Update March 17, 1 pm UTC: This article has been updated to add information about the judicial suspension.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov said the company had always met and “exceeded” its legal obligations in moderation, cooperation and fighting crime. 

On March 17, the Telegram founder posted an update on the messaging application, saying he was already back in Dubai after spending months in France. Durov said the process is still ongoing but added that it “feels great to be home.”

Media platform TASS reported that French authorities have “suspended judicial control obligations” of Durov for three weeks. Citing sources in the French prosecutor’s office, media outlet TASS reported that the agency said judicial control in relation to Durov was suspended from March 15 to April 7.

Judicial control suspension means that court hearings or legal proceedings involving Durov will be delayed temporarily. It also pauses the potential enforcement of court decisions and suspends legal restrictions on the executive. The Telegram founder will likely be required to come back to France after the pause. 

Company “exceeded” legal obligations

The post follows reports that the Telegram founder was allowed to leave France and return home. On March 15, a report citing anonymous sources said the executive had departed from France after getting approval from a French court to leave the country. 

Durov was arrested in Paris on Aug. 24 as part of an investigation into the instant messaging app. The executive was accused of running a platform that allowed illegal activities. 

Pavel Durov shared a post on Telegram after returning to Dubai. Source: Pavel Durov

In his post, Durov thanked the judges for allowing him to return to Dubai. The executive also expressed gratitude toward his lawyers and team, saying that they could show that the company had surpassed what was legally required of them. He wrote: 

“I want to thank the investigative judges for letting this happen, as well as my lawyers and team for their relentless efforts in demonstrating that, when it comes to moderation, cooperation, and fighting crime, for years, Telegram not only met but exceeded its legal obligations.”

Durov also thanked his supporters across the globe. He said he was grateful for the community’s support throughout the ordeal. “There is nothing our billion-strong community can’t overcome,” Durov added. 

Related: Free speech and online privacy: Pavel Durov’s rise to the top

Durov’s return to Dubai fuels Toncoin rally

Durov’s release fueled a rally for Toncoin (TON), the native crypto asset of The Open Network, a project heavily integrated with Telegram. On March 15, Toncoin surged from $2.93 to $3.46, reaching a seven-day high of $3.59 on March 17. At the time of writing, the crypto asset is trading at $3.41, according to CoinGecko. 

TON Society, a grassroots movement supporting the TON blockchain, celebrated Durov’s release. The group said they’ve stood behind the executive since his arrest, praising the Telegram founder’s “commitment to freedom of speech and transparency.”

The group previously wrote an open letter to French authorities, urging them to release the Telegram founder. 

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Update March 17, 1 pm UTC: This article has been updated to add information about the judicial suspension.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov said the company had always met and “exceeded” its legal obligations in moderation, cooperation and fighting crime. 

On March 17, the Telegram founder posted an update on the messaging application, saying he was already back in Dubai after spending months in France. Durov said the process is still ongoing but added that it “feels great to be home.”

Media platform TASS reported that French authorities have suspended judicial control of Durov for three weeks. Citing sources in the French prosecutor’s office, media outlet TASS reported that the agency’s interlocutor said judicial control in relation to Durov was suspended from March 15 to April 7.  

Judicial control suspension means that court hearings or legal proceedings involving Durov will be delayed temporarily. It also pauses the potential enforcement of court decisions and suspends legal restrictions on the executive. The Telegram founder will likely be required to come back to France after the pause. 

Telegram founder says company “exceeded” legal obligations

The post follows reports that the Telegram founder was allowed to leave France and return home. On March 15, a report citing anonymous sources said the executive had departed from France after getting approval from a French court to leave the country. 

Durov was arrested in Paris on Aug. 24 as part of an investigation into the instant messaging app. The executive was accused of running a platform that allowed illegal activities. 

