Vine Founder Launches Memecoin Amidst Elon Musk Acquisition Rumors

Solana’s meme economy is witnessing unprecedented volume. Following the $TRUMP memecoin launch, hundreds of thousands of DeFi traders now prowl the trenches, eagerly looking for the next 100x play.

Elon Musk, crypto’s favorite KOL, stoked the flames earlier this week. An errant Musk 𝕏 post brought Vine’s elusive founder out of hiding, inspiring another high profile memecoin launched that minted overnight millionaires.

What drove $VINE to a $500M market cap and how high can Solana’s monthly DEX volume go before the end of the month?

$VINE Surges to $500M

After a two year hiatus from 𝕏 (formerly Twitter), Vine founder Rus re-emerged on social media to launch a memecoin during the biggest week in DeFi history. 

Perhaps inspired by Elon Musk’s claim that he was ‘looking into’ bringing back the short-form video platform, Rus launched $VINE via pump.fun on January 23rd. 

Despite the original platform’s failure to find PMF in the early 2010’s, $VINE exploded in onchain markets. Reaching an all-time high of $500M, $VINE witnessed over $1B in trading volume, with early buyers netting astronomical multiples on their holdings.

In a bid to shore up trust and support from traders, Rus committed to locking all $VINE tokens held by the dev wallet until 4.20 PM on 4/20. Rus has teased further surprises for the viral memecoin, hinting he was “something sweet” planned to celebrate the app’s birthday, which happens to fall on January 24. 

Speculators are hopeful that Rus’s surprise could have something to do with 𝕏 CEO Elon Musk’s hint earlier this week about bringing the Vine app back to prominence.

Elon Musk ‘Looking Into’ Bringing Back Vine

Long before TikTok burst into the App Store and took over social media, early 2000’s short-form video enjoyers had Vine. Despite its brief moment in the spotlight, the TikTok predecessor eventually faded to obscurity after being acquired by Twitter for $30M in 2012.

On January 19, Elon Musk hinted he was exploring the possibility of reintroducing Vine to the internet. These revelations come amid growing uncertainty around TikTok’s survival in the U.S., despite Donald Trump’s efforts to forestall the platform’s ban.

Solana Monthly DEX Volume Cracks $200B

Buoyed by the $TRUMP memecoin launch, Solana’s DEX monthly DEX volume has shattered records and shows no sign of slowing down. At its current pace, Solana is on track to double the industry’s previous record, held by BNB Chain when it recorded $140B in onchain trading volume in May 2021.

Based on DefiLlama data recorded this past week, Solana DeFi has routinely surpassed over $12B in daily trading volume. 

With 7 days remaining in January, Solana DEX voume is projected to crack $300B by the end of the month, marking what was easily the biggest month in DeFi history.

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