By
Svetlana Soroka
April 26th, 2024
Slerf (SLERF) core developer informed the community that over 50k SOL had been incinerated by mistake, but the team intends to make the presale investors whole again.
Solana-based meme coin Slerf (SLERF) announced on Monday, March 18, that pre-sale investors will not receive the much-anticipated airdrop as scheduled. Through an announcement on the X platform, the Slerf core developer noted that the 50k SOL, worth more than $10 million, had been obliterated in a careless operation.
The SLERF tokens were sent to a null Solana address as the developer attempted to clear backlogs from other tokens sent by early investors. The irreversible damage sent shockwaves to the entire crypto market but quickly turned into a positive result.
Moreover, the remaining 500 million SLERF tokens obtained more value with the core developer lacking minting capabilities to refund the presale investors.
SLERF Rises Against All Odds
The rise of the SLERF meme coin after the unexpected incident has attracted notable attention from whale traders. According to on-chain data analytics firm Lookonchain, a crypto whale spent around 9,894 SOL to purchase SLERF after the incident and quickly sold the meme coin for 25k SOL. As a result, the trader made a quick $3 million profit in less than 30 minutes.
Unbelievable!😱
This guy made ~$3.02M in just 12 minutes by trading $SLERF!
He spent 9,894 $SOL($1.98M) to buy 69.74M $SLERF immediately after opening trading.
Then sold it for 25,001 $SOL($5M) within 12 minutes.
Making 15,107 $SOL($3.02M) in just 12 minutes!… pic.twitter.com/KyKkefVdKj
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) March 18, 2024
The SLERF developers have vowed to make all presale investors whole again, which could mean higher transaction tax or participation of angel investors.
Meanwhile, SLERF’s price gained more than 1000 percent in the past 24 hours fueled by heightened speculation. According to the latest market data provided through Coingecko, SLERF saw its average daily trading volume spike to over $1 billion, with its fully diluted valuation around $620 million at the time of this writing.
Consequently, the SLERF meme coin is now ranked 215 by market cap and the fourth largest meme coin on the Solana network.
Solana Thrives with Meme Coins
The Solana network has grown to a reputable layer one (L1) ecosystem with more than $4.2 billion in Total Value Locked (TVL) and around $3 billion in stablecoins market cap. The Solan-based meme coins – led by Bonk (BONK), dogwifhat (WIF), BOOK OF MEME (BOME), Slerf (SLERF), and Myro (MYRO) among many others – have grown to more than $6.8 billion in market cap.
The palpable growth of the Solana ecosystem has helped the native token SOL rally more than 34 percent in the last week. Consequently, the SOL price has rallied above $200 for the first time since the onset of the 2022 crypto bear market.
$SOL: There is going to prob going to be a pullback somewhere in the $200-$250s but I don't know how deep it's going to be. Still bullish as hell on this one this cycle, it's the best chain for retail (evidence of memes). Prob $500+ in 2024. pic.twitter.com/5FMd4Bxycg
— Altcoin Sherpa (@AltcoinSherpa) March 17, 2024
With the heightened demand for Solana-based meme coins from crypto whale traders, analysts believe the SOL price will reach a new all-time high soon.