Pavel Durov shared a post on Telegram after returning to Dubai. Source: Pavel Durov

In his post, Durov thanked the judges for allowing him to return to Dubai. The executive also expressed gratitude toward his lawyers and team, saying that they could show that the company had surpassed what was legally required of them. He wrote: 

“I want to thank the investigative judges for letting this happen, as well as my lawyers and team for their relentless efforts in demonstrating that, when it comes to moderation, cooperation, and fighting crime, for years, Telegram not only met but exceeded its legal obligations.”

Durov also thanked his supporters across the globe. He said he was grateful for the community’s support throughout the ordeal. “There is nothing our billion-strong community can’t overcome,” Durov added. 

Related: Free speech and online privacy: Pavel Durov’s rise to the top

Telegram founder’s return to Dubai fuels Toncoin rally

Durov’s release fueled a rally for Toncoin, the native crypto asset of The Open Network (TON), a project heavily associated with Telegram. On March 15, Toncoin surged from $2.93 to $3.46, reaching a seven-day high of $3.59 on March 17. At the time of writing, the crypto asset is trading at $3.41, according to CoinGecko. 

TON Society, a grassroots movement supporting the TON blockchain, celebrated Durov’s release. The group said they’ve stood behind the executive since his arrest, praising the Telegram founder’s “commitment to freedom of speech and transparency.”

The group previously wrote an open letter to French authorities, urging them to release the Telegram founder. 

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Cryptocurrency exchange-traded products (ETPs) continued seeing massive selling last week, recording the fifth week of outflows in a row, with $1.7 billion leaving the market. 

After seeing slightly softened outflows of $876 million in the previous week, crypto ETP liquidations accelerated during the past trading week, bringing the total five-week outflows to $6.4 billion, CoinShares reported on March 17.

The ongoing outflows have also marked the 17th straight day of outflows, the longest negative streak since CoinShares started records in 2015, CoinShares’ James Butterfill wrote.

Despite notable negative sentiment, year-to-date (YTD) inflows remain positive at $912 million, he added.

BTC ETP outflows: $5.4 billion in five weeks

After seeing $756 million outflows in the first week of March, Bitcoin (BTC) ETPs saw increased selling in the trading week from March 10 to March 14, seeing a further $978 million outflows.

The five-week selling streak brought total BTC ETP outflows to $5.4 billion, leaving just $612 million of YTD inflows by March 14.

Flows by asset (in millions of US dollars). Source: CoinShares

Both Ether (ETH) and Solana (SOL) ETPs saw $175 million and $2.2 million outflows, respectively. XRP (XRP) ETPs continued to go against the trend, seeing a further $1.8 million in inflows.

European 21Shares sees largest outflows

According to CoinShares data, European crypto ETP provider 21Shares recorded the largest liquidations among issuers last week, totaling $534 million of outflows.

Despite significant selling in Europe, the United States still saw the largest outflows among the analyzed regions, with $1.2 billion leaving its crypto ETP market.

Flows by issuer (in millions of US dollars). Source: CoinShares

BlackRock, the largest crypto holder among all the issuers, saw $401 million of outflows, with month-to-date outflows expanding to $594 million.

Related: Crypto market’s biggest risks in 2025: US recession, circular crypto economy

ProShares is the only tracked major issuer that still has $2 million of inflows MTD. ProShares is also one of three major issuers that managed to maintain inflows YTD by March 14, including firms such as BlackRock and ARK Invest.

Additionally, Binance saw almost all its assets under management wiped out by a seed investor exit, leaving just $15 million left, Butterfill noted.

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Brazilian lawmakers are considering new legislation that would officially authorize employers to pay salaries to employees using cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

Federal deputy Luiz Philippe de Orleans e Bragança has introduced a bill proposing regulation of crypto payments for wages, remunerations and labor benefits.

Filed on March 12, the bill PL 957/2025 legalizes voluntary and partial salary payments in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) while also requiring employers to proceed with a part of the pay in the national currency, the Brazilian real.

Preview of the draft bill PL 957/2025 by Luiz Philippe de Orleans e Bragança (translated via Google). Source: Camara.leg.br

Orleans-Braganza, a descendant of Brazil’s former royal family, is serving his second term as a federal deputy for São Paulo and supports Truth Social, the social media platform owned by US President Donald Trump.

