Coinbase Faces Surge in Solana Activity as Meme Coins Spark Market Frenzy

• Solana’s meme coin frenzy triggered unprecedented trading activity, driving its price to a record high of $294.  
• Coinbase scaled its infrastructure after Solana transactions surged, revealing a significant market interest in SOL-based assets.  
• Solana achieved 100% operational uptime despite handling record-breaking decentralized exchange trading volumes of $23.7 billion in 24 hours.  

Coinbase has faced mounting pressure to scale its Solana infrastructure after an unexpected surge in activity over the past few days. The spike, primarily attributed to a meme coin trading frenzy, caused significant stress on its systems. According to Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, the team has been working diligently to manage the load, which they had not anticipated.  

Armstrong revealed the infrastructure challenges in a response on X (formerly Twitter), highlighting the need for rapid scaling as transaction volumes surged. This activity began gaining momentum last Friday and continued through the weekend, fueled by the popularity of Solana-based meme tokens such as BONK and Dogwifhat (WIF).  

Record-Breaking Activity Pushes Solana to New Heights

The surge in activity coincided with a sharp increase in Solana’s price, which hit a record high of $294 on Sunday. Although SOL has since retraced to $260, it remains 48% higher on the week. Solana now ranks as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, excluding stablecoins, and continues to solidify its position as a leading blockchain for decentralized finance (DeFi) and gaming projects.  

In terms of decentralized exchange (DEX) trading, Solana achieved a new 24-hour volume peak of $23.7 billion, a figure three times higher than Ethereum and its Layer-2 counterparts combined. Solana’s DEX dominance reached an impressive 65%, demonstrating its growing significance in the cryptocurrency market.  

Wallet and Network Strain Amid Frenzy

The surge also overwhelmed wallet services on the Solana blockchain. Multichain wallet Phantom reported over eight million requests per minute, resulting in transaction issues and loading failures for users. Despite these challenges, the Solana network demonstrated resilience, maintaining 100% uptime over the past 90 days, according to the Solana Status webpage.