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Solana's token landscape is undergoing a significant transformation. Over half of all tokens on the blockchain now originate from Pump.fun, a meme coin launchpad. This shift marks a potential return to the meme coin frenzy that previously drove Solana's price to record highs. Recent data reveals a surge in meme coin creation on Solana. In the past 24 hours alone, over 11,800 new tokens were deployed via Pump.fun. However, only 193 achieved listing on Raydium, Solana's decentralized exchange. And the trend is accelerating. An on-chain analyst noted that meme coins from Pump.fun now account for 51% of all Solana tokens. This represents a significant shift in the blockchain's token composition. Despite the high failure rate, successful meme coins are generating substantial value. Coingecko reports that Pump.fun-originated tokens boast a combined market capitalization exceeding $1 billion. In a single day, these tokens generated over $307 million in trading volume. Moo Deng leads the pack with a market cap of $182 million. MICHI and MOTHER also demonstrate high liquidity among Pump.fun's offerings. The meme coin resurgence could boost Solana's native SOL token. Previous bull cycles saw SOL prices soar above $200, largely driven by meme coin activity. Notable examples include BONK and WIF, which achieved substantial market caps. However, concerns linger. Earlier this month, the Pump.fun address began selling SOL tokens. On September 12, they offloaded 9,940 SOL, worth approximately $1.33 million. Lookonchain reported that Pump.fun had sold over 270,000 SOL by that date. It remains unclear if further sales are planned. Despite these sales, Pump.fun continues to generate significant revenue. Dune Analytics data shows the platform has earned over $111 million to date. As of September 27, SOL trading remains steady. The token is recovering from a late July slump that saw prices drop to $130 in early August. While gains have been modest, SOL is showing resilience in line with major competitors like Bitcoin, BNB, and Ethereum.

Edward Snowden, the former US intelligence contractor turned whistleblower, has ignited a firestorm in the cryptocurrency world. At the TOKEN2049 conference in Singapore, he launched a scathing critique of Solana, a popular blockchain platform. Snowden's comments came during a Q&A session following his speech on "The Next Threat to Speech". He drew a sharp contrast between Bitcoin's design philosophy and Solana's approach. "When you look back at the Bitcoin whitepaper, I think what you see is an adversarial approach to the system," Snowden said. He argued that this approach is crucial for blockchain security. Turning to Solana, Snowden did not mince words. "Solana is taking good ideas and they're just going, well what if we just centralized everything?" he stated. "It'll be faster, it'll be more efficient, it'll be cheaper, and yeah sure it is, you're right, but nobody's using it but for meme coins and scams." Snowden's primary concern centered on the potential for government control. He warned that Solana's architecture could make it vulnerable to external intervention. "If anybody puts anything significant on it and then all the states begin moving towards it, it's going to be a system that has levers that people can simply just take from you," he cautioned. The whistleblower emphasized the need for "adversarial thinking" in blockchain design. This approach, he argued, is essential given increasing regulatory scrutiny of crypto platforms. Snowden's remarks promptly drew a response from the Solana community. Mert Mumtaz, CEO of Helius Labs, a Solana-based project, challenged Snowden's assertions on social media. "Snowden seems to think Solana is centralized—while giving zero data to back it up," Mumtaz wrote. He called for critics to provide concrete evidence of vulnerabilities in Solana's network. Mumtaz acknowledged that Bitcoin and Ethereum have higher levels of decentralization. However, he argued this doesn't necessarily render Solana vulnerable to centralized control. The Helius Labs CEO highlighted recent developments in Solana's client diversity. He pointed to the deployment of new clients that he claims further decentralize the network. Mumtaz concluded his rebuttal with a challenge: "If the network is so centralized, it's worth tens of billions—go attack it if you can!" As the debate unfolds, it underscores the ongoing tensions in the crypto world. The balance between security, speed, and decentralization remains a contentious issue for blockchain platforms. Snowden's critique and the subsequent backlash highlight the high stakes in this technological arms race. While cryptocurrencies gain mainstream attention, the industry faces increasing pressure to address concerns about centralization and security. The controversy serves as a reminder of the complex challenges facing blockchain developers. As they strive for efficiency and scalability, they must also safeguard the decentralized ethos that underpins the crypto movement.

Solana has reached a significant milestone in its four-year history. Six protocols on the blockchain network have each surpassed $1 billion in total value locked (TVL). This marks the first time such a feat has been achieved on the platform and signals growing confidence in Solana's decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. DefiLlama data reveals the six protocols. They are Jito, Kamino, Jupiter, Raydium, Marinade, and Sanctum. Collectively, these platforms now hold nearly $9 billion in user deposits. This represents a substantial portion of Solana's overall DeFi activity. Jito, a liquid staking provider, leads the pack. It boasts over $2 billion in TVL. Kamino, a Solana-based lender, follows with $1.58 billion. Decentralized exchanges Jupiter and Raydium are next, holding $1.26 billion and $1.24 billion respectively. Liquid staking platforms complete the list. Marinade has $1.21 billion in user deposits, while Sanctum holds approximately $1 billion. This achievement coincides with growing interest in Solana's native token, SOL. The cryptocurrency has seen remarkable growth over the past year. SOL has appreciated by over 547% in the last 12 months. At the time of writing, one token is valued at nearly $150, according to CoinGecko data. The crypto community has praised Solana's features, with Actions and Blinks cited as potential drivers of retail adoption. However, some argue that fast transactions and memecoin speculation are the primary catalysts for Solana's on-chain activity. Bitget Research chief analyst Ryan Lee supports the memecoin thesis. In a note shared with crypto.news, Lee predicted SOL could reach $180 in October. Lee attributes this potential price movement to memecoin hype. He also cites institutional interest from Franklin Templeton and Citibank as potential drivers. "During market downturns, the $110 support level has been exceptionally strong," Lee noted. He added that SOL has consistently outperformed other high-market-cap tokens during rebounds. Lee emphasized the strength of Solana's meme sector. He described it as "one of the most robust during rebounds." This milestone underscores Solana's growing prominence in the DeFi landscape. It suggests increasing user confidence and engagement with the platform's diverse range of protocols. As the crypto market evolves, Solana's achievement may signal a shift in the DeFi ecosystem - the platform's ability to host multiple billion-dollar protocols could attract further investment and development.

Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is facing a significant downturn in network activity. New active addresses on the Ethereum network have plummeted by 43% over the past three months. This sharp decline underscores reduced investor engagement and network utilization. Data from The Block reveals notable fluctuations in Ethereum's network metrics. On June 27, new active addresses peaked at 138,620, but this figure dropped drastically to around 89,000 in early July. August saw the number fluctuate between 80,000 and 95,000. It briefly rebounded above 100,000 at month's end, however, the upward trend was short-lived. Despite a recent price uptick, new active addresses fell to 78,100 on September 24. This marks a 23.43% decline. Currently, the figure remains below 80,000. Total active addresses have also decreased. On June 9, they reached 702,857, but by September 22, this number had fallen to 574,073. This represents an 18.32% decrease from the June high. A drop in new active addresses often signals decreased user engagement, and this typically leads to reduced overall network activity and transaction volume. IntoTheBlock data supports this trend. The total volume of large transactions on Ethereum peaked at 2.91 million on July 5. By September 29, this had fallen to 1.79 million (a 38.4% decrease). Despite these concerning figures, there's a glimmer of hope. Market intelligence platform Santiment reports that Ethereum network activity is starting to pick up. However, this increase coincides with rising gas fees. Ethereum briefly lost its top spot in 24-hour Decentralized Exchange (DEX) volume on September 25. Solana temporarily claimed the lead with a volume of $1.123 billion, while Ethereum's volume stood at $1.118 billion. Ethereum has since reclaimed its leading position. Its 24-hour DEX volume now stands at $1.559 billion, an 11% increase. Solana's volume, while up 32.94%, remains lower at $1.251 billion. These fluctuations highlight the volatile nature of the cryptocurrency market. Ethereum's declining network activity, despite recent price gains, raises questions about its long-term user engagement and adoption trends, or - as someone might surmise - whether Ethereum is finally starting to loose its ground and give the initiative to its arch enemy - Solana. We'll have to wait and see if the numbers support this assumption.

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has launched a scathing critique of Ethereum's governance model. He claims the network operates like a "dictatorship" under the outsized influence of co-founder Vitalik Buterin. Hoskinson made these scandalous remarks during an interview in Singapore. He argued that Ethereum's development relies too heavily on Buterin's direction. "Everybody looks to him for the roadmap," Hoskinson said. "Everybody looks to him for inspiration, and he's also the only person who has enough power to rally people." The Cardano founder questioned Ethereum's ability to make decisions without Buterin. He pointed to recent shifts in Ethereum's scalability strategy as evidence of Buterin's influence and highlighted Ethereum's move away from sharding-based optimization. The network now focuses on rollups and layer-2 networks for scalability. "Where does this idea of embracing layer 2s come from, or rollups come from?" Hoskinson asked. "Was it some random Ethereum engineer — or was it Vitalik Buterin writing a blog post about it, talking about it, and advocating for it?" As one could expect, Hoskinson contrasted Ethereum's approach with Cardano's new governance model. He claims it solves the "governance trilemma" of efficiency, effectiveness, and integrity. Cardano's recent Chang hard fork transformed ADA into a governance token, which allows holders to elect representatives and vote on development proposals. "If you have those three things, then you have a fair shot of avoiding the anarchy of Bitcoin or the dictatorship of Ethereum," Hoskinson stated. "You actually have something that can move forward with one voice, but it's still decentralized at the end of the day because it represents everybody." Hoskinson acknowledged his own influential role in Cardano's development since 2015. However, he insists the new governance model ensures the network's continued innovation, with or without his involvement. The Cardano founder was previously involved with Ethereum. He served as one of eight original co-founders and CEO before departing in 2014 due to disagreements over the project's direction. He obviously sees things in a dark way till now. Although Hoskinson believes Ethereum is heavily influenced by Buterin’s vision, most of Ethereum fans would disagree. According to CoinTelegraph's Tom Mitchelhill, Buterin does not wield unilateral power in the decentralized network. The blockchain uses a mix of offchain and onchain governance that includes the Ethereum Foundation and community and stakeholder input into Ethereum Improvement Protocols. The most critical decisions are taken at core developer meetings. Contentious decisions can result in a hard fork, such as The DAO hack rollback that resulted in Ethereum Classic.