Bitcoin may only account for 50% of a salary payout

In the proposed legislation, Orleans-Braganza asked lawmakers to prohibit employees from paying full salaries in crypto, capping such payments at 50%.

“The payment of salaries exclusively in virtual assets is prohibited,” except for cases involving expatriate employees or foreign workers, under the terms of regulations by the Central Bank of Brazil.

An excerpt from the proposed bill PL 957/2025 (translated via Google). Source: Camara.leg.br

The bill also allows full crypto payments by “independent service providers,” subject to certain contractual provisions.

Otherwise, the share of the payment in the Brazilian real may not be less than 50% of the employee’s total salary payout. 

The conversion of the amount paid into crypto must follow the exchange rate officially established by an institution authorized by the Central Bank of Brazil.

Reasons behind the bill

According to Orleans-Braganza, the introduction of crypto payment salaries in Brazil has the potential to boost the financial technology sector and attract crypto investment in the local economy.

Additionally, the measure “reinforces the principle of autonomy of will, allowing workers and employers greater freedom to decide on their contractual relations, without prejudice to fundamental guarantees,” the bill reads.

Related: Brazil fintech unicorn Meliuz adopts Bitcoin treasury strategy

The proposal aims to follow successful crypto payment implementation in many global jurisdictions, including Switzerland, Japan and Portugal, Orleans-Braganza mentioned, adding:

“In Japan, for example, legislation requires individual agreement between employer and employee, as well as specific guidelines for the conversion of the amounts paid. In Portugal, regulation brought flexibility and drove the adoption of virtual assets in the financial sector.”

While some global jurisdictions allow Bitcoin use in payments, many countries — like Turkey and Russia — prohibit citizens from using any cryptocurrency as a means of payment.

El Salvador — the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender in 2021 — allows voluntary payments in crypto but no longer allows tax payments and any government fees in crypto following a deal with the International Monetary Fund.

Separately from the crypto salary news in Brazil, the Brazilian government has recently pushed a new initiative to facilitate BRICS transactions using cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, according to a March 12 report by Valor International.

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Artificial intelligence agents need to prioritize their intrinsic utility, not the launch of their in-house native tokens to raise funds.

AI agent-related tokens have significantly declined over the past month, as their cumulative market capitalization decreased by over 21% to the current $27 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data.

While their continued decline may be part of the broader crypto market correction, another reason could be a lack of focus on intrinsic utility, according to Changpeng Zhao, the founder and former CEO of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.

30-day market cap chart of AI agent tokens. Source: CoinMarketCap

Zhao wrote in a March 17 X post:

“While crypto is the currency for AI, not every agent needs its own token. Agents can take fees in an existing crypto for providing a service.”

“Launch a coin only if you have scale. Focus on utility, not tokens,” he added.

Source: Changpeng Zhao

Zhao’s comments come during a significant downtrend for AI cryptocurrencies, which lost over 61% of their peak $70.4 billion market capitalization in the three months since they started to decline on Dec. 7.

AI agent tokens, market cap, 1-year chart. Source: Coinmarketcap

Numerous venture capital firms, including Pantera Capital and Dragonfly, are excited about the future of AI agents but have yet to invest in them, according to a panel discussion at Consensus 2025 in Hong Kong.

Related: 0G Foundation launches $88M fund for AI-powered DeFi agents

AI agents are performing autonomous blockchain transactions, exchange services

AI agents are gaining increasing interest thanks to their promise of increasing online productivity, streamlining decision-making processes and creating new financial opportunities.

AI agents are already executing autonomous transactions on the blockchain without direct human input.

The concept gained attention following a Dec. 16 post by Luna, an AI agent on Virtuals Protocol, which sought image-generation services.

LUNA virtual protocol, X post. Source: Luna

Luna also received an X response from STIX Protocol, another autonomous AI agent, which generated the requested images.

