Meme Coin Frenzy Cools as Milei's Libra Backlash Mounts

Pump.fun Activity Cools as President Milei’s Solana Meme Coin Fiasco Unfolds

The endorsement of the LIBRA token by Argentine President Javier Milei has sparked a wave of reflection within the crypto industry, particularly regarding meme coins. The epicenter of Solana's so-called casino, Pump.fun, has shown signs of cooling off in the wake of this endorsement.

Since Milei's endorsement on Friday, Pump.fun's daily volume, which includes purchasing and trading newly minted tokens, has fallen by 27% from $184 million to $134 million as of Tuesday. This decline suggests a shift in sentiment towards meme coins following the controversy surrounding LIBRA.

Pump.fun, a platform that allows anyone, including children, to launch a meme coin easily on Solana, has become emblematic of crypto's latest craze. Over the past year, some of the largest meme coins, such as Michi (MICHI), Billy (BILLY), and FWOG (FWOG), have been launched on this platform. Moreover, Pump.fun has become a core part of Solana's decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem, accounting for more than half of all decentralized exchange (DEX) transactions on Solana in January.

As the dust settles around Milei's promotion of Libra, a Solana-based token, the sentiment surrounding meme coins is shifting among some industry leaders. Nic Carter, a partner at Castle Island Ventures, recently stated that the meme coin trend has effectively hit a wall. In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), Carter argued that meme coins are "unquestionably over" because the incident involving Libra exposed how insiders are able to benefit disproportionately from meme coin launches, tilting the casino "in favor of the house."

Despite the cooling activity, Pump.fun continues to generate millions of dollars worth of fees in Solana each day, totaling $2 million on Tuesday and peaking at a record $15 million in late January. However, the platform's growth has stalled in other ways beyond just volume. On Tuesday, the platform registered just 59,000 new wallets, representing its lowest level of fresh engagement since November 17, 2024. The number of new meme coins launched on Pump