Solana rises 15% on launch of Trump-themed memecoin, ether falls

at Solana SUN token skyrocketed after a memecoin linked to President-elect Donald Trump was launched on the popular blockchain network.

The price of SOL rose more than 15% to $254.71 on Saturday, according to Coin Metrics. Previously, it rose almost 23 per cent. Etherone of its biggest competitors, fell 7%.

The movements began late Friday after the launch of a new memecoin announced on Trump’s social media accounts and issued on the Solana blockchain. “Official Trump” (TRUMP) has attracted more than $5 billion since then to become the largest memecoin on the Solana network, according to CoinGecko.

That move came ahead of Trump’s inauguration on Monday, which is widely expected to usher in a new era of innovation and productivity in the crypto industry, and the day crypto villain Gary Gensler ended his term as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Solana is the fourth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, excluding stablecoins. It was created in 2020 as a faster and cheaper alternative to Ethereum and now hosts some of the most popular memecoins such as dog hat and Pudgy penguinsas well as decentralized finance (DeFi) and gaming projects.

The token has become so popular that asset managers are looking to issue exchange-traded funds that track its price. The decision deadline for potential ETFs from Bitwise, VanEck, 21Shares and Canary is approaching on January 25th. ProShares also filed for four different ETFs based on SOL on Friday night. If approved this year, SOL ETFs could attract only a fraction of the assets that poured into bitcoin ETFs in their first year of trading, according to JPMorgan.

SOL gained 85% in 2024. It is now about 4% from its November 22 all-time high of $264.56.