LUNA payments to STIX protocol. Source: Basescan

After the images were generated, Luna paid STIX Protocol’s AI agent $1.77 worth of VIRTUAL tokens on Dec. 16, onchain data shows.

Yet, some of the demand for AI agents has since faded, as Virtuals Protocol’s revenue fell 97%, Cointelegraph reported on Feb. 28.

Related: Libra, Melania creator’s ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ memecoin crashes 99%

Industry watchers foresee a year of significant upside for the emerging field of AI cryptocurrencies.

AI agents launch platform ai16z and decentralized trading protocol Hyperliquid are “poised for growth in 2025,” Alvin Kan, chief operating officer of Bitget Wallet, told Cointelegraph. “Emerging narratives like AI-driven investments, decentralized AI agents and tokenized assets hint at a tech-driven shift, though with added risk,” he said.

Magazine: ETH may bottom at $1.6K, SEC delays multiple crypto ETFs, and more: Hodler’s Digest, March 9 – 15

US President Donald Trump’s second ex-wife, Marla Maples, has shown support for ending the country’s case against early Bitcoin advocate Roger Ver, known as “Bitcoin Jesus.”

“Sharing more re [regarding] the call to dismiss the prosecution against Roger Ver,” Maples said in a March 16 X post, sharing a video created by an organization aimed at supporting Ver and tagging Trump, Elon Musk and US Attorney General Pam Bondi.

The Department of Justice charged Ver with mail fraud, tax evasion and filing false tax returns in April 2024, alleging he hid the amount of Bitcoin (BTC) he owned when he renounced his US citizenship in 2014 and defrauded the Internal Revenue Service out of $48 million by failing to report the gains he made through selling them.

Sharing more re the call to dismiss the prosecution against Roger Ver @PamBondi @elonmusk @realDonaldTrump @Davewarrington https://t.co/BckQwEXBW6

— marla maples (@itsmarlamaples) March 16, 2025

Maples and Trump met in the mid-1980s during his first marriage to Ivana Trump, and was his second wife from 1993 until 1999. She has long been involved with philanthropy and has advocated for multiple charities and causes.

She is seemingly still close to and supportive of Trump, who together have a daughter, Tiffany Trump. Maples attended Trump’s inauguration and told the London Evening Standard in July that she was “open to whatever way that I can serve” the then-presidential bidder.

Maples joins a host of high-profile figures calling to stop the prosecution of Ver, which includes Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and online black market Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht, who was facing a double life sentence in prison until Trump pardoned him in January.

Ver has appealed to Trump for a pardon, claiming he is being unfairly persecuted and is a victim of “lawfare.”

Neither Trump nor the White House has publicly acknowledged Ver’s plea, but Trump’s cost-cutting czar Musk said in a January X post that Ver “gave up his US citizenship. No pardon for Ver. Membership has its privileges.”

Related: Roger Ver’s Trump pardon plea: ‘Lawfare’ victim or tax evader? 

Ver was arrested in Spain at the time of the US indictment pending his extradition to the US but was later granted bail on the condition he remain in the country.

He moved to dismiss the government’s case in December, arguing the charges were unconstitutional, and the IRS’ “exit tax” for renounced citizens is “inscrutably vague” when applied to crypto.

Cointelegraph has contacted Maples for comment.

Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions 

US President Donald Trump’s second ex-wife, Marla Maples, has shown support for ending the country’s case against early Bitcoin advocate Roger Ver, known as “Bitcoin Jesus.”

“Sharing more re [regarding] the call to dismiss the prosecution against Roger Ver,” Maples said in a March 16 X post, sharing a video created by an organization aimed at supporting Ver and tagging Trump, Elon Musk and US Attorney General Pam Bondi.

The Department of Justice charged Ver with mail fraud, tax evasion and filing false tax returns in April 2024, alleging he hid the amount of Bitcoin (BTC) he owned when he renounced his US citizenship in 2014 and defrauded the Internal Revenue Service out of $48 million by failing to report the gains he made through selling them.

