Anatoly Yakovenko, CEO of Solana Labs, engaged in a debate with Base creator Jesse Pollak regarding the fundamental value of memecoins and NFTs. Their discussion captured the attention of the cryptocurrency community.
I’ve said this for years. Memecoins and NFTs are digital slop and have no intrinsic value. Like a mobile game loot box. People spend $150b a year on mobile gaming.
— toly 🇺🇸 (@aeyakovenko) July 27, 2025
“I’ve been saying for years that memecoins and NFTs are digital slop without real value,” Yakovenko wrote.
The Solana co-founder compared these assets to loot boxes in mobile games, which generate revenue for developers but are often criticized for exploiting users. According to him, the value of “funny coins” and non-fungible tokens is driven solely by market demand.
Pollak countered, emphasizing that their value lies in the content itself.
the content itself is valuable. ads are a way to monetize that value. but the content itself is valuable. just like a painting is fundamentally valuable, regardless of whether you charge people at the museum to see it.
— jesse.base.eth (@jessepollak) July 27, 2025
“The content itself is valuable. Just like a painting in a museum, for which people pay to view,” stated the Base creator.
Community Reaction
Users criticized the statements of the Solana co-founder, accusing him of a dismissive attitude towards his own community. Crypto enthusiast Karbon called Yakovenko’s stance on “funny coins” hypocritical.
I’m not a huge fan of how Vitalik handled memecoins (nuking them in 1 clip anytime someone sent them to his wallet) but I find Toly’s approach much more distasteful, actively promoting them constantly while believing they’re worthless https://t.co/bl64hKZp4b
— karbon 🐺🦊 (@basedkarbon) July 28, 2025
“I’m not particularly fond of how Vitalik deals with memecoins (simply destroying tokens in one click when someone sends them to his wallet). But I find Toly [Yakovenko]’s approach much less acceptable – he constantly promotes these coins while believing they’re worthless,” he wrote.
Memecoins as the Foundation of Solana’s Economy
During the debate with Pollak, Yakovenko acknowledged that Solana would not have achieved its current success without “funny coins.” Two of the largest platforms for generating memecoins, LetsBonk and Pump.fun, operate on this network and actively compete for leadership in the sector.
“Funny coins” bring significant profit to Solana. According to Syndica, in June they accounted for 62% of all revenue from dapps on the network.
In the first half of 2025, the project earned $1.6 billion thanks to memecoins. Platforms Pump.fun and LetsBonk played a significant role in this.
On July 24, the Solana network increased block capacity by 20% to 60 million compute units (CU). Following the news, the price of SOL exceeded $200.