12 billion at the start of 2025. It has since dropped to $8 billion, while the SOL price is down over 40%.

Solana TVL (Source: DefiLlama)

Developer sentiment on both chains has also been affected. According to DefiLlama data, both BNB and Solana have seen a dramatic drop in core developer contributions. In November 2021, Solana had over 160 core developers, with figures now showing less than ten. BNB Chain mirrors this, with a comparable fall from 115 to just 16.

Institutional interest in Solana waned after a high-profile collapse of a memecoin—LIBRA—which erased billions in market value within hours amid insider trading allegations.

Memecoin hellscape on Solana

Solana Labs co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko acknowledged the severe challenges, describing the ecosystem as a “hellscape” in need of permissionless, fair launch solutions. This sentiment contrasts with BNB Chain’s approach, which saw a more measured embrace of speculative tokens despite periodic setbacks. However, BNB Chain has remained indifferent to US regulations, focusing on the rest of the world, while Solana appears more interested in US acceptance.

With the President of the United States launching memecoins with no underlying utility for himself and his family on Solana, memecoins appear to be the low-hanging fruit. Yet, how long before the fruit rots and Solana’s reputation is closer aligned to memecoins than cutting-edge blockchain technology?

The parallel between Solana and BNB Chain lies in this tension between growth driven by the memecoin frenzy and the quest for sustainable utility. Solana faces the need to balance market buzz with a commitment to long-term network resilience.

Once, Solana was seen as a true competitor to Ethereum, with Saga phones pushing mass adoption and technical capabilities promising an elegant implementation of Web3 for non-crypto natives. However, the Zeitgeist has become dominated by memecoins, which, while some claim will bring in new users to the space, BNB Chain’s history tells a different story.

When was the last time a cutting-edge fundamentals-based project launched on BNB, spurring bullish headlines? I’d argue that a clone of pump.fun on BNB does not count.

Memecoins are PVP gambling, where every trader hopes not to be another’s exit liquidity. While I have nothing against responsible and informed gambling, does Solana want to be a gambling chain or one that brings in the next 1 billion true DeFi users?

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