Famous Meme coins on the Solana chain: BONK, POPCAT, and WIF

In recent years, Meme coins have become a highly popular category of assets in the cryptocurrency market. With the explosive growth of the Solana ecosystem, several Meme coin projects based on this chain have quickly emerged, attracting significant attention from investors and communities. This article will introduce three of the most representative Meme coins on the Solana chain — Bonk (BONK), Popcat (POPCAT), and Dogwifhat (WIF), exploring their origins, community ecosystems, market performance, and cultural features.

Bonk (BONK)

Bonk is one of the earliest and most iconic meme coins on the Solana chain, launched on Christmas Day 2022 by a group of anonymous Solana developers. Its biggest highlight is to distribute 50% of the tokens to the community for free through large-scale airdrops, flaunting the concept of "anti-whale" and "community first". This has not only stimulated the motivation of Solana users, but also led to a significant increase in on-chain transaction volume.

Bonk quickly gained market attention after its launch and is now listed on mainstream trading platforms, including Gate. According to on-chain data statistics, there are over 900,000 addresses holding BONK, making it one of the most enduringly influential community projects on Solana. As of May 13, 2025, BONK's weekly increase has exceeded 30%, with its market capitalization once breaking through 2 billion USD, reflecting its strong speculative appeal. The Bonk image continues the classic Shiba Inu culture, emphasizing community-driven, meme culture, and an "anti-elitist" vibe. The project team withdrew at the beginning of the issuance and handed over governance to the community, so BONK is regarded as a truly "decentralized" representative meme coin in the Solana ecosystem.

Popcat (POPCAT)

Popcat is a highly representative cat-themed meme coin on the Solana blockchain, based on the widely circulated "roaring cat" meme, launched at the end of 2023. The project has no pre-mining, no transaction tax, and no pre-sale, and is completely community-led. It quickly gained popularity due to its simple image and strong social virality.

Popcat quickly gained significant attention after its launch in early 2024, gathering a highly active user base in communities like X (formerly Twitter) and Telegram. As of May 13, 2025, the price of POPCAT is reported to be $0.56, with a total market capitalization of $550 million, making it one of the top Meme coins by market cap in the Solana ecosystem. POPCAT reached an all-time high of $2.08 in November 2024, and it is currently down over 70% from that peak.

The success of POPCAT relies on its easygoing and humorous visual image and the low-threshold community participation method. The meme itself is a well-known internet meme among global netizens, allowing Popcat to gain viral momentum without complex marketing. In addition, the Popcat team and community actively create a "cat culture" ecosystem, including NFT, mini-games, and other derivative content, giving token holders a stronger sense of participation and belonging.

Dogwifhat (WIF)

Dogwifhat, abbreviated as WIF, is a Solana-native Meme coin launched in November 2023. Its image is of a Shiba Inu wearing a pink wool hat, affectionately referred to by the community as "hat dog" due to its unique appearance. WIF was initially created by anonymous developers, and although there was an incident where the project team exited, it was quickly taken over and rebuilt by the community, becoming a fully community-driven project.

WIF quickly became popular after its listing, not only becoming the first meme coin on Solana to exceed $1 billion in market capitalization, but also approaching the $5 round figure mark in 2024, with an all-time high of $4.86 and a total market capitalization of more than $4.5 billion, making it one of the mainstream assets in the crypto market. WIF has been launched on a number of mainstream trading platforms, including Gate, etc.

The spread of WIF primarily relies on viral marketing through social media. The project has no technical complexity or practical scenarios, but has quickly topped Solana's trending topics relying solely on a "fun" visual symbol and strong community operations. The success of WIF marks another major explosion of meme coin culture on the Solana chain and has sparked the emergence of numerous subsequent imitation projects.

Summary: The Rise of Solana Meme Culture

The three meme coins, Bonk, Popcat and Dogwifhat, are not only popular projects in the Solana ecosystem, but also represent a new cultural trend: community-driven, meme-based, and quickly forming consensus and hype momentum. Thanks to Solana's low-commission, high-performance technology, the meme coin has been able to expand rapidly and spark a market frenzy. According to statistics, the trading volume of DEXs on the Solana chain has surpassed Ethereum many times, of which Meme coin transactions occupy a very high proportion.

Although such projects generally lack clear practicality and long-term value foundations, they play a significant role in attracting new users and driving on-chain activity. For investors, Meme coins are both a barometer of market sentiment and a game characterized by high risks and high returns.

Author: Icing, Gate.io researcher *This article only represents the author's views and does not constitute any trading advice. Investment involves risks, and users should make cautious decisions. *The content of this article is original and the copyright belongs to Gate.io. If reprinting is required, please indicate the author and source, otherwise legal responsibility will be pursued.