Solana DEX Trading Hits Record High Amid Meme Coin Mania

In March, trading volume across Solana decentralized exchanges (DEXs) hit an unprecedented milestone, soaring to over $58.4 billion, as reported by DeFiLlama. This surge marked a significant leap from the previous record of nearly $28.5 billion set in December 2023. Fueling this remarkable trading month was a frenzy surrounding meme coins within the Solana ecosystem.

Throughout the past month, meme coins such as Dogwifhat (WIF) and Bonk (BONK) experienced substantial trading activity. Additionally, newly introduced coins like Book of Meme (BOME) and Slerf (SLERF) contributed to the heightened market action.

Notably, topical meme coins associated with political figures such as Donald Trump and Joe Biden gained traction in March. The sentencing of FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried also sparked the creation of multiple meme coins, resulting in astronomical surges in value, some exceeding 30,000%. For instance, Solana meme coin "Som Bonkmon Fraud" saw a staggering 15,000% spike in trading volume, reaching $24 million, before plummeting by 90% the following day.

Among Solana DEXs, Orca emerged as a dominant player during this period, boasting a trading volume of $3.6 billion in the last seven days. Following closely behind were Raydium with $1.73 billion and Phoenix with $1.6 billion in trading volume. Jupiter, a decentralized exchange aggregator, emerged as a significant beneficiary of this surge in activity, with its native token JUP experiencing a 24.9% increase in price for the week, currently standing at $1.66.

In a notable incident, Jupiter co-founder Meow announced that the DEX would compensate Slerf pre-sale buyers after an accidental burning of $10 million worth of funds raised in presales for the meme coin.