Solana’s Bonk Surpassed $1 billion Market Cap, Ranks 69th Largest Coin

2023-12-28, 13:44

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![](https://gimg2.gateimg.com/image/article/1703769779RDZZ 1.jpeg)

## TL; DR

On 14 December the <a href="/price/solana-sol" target="_blank" class="blog_inner_link">Solana</a> Bonk token reached a value of $0.00001755.

The recent spike in Bonk price has resulted in an increase in the demand for Solana Saga.

Bonk’s listing on Coinbase and Binance pushed its price up.

## Introduction

One striking difference between cryptocurrencies and other investment assets is their volatility which may lead to much loss or profit depending on the direction of the price movements.  Changes in the regulatory environment, technological advancements and market sentiment may lead to sharp price fluctuations.

Solana’s bonk is <a href="/price/harmony-one" target="_blank" class="blog_inner_link">one crypto</a> asset that recorded a sharp price change within a short period. In this analysis, we discuss the recent surge in [the value of meme coin Bonk](https://www.gate.io/trade/BONK_USDT "the value of meme coin Bonk"). We shall also assess some factors that led to its price rise.

## Solana Bonk Reaches 69th Place on CoinGecko

The [Solana-based meme coin Bonk](https://www.gate.io/learn/articles/what-is-bonk/388 "Solana-based meme coin Bonk") reached a new milestone when it traded at $0.00001755 on 14 December 2023. As a result of such a price move its market capitalization surpassed $1 billion and became the 69th ranked cryptocurrency according to Coingecko.

During the past weeks the Bonk price has been trending reaching new heights like the <a href="/price/solana-sol" target="_blank" class="blog_inner_link">Solana crypto</a>.  Data on [CoinGecko](https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/bonk "CoinGecko") shows that the [price of Bonk Inu](https://www.gate.io/price/bonk-bonk "price of Bonk Inu") increased by over 821% during a period that stretched from mid-November to 14 December.

Despite its recent rally the price of [Bonk](https://www.gate.io/futures_trade/USDT/BONK_USDT "Bonk") remains relatively low as it is trading at $0.00001904, after losing value by 38% within the last 7 days. The following diagram shows its recent price movement.

![](https://gimg2.gateimg.com/image/article/1703770554SOL 1.png)
Bonk Inu Price Movement – CoinGecko

Apart from experiencing a strong price rise on 14 December, the trading volume of Bonk Inu was high for a period of over 7 days thereafter. It is important to note that the Bonk crypto was launched in 2022 when the crypto sector was in misery following the FTX collapse. During that period the SOL price dropped from $260 to about $8 due to its association with FTX and its sister company Alameda Research.

## Bonk Airdrop

After its launch there was a generous Bonk airdrop to increase the number of its holders. First, Solana developers who completed a form located in the LamportDAO community received 25 billion tokens each, worth $300 at that time.

In all, the LamportDAO developers shared 5% of the total token supply. Some of these developers sold their tokens while others have held them up to now. The interesting thing is that every developer that has held on to the 250 million Bonk Inu won’t regret as they are now worth around $500,000.

Notably, many members of the LamportDAO community who include artists, NFT collectors and Solana DeFi traders also received free Solana’s Bonk tokens as part of the airdrop.

## Bonk Inu Performs Well within a Depressed NFT market

The NFT market is not performing at its best since 2022. Data on Kaiko shows that the trading volumes of most memecoins are far below their all-time-highs, although they are above their two-third levels. During early December the trading volume of the top 6 memecoins was just above $9 billion.

![](https://gimg2.gateimg.com/image/article/1703770627SOL 2.png)
Meme Tokens Trading Volume - Kaiko

The sudden spike in Bonk price and trading volume is surprising considering that the market sentiment for the Solana blockchain was at its lowest point at the beginning of 2023. Remarkably, the Bonk price performance correlates to that of the Solana token whose value surged significantly during the past three months.

## Factors that have Contributed to the Solana Bonk Rally

We have witnessed a strong revival of the Bonk Inu in recent weeks. Several factors contributed to this rally, especially the listing on Coinbase and Binance. Binance, the world’s number one cryptocurrency exchange, announced on 15 December that it would list Bonk Inu, paired with USDT, FDUSD, and TRY.

The investors started withdrawing Bonk on 16 December. Further to this, Binance promised to make Bonk a borrowable asset on its Isolated Margin program. However, soon after listing the token Binance warned its users that the Bonk price may be highly volatile.

