Degens Are Already Trading 'Bitcoin ETF' Meme Coins—On Solana

By Sander Lutz

It was all but inevitable. 

Within moments of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s historic approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF in the United States, Solana degens seized on the opportunity by creating a number of ETF-themed meme coins that immediately spiked to incredible highs before beginning to deflate minutes later. 

ETF, a Solana meme coin that purportedly references the ever-timely “Electric Turkey Frier,” debuted on the Solana-based automated market maker (AMM) Raydium at 4pm EST on Wednesday, the exact time an SEC decision on Bitcoin ETFs was widely expected. Once the approval was posted on the SEC’s website minutes later, the ETF token shot up an incredible 30,800%—to a valuation north of two cents. 

In the couple hours since the ETF’s coin debut, the token has amassed $775,000 in trading volume, from just over 1,900 unique crypto wallets.

Unsurprisingly, though, shortly after the triumphant victory for Bitcoin ETFs, the titular meme coin began fluctuating wildly. It shed much of its gains and currently has a market capitalization hovering around $93,000. The coin currently possesses $23,000 worth of liquidity. 

Meme coins like ETF are routinely “rug pulled” by their typically anonymous creators, who withdraw liquidity and leave investors holding the bag.

But that grim reality hasn’t ruined the meme coin spirit tonight. Another token created Wednesday on Solana, BTCETF, has also seen tremendous highs and lows in the last hours.

Created this morning (lifetimes ago, in meme coin time), BTCETF skyrocketed some 43,000% after the SEC’s announcement, to an all-time high of two hundredths of a penny. DeFi enthusiasts have pumped $540,000 into the coin so far. Within minutes, the coin started crashing. It now has an evaporating $69,000 market capitalization and just $12,000 worth of liquidity. 

Meme coins routinely capitalize on breaking news to pump questionable tokens with extremely high levels of risk. In November, a coin commemorating the death of outspoken crypto hater and Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman Charlie Munger raked in millions before crashing to zero. A “CZ” token whipped up after Binance founder Changpeng Zhao pled guilty to violating American anti-money laundering laws spiked 18,000% just days prior.

Edited by Andrew Hayward

SHOW ALERT: Tune in to Rug Radio’s FOMO Hour at 10:30am ET Thursday to hear Decrypt’s Stacy Elliott and Fox Business’s Eleanor Terrett chat all things Bitcoin ETF with Farokh Sarmad, Michael Anderson, and Ovie Faruq.

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