Solana Validators Earn $25.8M as TRUMP and MELANIA Memecoins Drive Record Activity
Solana validators saw a historic surge in earnings, collecting over 100,000 SOL (worth approximately $25.8 million) in fees and tips, driven by intense trading in the TRUMP and MELANIA tokens.
The most significant influx occurred on Jan. 20, with 87,000 SOL flowing to validators, spurred by the TRUMP rally followed by growing interest in MELANIA. The uptick in activity led to 24.7 million transaction bundles being processed, demonstrating the high demand for transaction prioritization during this period.
Out of Solana’s 4.5 million daily active users, 1.5 million were unique tippers, reflecting a growing interest in token sniping on decentralized platforms like Meteora and Orca. Tippers are users or bots who include additional fees to ensure that their transactions are processed faster by validators.
In the Solana network, transaction bundles are collections of transactions grouped together and sent to validators for processing. By incentivizing validators with higher tips, users can ensure their transactions are prioritized, especially during periods of high network activity.
The surge in trading activity also temporarily boosted passive income for Solana stakers to 7.14% annually, with network inflation falling to under 5%. As of Wednesday, the TRUMP token was trading at $42, marking a 25% gain in the past 24 hours, while MELANIA saw slight losses, trading at $4.
This memecoin-driven activity highlights the growing role of speculative tokens in driving network utilization, validator rewards, and broader adoption of the Solana ecosystem.
