he Solana blockchain saw an unprecedented surge in activity over the weekend, driven by the launch of the TRUMP token. On Saturday, Donald Trump’s official token was issued on the network, catalyzing a significant increase in trading volumes and fees. According to DeFiLlama, Solana generated over $35 million in fees within a single day, a record-breaking milestone for the low-cost blockchain where transaction fees are typically a fraction of a cent.

The launch of the TRUMP token alone contributed to over $3 billion in trading volumes on Saturday and Sunday. Other tokens in the Solana ecosystem, such as Jupiter’s JUP, also experienced heightened interest from traders. This activity translated into a remarkable $14 million in revenue for the network over the same period.

The impact of this surge extended beyond trading volumes. Demand for Solana’s native token, SOL, skyrocketed, with trading volumes increasing from $3 billion on Thursday to over $26 billion within 24 hours. As a result, SOL saw weekly gains of more than 46%, cementing its position as a significant player in the cryptocurrency market.

The TRUMP token’s launch also triggered technical challenges due to the extraordinary network activity. Ecosystem applications like Jito and Phantom encountered delays as Phantom reported 8 million transactional requests per minute. Despite these issues, the disruptions were resolved swiftly, allowing users to execute over 10 million transactions and swap $1.25 billion in volume within a 24-hour timeframe.

Adding to the excitement, First Lady Melania Trump launched her own memecoin late Sunday, which caused the TRUMP token to dip 50% at one point. Despite this volatility, Solana’s robust performance has highlighted its growing appeal to both traders and developers, particularly in the wake of its recovery from the FTX collapse in 2022.