Our weekly updates are put together by folks deep in the crypto scene, giving you a clear picture of what's happening without overwhelming you.
To Watch This Week
AIRDROPS + ALPHADec 19, 2024
Long Reads
Decrypt’s 2024 Project of the Year: Solana Meme Machine Pump.fun
It started on a whim. Two devs, a laptop, and an idea to develop a platform for launching crypto tokens fairly, cheaply, and easily—all while minimizing the risk of scams. The product wasn’t perfect—far from it. And after launching in January, it arguably led to more crypto scams than would have existed without it; they just looked different. But by the end of the year, the Solana meme coin launchpad Pump.fun had become undeniably the most culturally significant crypto project of the year. Maybe...
Dec 19, 2024
Law and Order
'Talk Tuah Judge': Hawk Tuah Girl's Biz Partners Are Getting Sued Over Meme Coin Disaster
Legal firm Burwick Law has filed a U.S. federal lawsuit on behalf of investors against the creators of the influencer-pushed Hawk Tuah (HAWK) meme coin, which fell on its face in the hours following its launch. Haliey Welch, who gained notoriety this year as the “Hawk Tuah” girl following a viral interview about sexual techniques, was the face of a disastrous Solana meme coin launch at the start of the month. Not only did the price collapse 93% from a $490 million peak market cap, with rug pull...
Dec 18, 2024
Markets
Bitwise Launches Solana Staking Product in Germany as US ETF Hopes Grow
A Solana exchange-traded product may not exist in the U.S. yet, but until the SEC approves such funds, asset managers are feeding an apparent appetite from European investors for products related to the sixth-biggest digital coin. Crypto asset manager Bitwise today announced its new Solana Staking ETP, which will trade in Germany on the Deutsche Börse AG. The fund gives investors the chance to earn bigger returns compared to other SOL products, Bitwise said, because it uses a staking mechanism....
Dec 18, 2024
Markets
'All Gas No Brakes': Fartcoin Keeps Rising as Dogecoin Sinks to Weekly Low
Dogecoin and other leading meme coins are down over the past day, cooling off alongside major cryptocurrencies just one day after Bitcoin pushed to a new all-time high price above $108,000. But one recently hot meme coin is bucking the trend. Despite the doom and gloom elsewhere in the market, Fartcoin (FARTCOIN) just keeps rising. It's up 13% over the last 24 hours at a current price of $0.933, per data from CoinGecko, dipping slightly after climbing to a new all-time high price above $0.95 on...
Dec 17, 2024
Coins
Is the Hawk Tuah Girl Still Asleep? Hailey Welch MIA After Meme Coin Collapse
It’s been 13 days since Hailey Welch, aka the “Hawk Tuah” girl, said she was logging off and going to sleep amid furious backlash to her meme coin rollout. But now that her launch partners are starting to blame each other over the token’s disastrous debut, will she finally wake up? The day that Welch’s HAWK meme coin pumped and dumped earlier this month, eliciting widespread claims of rug-pulling and insider collusion, the influencer told an irate X Spaces audience of holders that she was going...
Dec 17, 2024
Markets
Let It Snow: Pudgy Penguins Release Massive $1.5 Billion PENGU Airdrop on Solana
PENGU, the Pudgy Penguins ecosystem token on Solana, launched Tuesday and quickly leapt into the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap, with potentially millions of NFT holders and traders eligible to claim tokens in the airdrop. The Pudgy Penguins token is currently trading for a price of about $0.0335, with a market cap of almost $2.1 billion. That makes it the 76th biggest cryptocurrency by market cap, according to data from CoinGecko. Newly launched tokens are famously volatile, and CoinGec...