[Posting on its blog it said](https://www.binance.com/en/support/announcement/binance-will-list-bonk-bonk-with-seed-tag-applied-1592b7a6ec9a408daf4b778f50ab1ca6 "Posting on its blog it said"), “BONK is a relatively new token that poses a higher than normal risk, and as such will likely be subject to high price volatility. Please ensure that you exercise sufficient risk management, have done your own research in regards to BONK’s fundamentals, and fully understand the project before opting to trade the token.”

The price of Solana’s Bonk also rose sharply after Coinbase listed it. In fact, the Bonk price surged by 40% within the first week of December, resulting in a YTD of 850%. The next diagram shows the spike in the Bonk price following its listing on Coinbase.

![](https://gimg2.gateimg.com/image/article/1703770709SOL 3.png)
Bonk Price Spike after Coinbase Listing - Kaiko

As <a href="/price/the-graph-grt" target="_blank" class="blog_inner_link">The Graph</a> shows, the value of Bonk spiked soon after Coinbase listed it. From that period it remained higher than before.

The other factor that might have contributed to the rally is the general meme frenzy. Some of the leading meme coins like <a href="/price/shiba-inu-shib" target="_blank" class="blog_inner_link">Shiba Inu</a> and <a href="/price/dogecoin-doge" target="_blank" class="blog_inner_link">Dogecoin</a> have been performing well during the same period. Therefore, some meme coin enthusiasts might have purchased Bonk due to fear of missing out (FOMO).

The recent Bonk price rally has resulted in Bonk Inu overtaking the PEPE coin in terms of market capitalization. Currently, Bonk with a market capitalization of over $1 billion is ranked number 60. In contrast, PEPE meme coin has a market capitalization of about $638 million and ranked number 104 as the next picture shows.

![](https://gimg2.gateimg.com/image/article/1703770743SOL 4.png)
Meme Coin Ranking - CoinGecko

As the table shows, Bonk token is currently ranked higher than PEPE coin.

## Solana Phone Sales Skyrocket

The Bonk Inu rally has also triggered high sales for Saga Phone. The Saga phone is Solana's blockchain powered smartphone with special features for the users to store cryptocurrencies on its hardware. What is also noteworthy is that every Solana Saga buyer is entitled to a 30 million Bonk airdrop.

Nonetheless, only the users who download the Bonk application from Saga's crypto-forward custom app store are entitled to the airdrop. Due to the airdrop the Solana smartphone demand surges as the buyers aim to benefit from Bonk’s rising value.

Currently, the value of the 30 million Bonk token airdrop is $700 while the Solana Saga price is $599. Already, Solana CEO, [Anatoly Yakovenko](https://x.com/aeyakovenko/status/1735427878316323276?s=20 "Anatoly Yakovenko"), has hinted on raising the price of the smartphone.

Pertaining to the recent saga phone price surge Solana co-founder Raj Gokal [tweeted](https://x.com/rajgokal/status/1735381977250054548?s=20 "tweeted") "10x'd in the past 48 hours, and are now on track to sell out before the New Year." The saga phones are even selling for higher values on online marketplaces like eBay where they are fetching between [$2,000](https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=solana+saga&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1 "$2,000") and $5,000.

When they were launched the saga smartphones cost $1,000 each. However, the price was slashed to $599 in August 2023 due to low demand. Now, due to their rising demand Solana suggests limiting the number of smartphones a household may purchase.

## Conclusion

The value of the Solana’s bonk reached $0.00001755 on 14 December resulting in a higher demand for the saga phones than before. As a result [of the recent Bonk price rise](https://www.gate.io/price-prediction/bonk-bonk "of the recent Bonk price rise") the token has overtaken PEPE in terms of global ranking. Bonk is currently ranked number 60 while PEPE sits at 104.

## FAQs about Solana’s Bonk

### What is Bonk?

Bonk is a Solana based meme coin whose project’s mascot is a Shiba Inu dog. Solana has been airdropping Bonk to individuals including NFT creators and developers. People who also purchase the Solana Saga get the airdrop.

Read also: [How to buy BONK on Gate.io](https://www.gate.io/how-to-buy/bonk-bonk "How to buy BONK on Gate.io")

### What is Saga smartphone?

Saga smartphone is a smartphone that runs on Android and features a 120Hz AMOLED screen, a 50MP camera and has a storage of up to 1TB. People can store their digital assets in its hardware.

<div class="blog-details-info">
<div>Author:** Mashell C.**, Gate.io Researcher
<div class="info-tips">\*This article represents only the views of the researcher and does not constitute any investment suggestions.
<div>\*Gate.io reserves all rights to this article. Reposting of the article will be permitted provided Gate.io is referenced. In all cases, legal action will be taken due to copyright infringement.
</div>