Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko has sparked controversy after referring to memecoins and non-fungible tokens as “digital slop,” regardless of Solana’s substantial memecoin-driven income.
“I’ve mentioned this for years. Memecoins and NFTs are digital slop and haven’t any intrinsic worth,” Yakovenko mentioned in a X put up on Sunday whereas evaluating the crypto tokens to loot bins in free-to-play cell video games.
Yakovenko’s remark got here throughout a debate with Base creator Jesse Pollak over whether or not memecoins and NFTs have basic worth, and in that case, the place that worth lies.
The Solana Labs CEO argued that their worth is derived via market-driven worth discovery, whereas Pollak countered that there’s intrinsic worth within the content material itself.
“The content material itself is effective. similar to a portray is essentially invaluable, no matter whether or not you cost individuals on the museum to see it.”
Solana memecoins are like Apple’s loot bins
Yakovenko acknowledged that with out memecoins, Solana wouldn’t be the place it’s at the moment, however claimed that Apple’s revenues would even be negligible if it weren’t for loot bins.
Loot bins are in-app digital rewards discovered in lots of free-to-play video games within the Apple App Retailer. Critics argue they exploit gamers by encouraging repeated spending with out assured outcomes. The dearth of transparency across the loot bins has resulted in regulatory scrutiny in a number of nations, together with Australia and Germany.
Earlier X posts from Yakovenko present that he has held the view that memecoins and NFTs haven’t any worth since not less than January 2024.
Yakovenko hit with criticism
Yakovenko’s newest feedback acquired renewed criticism from members of the crypto neighborhood, together with Flaunch contributor and X consumer “Caps,” who known as out the Solana boss for mocking his consumer base.
Crypto commentator and X consumer Karbon added: “I’m not an enormous fan of how Vitalik dealt with memecoins […] however I discover Toly’s strategy far more distasteful, actively selling them continuously whereas believing they’re nugatory.”
Solana continues to be ultra-reliant on memecoin exercise
In accordance to Solana-focused infrastructure agency Syndica, memecoins accounted for 62% of the Solana community’s decentralized app income in June, a brand new all-time excessive.
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Memecoin exercise has pushed nearly all of Solana’s $1.6 billion in income in the course of the first half of 2025.
A big share of memecoin income has come from Solana-based memecoin launchpad Pump.enjoyable and PumpSwap, which capabilities as a decentralized trade aggregator for Pump.fun-launched memecoins.
Nonetheless, rival platform LetBonk has lately emerged as a critical competitor to Pump.enjoyable, at occasions surpassing it in 24-hour income as Solana’s prime memecoin launchpad.
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