The last 12 months have been rough <\/em>for Solana, to put it lightly. Once regarded as a cleaner and greener alternative to Ethereum, following 2022\u2019s Earth-moving Merge<\/a> that saw the NFT community\u2019s most widely-used blockchain<\/a> finally shift to the more energy-efficient proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, Solana lost one of its most significant advantages over its biggest competitor in the NFT space.<\/p>\n Couple this with a massive August 2022<\/a> hack that saw more than 8,000 Solana crypto wallets emptied of millions of dollars in SOL, along with controversy regarding the stance of its flagship NFT marketplace<\/a> Magic Eden on creator royalties<\/a>. If that wasn\u2019t enough, in late December 2022, Frank III<\/a> announced that DeGods and y00ts<\/a> \u2014 two of the blockchain\u2019s most popular NFT projects \u2014 will migrate to Ethereum and Polygon<\/a> sometime in Q1 2023.<\/p>\n Things may look dire for Solana on the surface, but Frank\u2019s announcement also coincided with the issuance of the first ray of hope for the blockchain this year: $BONK. But can the hype carry SOL\u2019s growth into a meaningfully sustainable position? We\u2019re just weeks into Bonk\u2019s existence, but that doesn\u2019t mean we can\u2019t provide all the essentials to follow its career as the latest meme token.<\/p>\n First off \u2014 what does \u201cbonk\u201d even mean? A meme token much like Shiba Inu or DOGECOIN<\/a>, it launched on December 25, 2022, and sent SOL\u2019s price into a surge of 34 percent in 48 hours, according to CoinMarketCap data<\/a>. Half of the token\u2019s supply was airdropped to users, in a move to avoid Alameda-like economics \u2014 and this caused more than $20 million in trading volume. Although its precise etymology<\/a> may be up for debate, its intent as an echo of earlier meme coins is clear.<\/p>\n Inspired by the grassroots growth and development of its predecessor, $BONK is being positioned as a coin that\u2019s \u201cfor the people, by the people,\u201d according to official statements on its social media profiles<\/a> and website<\/a>. Aligning with this strategy, the 50 percent of $BONK\u2019s nearly 100 trillion coins in supply were airdropped to artists, creators, and community members active in the Solana community. That\u2019s more than 23 trillion in circulation as of writing, giving multiple creators in the space the newly coined title of Bonk billionaire<\/a>.<\/p>\n So how do you buy $BONK, then? If you can\u2019t luck out into an airdrop in Solana communities you may be a part of, your best bet would be to purchase some SOL via a crypto exchange such as Binance<\/a>, then head on to a decentralized exchange like Dexlab<\/a> to trade in your SOL.<\/p>\n Through $BONK, its development team hopes to tackle the alleged damage that \u201cpredatory actors extracting from retail for their own gain\u201d have wreaked on Solana throughout 2022, according to its bonkpaper<\/a>. With that in mind, these first few weeks of Bonk\u2019s circulation on the open market have seen builders on Solana rewarded for their hard work in developing this blockchain.<\/p>\n The crazy thing is, it just might be working. As of writing, Bonk\u2019s market cap<\/a> sits at roughly $106 million. That\u2019s nearly 10 times higher<\/a> than Samoyedcoin\u2019s $11 million market cap, Solana\u2019s previous resident dog token. In the short term, it\u2019s even rescued Solana from lows it hasn\u2019t seen since February 2021.<\/p>\n In response, many Solana-powered platforms like Magic Eden have indicated strong interest<\/a> in integrating the new coin as an accepted currency on their platforms. Meanwhile, NFT projects like Jungle Cats<\/a> have promised holders of their NFTs the opportunity to earn $BONK upon staking their NFTs. DeGods project leaders and community leaders missed the chance to get in on the $BONK train, however, following $BONK burning the 500 billion<\/a> $BONK allocated to the project.<\/p>\n Although the $BONK\u2019s high yields have been a boon to many, high yields typically don\u2019t last. However, Bonk burned a total of 1 billion of its supply on January 3, which means the jury\u2019s still out on whether it will maintain respectable value in the long run. In the best-case scenario, it\u2019ll find a continued niche among traders like $DOGE and $SHIB before it. Despite the massive rally $BONK\u2019s seen in past weeks, the two OG Shiba Inu-inspired meme coins still eclipse $BONK<\/a> in recent trading volume as of writing. This could speak well of Bonk, since, for example, Shiba\u2019s all-time 24-hour trading volume high was $84.48 million<\/a>. That\u2019s more than four times that of Bonk\u2019s, but it proves that a surge doesn\u2019t automatically mean a token will go the way of passing trends. This means that in the worst case, it\u2019ll proceed to tank in value in the coming months following this current surge, just like the majority of meme coins that have hit the crypto market in the last decade.<\/p>\n To ensure $BONK\u2019s recent success won\u2019t just be a flash in the pan, its community will need to put in serious work to keep the ship afloat. Still, whatever becomes of $BONK in the future, there\u2019s one we can say with certainty: this is the shot in the arm Solana\u2019s needed for quite some time. As the meme token\u2019s first month in the space carries on, we\u2019ll be here to provide the full picture.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nWhat is Bonk?<\/h2>\n
Bonk and the future of Solana<\/h2>\n
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