Solana’s 5th birthday: From pandemic origins to US crypto stockpile
Layer-1 blockchain Solana is celebrating its fifth year since its mainnet launch in 2020 — becoming one of the biggest chains by transaction activity and one of few select cryptocurrencies included in a proposed US digital asset stockpile. Since the first Solana block was built on March 16, 2020, the network has processed more than 408 billion transactions and nearly $1 trillion worth of value on decentralized exchanges — establishing itself as one of the industry’s leading layer-1 blockchains.Source: SolanaHere are some of the Solana ecosystem’s most notable milestones since it was launched by Solana Labs CEO Anatoly Yakovenko and Solana co-founder Raj Gokal to the public in 2020.Solana was born just as the COVID-19 pandemic hitWhile Solana’s origins can be traced back to late 2017 when Yakovenko released a white paper outlining a timekeeping method for blockchains called “Proof of History,” but Solana wasn’t launched until March 2020 — right as the world started to enact emergency measures against the COVID-19 pandemic.The high-speed, low-cost layer 1 Solana blockchain launch was assisted by crypto-focused venture capital firm Multicoin Capital, leading a financing round for Solana, which brought in roughly $20 million worth of private token sales in July 2019.Source: OKXAdditional funding poured in soon after, and within 20 months of launching, Solana was hailed as a potential “Ethereum killer” as it soared to a $77.8 billion market cap at the peak of the 2020-2021 bull cycle.Solana hit hard by 2022 bear market, FTX collapse — but bounced backThe 2022 bear market, coupled with the catastrophic collapse of crypto exchange FTX, tanked Solana’s market cap to $3 billion — a whopping 96% fall from its previous peak — by late 2022.Sam Bankman-Fried’s former firm purchased around 58 million Solana tokens — currently worth $7.4 billion — from Solana Labs and the Solana Foundation and was “by far the most serious” layer 1 that FTX was helping scale, Fortune said in an April 2022 report.FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Nov. 11, 2022, and is still in the process of unlocking hundreds of millions of dollars worth of staked Solana tokens from FTX’s wallets. Solana’s price fell to $8.30 on Dec. 29, 2022.Despite the setback, 2023 marked the start of Solana's impressive comeback, which saw its market cap rise nearly 50-fold from $3 billion to over $140 billion by Jan. 19, 2025. Memecoin craze takes Solana adoption to the next levelOne of the biggest reasons behind Solana’s comeback was the crypto memecoin craze that took place between late 2023 and 2024 — a $100 billion market that Solana dominated.Several Solana memecoins such as Bonk (BONK), Dogwifhat (WIF), Fartcoin (FARTCOIN) and Pudgy Penguins (PENGU) rose to multibillion-dollar market caps in early 2024 — around the time Solana memecoin launchpad Pump.fun became one of the most popular crypto platforms for memecoin lovers. Pump.fun alone has raked in over $540 million in revenue over the last 12 months and even surpassed Ethereum over 24-hour intervals at some points.Solana is home to many of the largest memecoins by market cap. Source: CoinGeckoNo Solana memecoin, however, drew more attention than the Official Trump (TRUMP) token launched by now-US President Donald Trump’s inner circle on Jan. 17 — which soared to a $14.6 billion market within two days before it came crashing down.The TRUMP memecoin briefly pushed Solana decentralized finance (DeFi) total value locked to $14.2 billion, trailing only Ethereum, DefiLlama data shows. happy 5th birthday @solana
Layer-1 blockchain Solana is celebrating its fifth year since its mainnet launch in 2020 — becoming one of the biggest chains by transaction activity and one of few select cryptocurrencies included in a proposed US digital asset stockpile.
Since the first Solana block was built on March 16, 2020, the network has processed more than 408 billion transactions and nearly $1 trillion worth of value on decentralized exchanges — establishing itself as one of the industry’s leading layer-1 blockchains. Source: Solana
Here are some of the Solana ecosystem’s most notable milestones since it was launched by Solana Labs CEO Anatoly Yakovenko and Solana co-founder Raj Gokal to the public in 2020.
Solana was born just as the COVID-19 pandemic hit
While Solana’s origins can be traced back to late 2017 when Yakovenko released a white paper outlining a timekeeping method for blockchains called “Proof of History,” but Solana wasn’t launched until March 2020 — right as the world started to enact emergency measures against the COVID-19 pandemic.
The high-speed, low-cost layer 1 Solana blockchain launch was assisted by crypto-focused venture capital firm Multicoin Capital, leading a financing round for Solana, which brought in roughly $20 million worth of private token sales in July 2019. Source: OKX
Additional funding poured in soon after, and within 20 months of launching, Solana was hailed as a potential “Ethereum killer” as it soared to a $77.8 billion market cap at the peak of the 2020-2021 bull cycle.
Solana hit hard by 2022 bear market, FTX collapse — but bounced back
The 2022 bear market, coupled with the catastrophic collapse of crypto exchange FTX, tanked Solana’s market cap to $3 billion — a whopping 96% fall from its previous peak — by late 2022.
Sam Bankman-Fried’s former firm purchased around 58 million Solana tokens — currently worth $7.4 billion — from Solana Labs and the Solana Foundation and was “by far the most serious” layer 1 that FTX was helping scale, Fortune said in an April 2022 report.
FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Nov. 11, 2022, and is still in the process of unlocking hundreds of millions of dollars worth of staked Solana tokens from FTX’s wallets. Solana’s price fell to $8.30 on Dec. 29, 2022.
Despite the setback, 2023 marked the start of Solana's impressive comeback, which saw its market cap rise nearly 50-fold from $3 billion to over $140 billion by Jan. 19, 2025.
Memecoin craze takes Solana adoption to the next level
One of the biggest reasons behind Solana’s comeback was the crypto memecoin craze that took place between late 2023 and 2024 — a $100 billion market that Solana dominated.
Several Solana memecoins such as Bonk (BONK), Dogwifhat (WIF), Fartcoin (FARTCOIN) and Pudgy Penguins (PENGU) rose to multibillion-dollar market caps in early 2024 — around the time Solana memecoin launchpad Pump.fun became one of the most popular crypto platforms for memecoin lovers.
Pump.fun alone has raked in over $540 million in revenue over the last 12 months and even surpassed Ethereum over 24-hour intervals at some points. Solana is home to many of the largest memecoins by market cap. Source: CoinGecko
No Solana memecoin, however, drew more attention than the Official Trump (TRUMP) token launched by now-US President Donald Trump’s inner circle on Jan. 17 — which soared to a $14.6 billion market within two days before it came crashing down.
The TRUMP memecoin briefly pushed Solana decentralized finance (DeFi) total value locked to $14.2 billion, trailing only Ethereum, DefiLlama data shows.
happy 5th birthday @solana