Dec 17, 2024
Markets
PENGU: Everything You Need to Know About the Pudgy Penguins Solana Token and Airdrop
After amassing more than 50 billion social media views and placing toys on shelves in Walmart and Target stores across the country, Ethereum NFT project Pudgy Penguins has launched a token. News of the planned token launch sent the Pudgy Penguins floor price skyward, breaching $100,000 and becoming the second largest profile picture (PFP) project in all of NFTs. “A founder’s job in crypto is to maximize for optimal excitement,” said Pudgy Penguins IP owner Luca Netz in a video interview with c...
Dec 16, 2024
Law and Order
Binance Faces Cease-and-Desist Over Its Listing of PNUT Meme Coin
Mark Longo, the caretaker of the late internet-famous Peanut the Squirrel, has sent a cease-and-desist order to Binance over its listing of the PNUT meme coin. He's accusing the crypto exchange of infringing his intellectual property because it listed and promoted the meme coin. The listening and marketing of PNUT were done without authorization, according to Longo. “This is the first of multiple cease-and-desist letters to be issued. I’m committed to protecting my creative work and sending a cl...
Dec 15, 2024
Technology
Crypto Developer Activity Surges in Asia as Solana Support Grows: Electric Capital
Crypto's best minds are heading east, and it's gaining at a pace that other regions are finding hard to catch up to. Asia was responsible for 32% of global crypto developer activity in 2024, according to a report from venture firm Electric Capital. The firm recently published its comprehensive annual report, analyzing over 900 million code commits across the crypto industry. The transformation represents a nearly threefold increase from Asia's 12% share in 2015, while North America's position de...
Dec 13, 2024
Coins
Not So 'Chill Guy': Solana Meme Coin Plummets After IP Creator's Accounts Hacked to Share Hoax
A weeks-long feud between the team behind a surging meme coin and the creator of the cartoon that inspired it appeared to reach a happy conclusion late Thursday—until it was revealed that the supposed armistice was fake news spread by a hacker, predictably causing the token to dump in the process. Could a sentence be more crypto than that? On Thursday evening, an X (formerly known as Twitter) account belonging to Philip Banks, creator of the beloved “Just a Chill Guy” meme, announced that he h...
Dec 11, 2024
NFTs
Pudgy Penguins NFTs Surge Above $100K on Solana Airdrop Hype
The Pudgy Penguins floor price broke through $100,000, up more than 20% in the last 24 hours, as excitement and speculation surround the Ethereum NFT project and its upcoming token airdrop on Solana. The collection of 8,888 Penguin NFTs broke an all-time high mark last week when it began trading around $62,000. Shortly thereafter, the project’s team announced that an ecosystem token—PENGU—will be launched on Solana in the near future, rewarding holders of the Pudgy Penguins ecosystem and beyond...
Dec 11, 2024
Markets
‘Hot Air Rises’: Fartcoin Meme Coin Explodes as Degens Buy for the Lulz
Fartcoin, a flatulence-themed meme coin on the Solana blockchain, rose to a new all-time high price above $0.52 on Wednesday, topping the previous high set overnight with a market cap of over $520 million. As of this writing, Fartcoin (FARTCOIN) has seen a 69% increase in the last 24 hours and a 154% gain in the last seven days. Its price jump comes amid a broader gain in the AI sector, and particularly AI-related meme coins, a category that has climbed more than 20% in the last 24 hours. That...
Dec 11, 2024
Markets
Peanut the Squirrel Meme Coin Jumps on Coinbase Plans as Gigachad Hits All-Time High
Peanut the Squirrel (PNUT), a Solana meme coin inspired by a social media-famous squirrel, jumped 19% in the hour following news that prominent exchange Coinbase intends to list it for trading. The token, which soared after the squirrel was seized and subsequently euthanized by New York state authorities in October over fears of rabies, is now trading at $1.27 with a $1.27 billion market cap, according to CoinGecko. It's up 27% on the day. Its addition to Coinbase’s listing roadmap makes it th...
