Solana activity flips Ethereum amid memecoin craze, even as txs fail

Solana network activity surpassed Ethereum over the weekend amid a scramble for Solana-based memecoins — causing the network to struggle to keep up.

On March 16, Solana’s total trading volume soared past Ethereum, reaching $3.52 billion and beating out the daily volume on the Ethereum network by more than $1.1 billion, per DefiLlama.

However, the Solana network struggled to keep up with the influx of activity, with many users across X complaining about frequent instances of failed or missing transactions.

According to Solana validator data, cited by pseudonymous user “Dagnum” on X, Solana’s ping time ran between 20 and 40 seconds at 8 pm UTC on March 16, resulting in approximately 50% of transactions failing for around 20 minutes.

The huge uptick in Solana network activity was driven by an outsized appetite for new memecoins. On March 14, degens began piling into a new memecoin called Book of Meme (BOME), which rallied from near-zero to a market capitalization of $1.45 billion in just 56 hours.

Another memecoin dubbed Nap (NAP) also garnered significant attention from traders, rallying from a market cap of around $20 million to over $330 million in less than 18 hours.