Solana’s search interest surges on Google amid memecoin mania

Solana SOL +11.72% is being searched for more than ever before globally, according to Google data. 

Google Trends’ weekly tracker of a keyword’s popularity showed that the global interest in Solana this week is at a peak popularity of 100 over a five-year time frame, surpassing the previous peak in the last week of December 2023.

The rising interest in the Layer-1 blockchain network is also reflected in its on-chain metrics.

Last Friday, Solana network’s on-chain volumes hit a new all-time high of over $3.79 billion. Its volume in the past 24 hours stood at around $3 billion Monday afternoon in Asia, according to DefiLlama . The number of new addresses on Solana continues to renew its all-time highs, with nearly 870,000 new addresses created on the network on Saturday, The Block’s data showed.

The amount of daily transaction fees has surged dramatically from around $500,000 in January to $3.83 million on Saturday, The Block data showed.

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Meanwhile, the price of Solana added 11.38% to $204.08 at 1:00 p.m. Hong Kong time, according to The Block’s price page . Solana is now the fourth-largest cryptocurrency in the world by market capitalization, surpassing that of BNB over the weekend.

Memecoin-based Mania

Much of Solana’s popularity spike is attributed to the hype surrounding Solana-based memecoins. “Memecoins like Bonk and dogwifhat ( WIF +29.17% ) along with politically inspired tokens, have gained traction, driving up interest and activity on the Solana blockchain,” Rachael Lucas, head of marketing and communications for BTC Markets, told The Block on Friday.

Lucas pointed to Dogwifhat holders’ successful $700,000 campaign to advertise the memecoin logo on the Las Vegas sphere, which led the token value to jump above $3, as a highlight of the whir around Solana-based memecoins.

“The campaign’s success sparked debate within the crypto industry about market overheating,” Lucas added. Amid speculations of a bubble within the current crypto bull cycle, bitcoin price retraced its record-breaking gains over the weekend, falling back to the $65,000 level on Sunday. It traded at around $68,000 at 1:00 p.m. on Monday in Asia.