Mithat Can Kartlaşmış 
Despite the concerns voiced by industry leaders, Solana meme coin pre-sales continue to attract significant attention.
Ki Young Ju, the founder and CEO of CryptoQuant, expressed his concerns about the increase in meme coin sales. In particular, projects like Slerf and pre-sales like ‘areyoustupid.sol’ experienced notable growth on the Solana blockchain, leading to increased fees and transaction volume.
Ju, whose company specializes in crypto chain and market data, used social media platform X to convey his worries. Emphasizing the harmful effect of meme coins on the crypto industry, he complained about how they overshadow legitimate projects trying to advance the industry.
“Meme coins pose a threat to the integrity of the crypto industry,” Ju said on X. “It’s disheartening to witness billion-dollar meme coins overshadowing dedicated teams working on real products to advance this sector. The pursuit of easy money, as the ICO bubble that burst in 2018 showed, does not promote sustainable progress in the industry.”
While Ju agreed with the argument that meme coins act as a gateway for new users to enter the crypto space, he questioned whether the financial risk of loss is an appropriate method to attract newcomers. He also expressed his worries about the lack of societal value that many projects contributed during the 2018 ICO frenzy, comparing it to a casino-like environment.
Ju concluded his comments on X by suggesting that meme coin supporters might not be familiar with the negative consequences of chasing quick profits in the crypto industry.
The ICO boom of 2018 refers to the period when numerous web3 projects conducted their initial coin offerings and exchanged digital assets for financial investments. While some projects like Ethereum conducted legitimate and successful ICOs in 2014, the proliferation of speculative or fraudulent offers in later periods contributed to the explosion.