Sharing more re the call to dismiss the prosecution against Roger Ver @PamBondi @elonmusk @realDonaldTrump @Davewarrington https://t.co/BckQwEXBW6

— marla maples (@itsmarlamaples) March 16, 2025

Maples and Trump met in the mid-1980s during his first marriage to Ivana Trump, and was his second wife from 1993 until 1999. She has long been involved with philanthropy and has advocated for multiple charities and causes.

She is seemingly still close to and supportive of Trump, who together have a daughter, Tiffany Trump. Maples attended Trump’s inauguration and told the London Evening Standard in July that she was “open to whatever way that I can serve” the then-presidential bidder.

Maples joins a host of high-profile figures calling to stop the prosecution of Ver, which includes Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and online black market Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht, who was facing a double life sentence in prison until Trump pardoned him in January.

Ver has appealed to Trump for a pardon, claiming he is being unfairly persecuted and is a victim of “lawfare.”

Neither Trump nor the White House has publicly acknowledged Ver’s plea, but Trump’s cost-cutting czar Musk said in a January X post that Ver “gave up his US citizenship. No pardon for Ver. Membership has its privileges.”

Related: Roger Ver’s Trump pardon plea: ‘Lawfare’ victim or tax evader? 

Ver was arrested in Spain at the time of the US indictment pending his extradition to the US but was later granted bail on the condition he remain in the country.

He moved to dismiss the government’s case in December, arguing the charges were unconstitutional, and the IRS’ “exit tax” for renounced citizens is “inscrutably vague” when applied to crypto.

Cointelegraph has contacted Maples for comment.

Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions 

US President Donald Trump’s second ex-wife, Marla Maples, has shown support for ending the country’s case against early Bitcoin advocate Roger Ver, known as “Bitcoin Jesus.”

“Sharing more re [regarding] the call to dismiss the prosecution against Roger Ver,” Maples said in a March 16 X post, sharing a video created by an organization aimed at supporting Ver and tagging Trump, Elon Musk and US Attorney General Pam Bondi.

The Department of Justice charged Ver with mail fraud, tax evasion and filing false tax returns in April 2024, alleging he hid the amount of Bitcoin (BTC) he owned when he renounced his US citizenship in 2014 and defrauded the Internal Revenue Service out of $48 million by failing to report the gains he made through selling them.

Sharing more re the call to dismiss the prosecution against Roger Ver @PamBondi @elonmusk @realDonaldTrump @Davewarrington https://t.co/BckQwEXBW6

— marla maples (@itsmarlamaples) March 16, 2025

Maples and Trump met in the mid-1980s during his first marriage to Ivana Trump, and was his second wife from 1993 until 1999. She has long been involved with philanthropy and has advocated for multiple charities and causes.

She is seemingly still close to and supportive of Trump, who together have a daughter, Tiffany Trump. Maples attended Trump’s inauguration and told the London Evening Standard in July that she was “open to whatever way that I can serve” the then-presidential bidder.

Maples joins a host of high-profile figures calling to stop the prosecution of Ver, which includes Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and online black market Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht, who was facing a double life sentence in prison until Trump pardoned him in January.

Ver has appealed to Trump for a pardon, claiming he is being unfairly persecuted and is a victim of “lawfare.”

Neither Trump nor the White House has publicly acknowledged Ver’s plea, but Trump’s cost-cutting czar Musk said in a January X post that Ver “gave up his US citizenship. No pardon for Ver. Membership has its privileges.”

Related: Roger Ver’s Trump pardon plea: ‘Lawfare’ victim or tax evader? 

Ver was arrested in Spain at the time of the US indictment pending his extradition to the US but was later granted bail on the condition he remain in the country.

He moved to dismiss the government’s case in December, arguing the charges were unconstitutional, and the IRS’ “exit tax” for renounced citizens is “inscrutably vague” when applied to crypto.

Cointelegraph has contacted Maples for comment.

Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions 

US President Donald Trump’s second ex-wife, Marla Maples, has shown support for ending the country’s case against early Bitcoin advocate Roger Ver, known as “Bitcoin Jesus.”

“Sharing more re [regarding] the call to dismiss the prosecution against Roger Ver,” Maples said in a March 16 X post, sharing a video created by an organization aimed at supporting Ver and tagging Trump, Elon Musk and US Attorney General Pam Bondi.

The Department of Justice charged Ver with mail fraud, tax evasion and filing false tax returns in April 2024, alleging he hid the amount of Bitcoin (BTC) he owned when he renounced his US citizenship in 2014 and defrauded the Internal Revenue Service out of $48 million by failing to report the gains he made through selling them.

Maples and Trump met in the mid-1980s during his first marriage to Ivana Trump, and was his second wife from 1993 until 1999. She has long been involved with philanthropy and has advocated for multiple charities and causes.

She is seemingly still close to and supportive of Trump, who together have a daughter, Tiffany Trump. Maples attended Trump’s inauguration and told the London Evening Standard in July that she was “open to whatever way that I can serve” the then-presidential bidder.

Maples joins a host of high-profile figures calling to stop the prosecution of Ver, which includes Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and online black market Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht, who was facing a double life sentence in prison until Trump pardoned him in January.

Ver has appealed to Trump for a pardon, claiming he is being unfairly persecuted and is a victim of “lawfare.”

Neither Trump nor the White House has publicly acknowledged Ver’s plea, but Trump’s cost-cutting czar Musk said in a January X post that Ver “gave up his US citizenship. No pardon for Ver. Membership has its privileges.”

Related: Roger Ver’s Trump pardon plea: ‘Lawfare’ victim or tax evader? 

Ver was arrested in Spain at the time of the US indictment pending his extradition to the US but was later granted bail on the condition he remain in the country.

He moved to dismiss the government’s case in December, arguing the charges were unconstitutional, and the IRS’ “exit tax” for renounced citizens is “inscrutably vague” when applied to crypto.

Cointelegraph has contacted Maples for comment.

Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions 

Layer-1 blockchain Solana is marking its fifth anniversary since launching its mainnet in 2020. Over the years, it has become one of the most active blockchain networks by transaction volume and is among the few cryptocurrencies proposed for inclusion in a US digital asset reserve.

Since the first Solana block was built on March 16, 2020, the network has processed more than 408 billion transactions and nearly $1 trillion worth of value on decentralized exchanges — establishing itself as one of the industry’s leading layer-1 blockchains.

Source: Solana

Here are some of the Solana ecosystem’s most notable milestones since it was launched by Solana Labs CEO Anatoly Yakovenko and Solana co-founder Raj Gokal to the public in 2020.

Solana was born just as the COVID-19 pandemic hit

While Solana’s origins can be traced back to late 2017 when Yakovenko released a white paper outlining a timekeeping method for blockchains called “Proof of History,” but Solana wasn’t launched until March 2020 — right as the world started to enact emergency measures against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The high-speed, low-cost layer 1 Solana blockchain launch was assisted by crypto-focused venture capital firm Multicoin Capital, leading a financing round for Solana, which brought in roughly $20 million worth of private token sales in July 2019.

Source: OKX

Additional funding poured in soon after, and within 20 months of launching, Solana was hailed as a potential “Ethereum killer” as it soared to a $77.8 billion market cap at the peak of the 2020-2021 bull cycle.

Solana hit hard by 2022 bear market, FTX collapse — but bounced back

The 2022 bear market, coupled with the catastrophic collapse of crypto exchange FTX, tanked Solana’s market cap to $3 billion — a whopping 96% fall from its previous peak — by late 2022.

Sam Bankman-Fried’s former firm purchased around 58 million Solana tokens — currently worth $7.4 billion — from Solana Labs and the Solana Foundation. Solana was “by far the most serious” layer 1 that FTX was helping scale, Fortune said in an April 2022 report.

FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Nov. 11, 2022, and is still in the process of unlocking hundreds of millions of dollars worth of staked Solana tokens from FTX’s wallets. Solana’s price fell to $8.30 on Dec. 29, 2022.

Despite the setback, 2023 marked the start of Solana’s impressive comeback, which saw its market cap rise nearly 50-fold from $3 billion to over $140 billion by Jan. 19, 2025.

Memecoin craze takes Solana adoption to the next level

One of the biggest reasons behind Solana’s comeback was the crypto memecoin craze that took place between late 2023 and 2024 — a $100 billion market that Solana dominated.

Several Solana memecoins such as Bonk (BONK), Dogwifhat (WIF), Fartcoin (FARTCOIN) and Pudgy Penguins (PENGU) rose to multibillion-dollar market caps in early 2024 — around the time Solana memecoin launchpad Pump.fun became one of the most popular crypto platforms for memecoin lovers. 

Pump.fun alone has raked in over $540 million in revenue over the last 12 months and even surpassed Ethereum over 24-hour intervals at some points.

Solana is home to many of the largest memecoins by market cap. Source: CoinGecko

No Solana memecoin, however, drew more attention than the Official Trump (TRUMP) token launched by now-US President Donald Trump’s inner circle on Jan. 17 — which soared to a $14.6 billion market within two days before it came crashing down.

The TRUMP memecoin briefly pushed Solana decentralized finance (DeFi) total value locked to $14.2 billion, trailing only Ethereum, DefiLlama data shows. 

happy 5th birthday @solana 🥳congratulations on 5 years of building & shipping the greatest tech to ever grace our industry 🫶manlets on top 🎉 pic.twitter.com/Clkv3eEpn9

— pump.fun (@pumpdotfun) March 16, 2025

The Solana blockchain has also become the third largest adopter of stablecoins behind Ethereum and Tron.

Solana unveils the first major crypto phone

In May 2023, Solana released the first major crypto phone, called “Solana Saga.”

Sales for the Android device with the built-in crypto wallet started slow but skyrocketed after a 30 million BONK airdrop enticed memecoin enthusiasts to make a purchase.

Solana also unveiled a newer, shinier Solana “Seeker” smartphone last September to better facilitate memecoin trading and accrue token rewards.

While most reviewers say the Solana phones lack the technical capabilities of an iPhone or Google Pixel, Solana has seen over 140,000 presales for the two products.

The Solana Seeker phone is currently priced at $500.

Hardware specifications of the Solana Seeker phone. Source: Solana Mobile

Solana, however, has also been plagued with several network outages over its five-year span — halting block production for 20 hours in some instances. 

Solana validators have been forced to restart the network on several occasions when network activity surged.

A new independent validator client called Firedancer is scheduled to go live on Solana’s mainnet sometime in 2025 to address Solana’s client diversity woes. It has been touted as a superior solution to “QUIC” — a Google-developed data transfer protocol that has failed to process transactions on Solana over a dozen times.

Solana set to be included in Trump’s Digital Asset Stockpile

The Trump administration says it will include Solana in the Digital Asset Stockpile, which it confirmed through an executive order on March 7. It is the youngest cryptocurrency on the list.

The Digital Asset Stockpile will initially use cryptocurrency forfeited in government criminal cases.

Related: Solana proposal to cut inflation rate by up to 80% fails to pass

The US doesn’t appear to hold Solana, according to crypto analytics firm Arkham Intelligence. However, the White House said it would complete an audit of crypto asset holdings.

Trump initially announced that Solana would become a US reserve asset on March 2.

Source: Donald Trump

However, he later established a Bitcoin-only reserve and the Digital Asset Stockpile, which looks like it will include Solana in addition to Ether (ETH), XRP (XRP) and Cardano (ADA).

Solana is currently priced at $128.17 — the sixth-largest cryptocurrency with a market cap of $64.5 billion. Solana is down 56% from its all-time high as the broader market continues to navigate through recession fears and weakened market sentiment of late.

Magazine: Comeback 2025: Is Ethereum poised to catch up with Bitcoin and Solana?