Dec 10, 2024
Coins
Magic Eden Traders Rush to Claim Solana Token as Airdrop Value Tops $700 Million
The ME Foundation launched the ME token for users of leading NFT marketplace Magic Eden on Tuesday, with demand for the token driving complaints of issues with the claim process as the size of the airdrop topped $700 million. The ME airdrop was hotly anticipated, with users of Magic Eden hoping to be handsomely rewarded for their NFT marketplace activity. November pre-market trading anticipated a token price of $4.50, which would have seen $562 million handed out, with the pre-market price on Wh...
Dec 10, 2024
Markets
Coinbase, Robinhood Users See Red as Dogwifhat Plunges $1.2 Billion in Three Days
Just weeks after the popular meme coin Dogwifhat (WIF) launched on major centralized trading platforms, Coinbase and Robinhood users that invested in the dog-themed coin are likely licking their paws Tuesday. WIF’s market cap has plunged by nearly $1.2 billion over the course of three days, as other meme coins in the cryptosphere have also taken a hit. At a current price of $2.83, Tuesday’s 12% drop has accelerated the recent losses, leaving almost anyone that bought WIF on Coinbase and Robinhoo...
Dec 9, 2024
Gaming
Battle Royale Shooter ‘OverTrip’ Hits Epic Games Store After Solana Token Launch
OverTrip, a colorful third-person battle royale shooter, has launched on PC via the Epic Games Store, marking the beginning of its third in-game content season. With this, the game has added a new “skill mode,” where players can wager real money on their performance, including the game's recently launched meme coin. The game is a multi-chain project, with its token launching on Solana, NFTs minted on the Ethereum mainnet, and plans to build on the Ethereum layer-2 network Soneium, which was deve...
Dec 9, 2024
DeFi
Solana DeFi Exchange Jupiter Gets OK for Airdrops After First $1.7 Billion Vote Failed
Solana decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator Jupiter is set to airdrop JUP tokens to its community over the next two Januaries after the Jupiter DAO—the collective of JUP token holders—approved a revised airdrop proposal following a failed first try to hand out $1.7 billion worth of tokens. More than 87% of votes were in favor of the second proposal, which made a few key changes from the first that only received 58% votes in support late last month, below the required 70% to pass the proposal...
Dec 7, 2024
Our Company
MYRIAD, Pudgy Penguins Team Up to ‘Predict the Future’
Decrypt and Rug Radio’s newly launched MYRIAD digital media ecosystem is kicking things off in style with its first Community Contest, in partnership with NFT collection Pudgy Penguins. Prizes in the contest include two Lil’ Pudgys NFTs awarded in a raffle, along with 50 Faces of Web3 NFTs for the top traders and top predictors on the MYRIAD platform. “We’re thrilled to be teaming up with the iconic Pudgy Penguins collection for our inaugural MYRIAD Community Contest,” said Ilan Hazan, Co-Found...
Dec 6, 2024
Law and Order
Solana Meme Coin Launchpad Pump.fun Bans UK Users After Regulator Warning
Solana meme coin launchpad Pump.fun is no longer available for use in the United Kingdom, with the site's creators taking action following a warning from the country's financial regulator. Pseudonymous co-founder Alon told Decrypt that this is not a temporary measure, and confirmed that only the UK is affected. According to a site notice, the UK is now a restricted jurisdiction for Pump.fun, which lets users create and trade Solana tokens with no coding experience. This move was made “in accorda...
Dec 6, 2024
Coins
Pudgy Penguins to Hatch a 'Master Coin' On Solana as NFT Floor Prices Surge
Pudgy Penguins, the third-largest NFT collection by market capitalization, announced Thursday evening that it's launching a new token called PENGU on the Solana blockchain before the year ends. The announcement comes in as Pudgy Penguins' NFT collection floor price hit a new all-time high amid surging crypto market valuations. According to the project, it will distribute 88 billion PENGU tokens to NFT owners who have Pudgy Penguins, Lil Pudgys, Pudgy Rods, and other collections associated with t...