Decentral Block Post

The Solana memecoin frenzy continues as a trader turns $226,000 into well over $1.6 million by gambling on a token with a beanie-wearing dog as its mascot. 

Between Dec. 13 and 15, a crypto trader bought over 19 million Dogwifhat (WIF) tokens, a dog-themed memecoin, as it debuted on the markets within the Solana network. According to blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain, the trader bought the tokens at an average price of $0.01137. Currently, the tokens’ total value hovers at around $1.69 million, making the trader about $1.47 million in profits within five days. 

As a new wave of interest hits the Solana ecosystem, memecoins based on the network have started to deliver massive gains. On Dec. 8, a dog-themed memecoin called Bonk (BONK) became the third-largest memecoin by market capitalization, joining fellow dog-themed memecoins Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Dogecoin (DOGE) in the top three and overtaking Pepecoin (PEPE), the frog-themed memecoin. 

Bonk’s price jumped by 370% in the 30 days leading to Dec. 11, going from $0.0000028 to $0.00002 at the time of writing. The token outpaced the growth of fellow dog memecoins SHIB and DOGE, which grew 20% and 35% in the same period. 

Related: Trader allegedly saw over 5,000x gains after Ankr protocol hack

Bitcoin (BTC) starts a new week in risky territory as sell-offs from whales mark a change in mood.

The latest weekly close has done little to comfort nervous traders as a pause in “up only” BTC price activity continues.

With just two weeks to go until the yearly candle concludes, the countdown is on — together with the pressure — across risk assets.

Macro data releases — key short-term volatility catalysts — are set to keep coming for the remainder of December, with United States gross domestic product (GDP) figures due as markets digest last week’s moves by the Federal Reserve.

It seems as if a “Santa rally” is less and less on the cards for Bitcoin at present. As high fees leave a bitter taste in hodlers’ mouths, commentators suggest refocusing on next month’s potential spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) approval.

Blockchain-based lending has regained momentum in 2023, with the value of active tokenized private credit now sitting at $582 million — a staggering 128% increase from a year ago.

While still far from its peak of $1.5 billion in June 2022, according to data from real-world asset loan tracker RWA.xyz, the resurgence could signal that loan-seekers are looking for blockchain-based alternatives to traditional financiers amid a recent rise in interest rates.

The current average percentage rate is 9.64% for blockchain-based credit protocols, while financiers have been offering small business bank loan interest rates between 5.75% and 11.91%, according to a Dec. 1 report by NerdWallet.

The loans being taken out aren’t small either. RWA.xyz has tracked $4.5 billion in blockchain-based loans across 1,804 deals, which means the average loan comes out at about $2.5 million.

One of the most noteworthy loan-seekers of late is United Kingdom-based asset management firm Fasanara Capital, which took out a $38.3 million loan from Clearpool at a sub-7% base annual percentage yield (APY).

A Solana Saga phone appears to have sold for as much as $5,000 on eBay — more than eight times its retail cost — after a frenzy to pick up a free memecoin airdrop caused the devices to sell out on the official website for the first time.

According to a Dec. 16 listing on the online marketplace eBay, two unopened, in-box phones have recently sold, listed for $5,000 or “best offer,” while another device has sold for $3,316 or “best offer.”

An additional 20 devices managed to sell for over $2,000 over the weekend, a more than $1,400 markup on the original $599 price tag on the Solana Mobile website.

Since the device launched on May 8, each new Saga phone has come with a free 30 million Bonk (BONK) token airdrop. Last week, traders began noticing that a price surge in Bonk meant that the free airdrop had become more valuable than the device itself, causing the phone to sell out as of Dec. 16.

Buyers of these scalped Saga phones are likely a bet that the price of the memecoin will continue to appreciate even further. In the last 30 days, Bonk surged nearly 800% as the token gained mass traction among memecoin enthusiasts and opportunistic traders.