- As a result of recent bearish sentiments engulfing the entire crypto market, tokens within the Solana (SOL) ecosystem have taken a hit.
- ZachXBT, a crypto researcher, uncovered a massive scam involving Solana meme coin presale events earlier this month.
- To make matters worse, the SORRY project by Vombatus_eth made off after collecting 13,000 SOL in presales, exacerbating investor losses.
The increasingly frenzied memecoin ecosystem on the Solana network has cooled off, with sudden drops in prices: Has the hype come to an end?
Deep Declines Seen in the Solana Memecoin Market
As a result of recent bearish sentiments engulfing the entire crypto market, tokens within the Solana (SOL) ecosystem have taken a hit. Furthermore, investor confidence in the Solana network has been shaken due to the recent frenzy of meme coin presale scams. ZachXBT, a crypto researcher, uncovered a massive scam involving Solana meme coin presale events earlier this month.
According to a post by ZachXBT on X, the total SOL collected by recent Solana meme coin projects from 33 presales exceeded 796,000 SOL, equivalent to over $149.2 million. Additionally, he provided information about some fake accounts that were revealed to be deceptive and denied SOL refunds to investors requesting them.
ZachXBT noted reaching the presale address created by Sartoshi0x, alleging that this individual pocketed an astonishing 62% of SOL from the presale and did not distribute the tokens as promised. The crypto researcher shared a screenshot indicating that 4,434 SOL intended for the Solana meme coin project MILK was transferred to a new address instead of the LP.
In another instance, 2,100 SOL sent to an address on X by Jared_eth allegedly belonged to a fake Jared MEV bot account. Previously, investors fell victim to this scheme by sending an additional $440,000 to a fake Jared account for a presale in June 2023.
In another case, 3,300 SOL sent by an escapist scammer after ending the Solana meme coin presale under the name Blue Kirby. Initially, a refund was promised, but the “scammers” published a wild article stating that refunds would not be issued to investors accused of being “scammers” and announced their abandonment of the idea.
To make matters worse, the SORRY project by Vombatus_eth made off after collecting 13,000 SOL in presales, exacerbating investor losses. The developer claimed that all funds had been distributed and that the LP had been moved to a burnt address. Amid growing concerns about these projects, Solana Co-Founder Anatoly Yakovenko issued a warning, advising people not to invest in such projects.
Is the Crypto Market Crash Pushing the SOL Ecosystem?
Today, Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and other leading cryptocurrencies have experienced significant losses. While Bitcoin dropped below $62,000, Ethereum plummeted to $3,100. Furthermore, it is believed that the crypto crash was led by tokens in the SOL ecosystem.
This is because investors, especially losing confidence in new meme coins. Additionally, it is believed that these scammers may have resorted to selling the SOL they obtained, potentially accelerating the price decline.
Today, the price of Solana dropped nearly 12% to $165. However, it rebounded notably and rose above $170. Despite the rebound, as of press time, the SOL price was down 7.50% to $171.31 on Wednesday. Furthermore, Solana DeFi TVL fell from over $4.5 billion to $3.86 billion after surpassing the $4.5 billion mark earlier this week.
The native token of Solana DEX compiler Jupiter, Jupiter (JUP), fell 6.9% to $1.13. The price of Raydium also fell 10.40% to $2. Additionally, Orca (ORCA) fell 10% to $4.04. Furthermore, the newly launched Solana meme coin Slerf, despite an initial 1000% surge, fell 12.3% to $0.828.
Slerf cryptocurrency faced allegations of being involved in a Ponzi scheme due to its developer accidentally burning the LP and 500 million pool tokens. Presale investors lost $10.8 million due to the cancellation of minting rights with no chance of return.
Additionally, Dogwifhat (WIF) fell 6.7% to $2.15. However, other Solana meme coins, Bonk (BONK) and Book of Meme (BOME), resisted the trend. The price of Bonk rose 7.8% to $0.0000224, while BOME rose 11.60% to $0.01259.
