Solana: Its Meme Coin Craze, Growth and Vision With CEO Anatoly Yakovenko

Solana has seen remarkable growth and market capitalization, with its token soaring by 791% over the past year. Despite this surge, the factors driving the popularity and success of meme coins on the Solana network remain uncertain.

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In this installment of "The Protocol," hosts Brad Keoun, the founding editor of The Protocol Newsletter, and tech journalists Sam Kessler and Margaux Nijkerk, discuss the rise of Solana and the recent craze around meme coins on its platform with guest Anatoly Yakovenko, CEO of Solana Labs.

Anatoly delves into his journey into crypto and evaluates the sustainability of meme coin growth, probing its impact on Solana's network. He also tackles the challenge of failed transactions on Solana and outlines upcoming upgrades aimed at addressing priority fees and expanding block size. Throughout the discussion, Anatoly Yakovenko provides insights into Solana's comparison with Ethereum, its competitive landscape and ecosystem, scalability initiatives, roadmap, outage management, security measures, and the business model behind the Solana Phone.

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Takeaways |

Solana has experienced significant growth and market cap, with its token up 791% over one year.
Meme coins have gained popularity on Solana, but the reasons for their success are unclear.
The meme coin craze has stressed Solana's network, leading to a high number of failed transactions.
Solana is working on upgrades to address priority fees and improve transaction flow and scheduling. Solana is focused on execution and transmitting information quickly, while Ethereum is focused on settlement.
The visions of Solana and Ethereum are different, but they compete because of overlapping use cases and features.
Security in blockchain networks does not depend on the majority of the network, but rather on the cryptographic signatures and trust of entities like Circle.
The Solana Phone aims to disrupt app stores by offering an app store with no fees, allowing developers to save revenue and provide a better user experience.

EPISODE LINKS |

Solana

Anatoly Yakovenko and Solana Bounce Back

Solana Meme Coin Slerf Clocks Higher Trading Volume Than All of Ethereum

SOL Crosses $200 as Meme Coin Frenzy Bumps Demand for Solana Network

Solana-Based Crypto Exchange Drift Plans Pre-Launch Market for New Tokens

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The Protocol has been produced and edited by senior producer Michele Musso and our executive producer is Jared Schwartz. Our theme song is “Take Me Back” by Strength To Last.

HOSTS

Margaux Nijkerk

Margaux Nijkerk reports on the Ethereum protocol and L2s. A graduate of Johns Hopkins and Emory universities, she has a masters in International Affairs & Economics. She holds BTC and ETH above CoinDesk's disclosure threshold of $1,000.

Sam Kessler

Sam is CoinDesk's deputy managing editor for tech and protocols. His reporting is focused on decentralized technology, infrastructure and governance. Sam holds a computer science degree from Harvard University, where he led the Harvard Political Review. He has a background in the technology industry and owns some ETH and BTC. Sam was part of the team that won a 2023 Gerald Loeb Award for CoinDesk's coverage of Sam Bankman-Fried and the FTX collapse.

Bradley Keoun

Bradley Keoun is CoinDesk's managing editor of tech & protocols, where he oversees a team of reporters covering blockchain technology, and previously ran the global crypto markets team. A two-time Loeb Awards finalist, he previously was chief global finance and economic correspondent for TheStreet and before that worked as an editor and reporter for Bloomberg News in New York and Mexico City, reporting on Wall Street, emerging markets and the energy industry. He started out as a police-beat reporter for the Gainesville Sun in Florida and later worked as a general-assignment reporter for the Chicago Tribune. Originally from Fort Wayne, Indiana, he double-majored in electrical engineering and classical studies as an undergraduate at Duke University and later obtained a master's in journalism from the University of Florida. He is currently based in Austin, Texas, and in his spare time plays guitar, sings in a choir and hikes in the Texas Hill Country. He owns less than $1,000 each of several cryptocurrencies.

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