Fr4ktal

[Benjamin Cowen @benjamincowen]

One of the main use cases of altcoins is to make the founders rich.

People forget about that in the bull market, then point fingers in the bear.

[Jupiter Wallet @jup_wallet]

How much money YOU lost in wallet fees:

$10K volume → $83 lost
≈ 2 months of gym

$100K volume → $830 lost
≈ A new iPhone

$1M volume → $8,300 lost
≈ A luxury Switzerland trip

Meanwhile Jupiter Wallet has the best swap execution & 42x lower fees

Why pay more to do less?

[The White Whale @WhiteWhaleLabs]

Dear Solana:

Solana is my favorite blockchain to transact on. It is still one of my favorite assets to trade. And when price is attractive, I still think there is a good case for accumulating it.

But I am less bullish on SOL’s next-cycle price targets than I was last time.

Last cycle, while everyone was calling for $500+ SOL, I publicly said I planned to be out before $250. Solana’s ATH came earlier than BTC and much of the market, but that call ended up being pretty damn close.

This time, unless I see a real fundamental shift, I will probably be lowering my targets. As things stand now, I would likely be out before $200 next cycle.

That is not because I hate Solana. I don’t.

But love is not a sound investment thesis.

The reasons are pretty straightforward.

Pump fun has historically made up a meaningful chunk of Solana volume, and I believe the pump (and broader memecoin casino) meta is dying. Maybe it evolves. Maybe something replaces it. But pretending that was not a significant driver of activity feels dishonest.

Solana DeFi has also taken a serious hit. A lot of Solana DeFi was tied into Drift, and the damage there impacted dozens of protocols. It hurt the broader perception of Solana DeFi.

Then there is the capital markets side.

A lot of Solana DATs were formed at some of the worst possible price points, then unwound, restructured, or de-risked at some of the worst possible price points.

CT forgets everything in 72 hours but institutional capital does not.

If a bunch of institutions got dragged into Solana exposure near the highs, then unwound for losses, that leaves a mark. It does not mean they will never touch SOL again. But it does mean the next wave of institutional appetite may not be as easy, clean, or deep as people assume.

Then there is the cultural layer.

Solana feels disjointed right now. Some of the most prominent Solana voices have spent an incredible amount of time relentlessly shilling an entirely different blockchain. Yes, ZEC is it's own Layer 1.

It does not exactly scream focus on Solana itself. It reads as devs thinking their bag is cooked and so they start pumping their next bag.

Only now does there finally seem to be real traction around addressing the inflation issue, which should have been more meaningfully a long time ago.

But what really read as desperation to me was the @PhoenixTrade push. That moment actually influenced my vision more than any of the others.

Look, I have traded over $5B in perps across various protocols. I have tested or used almost every “perp DEX” worth testing. And Phoenix is about as basic as it gets.

Yes, the engineering under the hood is interesting. Fine. Mad respect to the builders.

But traders do not ultimately care about engineering.

They care about three things:

Does it work?

Can I make money there?

Is it safe?

And right now, the best Solana-adjacent perps venue is @pacifica_fi . I say Solana-adjacent because it is mostly the stables on-ramp and Solana TVL. It is not generating massive activity for the Solana network itself. And even Pacifica has already talked about building its own L1. (A decision I'm skeptical about, even as a fan)

My exact reaction to the huge marketing push on one of the most basic perp dexs I've ever traded on was: they are so very desperate for something to gain traction on Solana it actually scares me.

Solana talks a lot about what it wants to be when it grows up. And to be clear, the vision is compelling. The ambition is real. The talent is definitely real.

But ambition is not maturity.

Every kid wants to be a doctor, an astronaut, or a superhero when they grow up.

I care more about what something actually is than what it says it wants to become.

So what is my favorite new blockchain?

Solana.

Because you can still love something and still be rational about it.

🫡 From the depths —
The White Whale 🐋

[Fr4ktal @Fr4ktal]

@WhiteWhaleLabs Solana was the only crypto I genuinely believed in, but not anymore. I think the tech is good, but the attitude of solana foundation reminds me of polygon from last cycle. I no longer believe it's anything else than just an extraction scheme like 99% of crypto. I'm out.

[Fr4ktal @Fr4ktal]

@vibhu Oh yes, the good old better financial system ... @phantom and @solflare with their 0.8% swap fees and @DriftProtocol handing user funds to DPRK. What a beautiful financial system. @Pumpfun @SolanaFndn @toly @solana

[hash store @wwwhashstore]

@vibhu No not if you are using @solflare. Charging 0.81% fee on transactions? Wtf is this @coinbase or something?

[Fr4ktal @Fr4ktal]

@wwwhashstore @vibhu @solflare @coinbase @phantom doing the same thing. Solana defi is a total disaster, made me bullish on fiat and banks, atleast they have insurance unlike @DriftProtocol ... it's sad to watch @solana become scam chain @Pumpfun @toly

[Beanie @beaniemaxi]

Solana is basically cooked. Everybody with money on it either lost it to DeFi protocol hackers or memecoin ruggers. There's no coming back from this.

[Otto Suwen @OttoSuwen]

The issue with crypto is that it used to be a way to make outsized returns by taking outsized risk. Last cycle, the only people that really made money were memecoin scammers. The average crypto participant got wiped out on everything. Now that stocks are having their own version of alt season, crypto has lost its best use case.

[𝚌𝚛𝚢𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚌𝚝 @thecryptect]

@SolanaSensei @solana @toly @MessariCrypto @FWDind @ManifestTrade @humidifi @anza_xyz Ex-Sol OG here since early 2021.

@SolanaFndn & @DriftProtocol are the reason why I left.

This was more than just another hack. it was an eye-opener for smart money about how untrustworthy and risky this chain is as well as DeFi in general.

No, we need CEXs 100%

[Drift Victims Committee @DriftVictims]

2026 reality:

Rule #1: CEX safer than DEX

Rule #2: If you DEX, hard skip @Solana.

CEX hacked → make-or-break for owners. Rebuild or die.

Any sol protocol drained → @toly just shills the next one.

Your capital isn’t their R&D budget.
Paid shills don’t bleed. You do.

[Fr4ktal @Fr4ktal]

@SolanaSensei @solana @toly @MessariCrypto @FWDind @ManifestTrade @humidifi @anza_xyz Who needs CEXs? People who don't want to lose all their money in biggest @solana perp DEX @DriftProtocol. Solana defi is a joke.

[Alexander Belov @Alex__Belov]

@0xhyperfury @PhoenixTrade @DriftProtocol @toly Nobody should trade in @solana DeFi until @DriftProtocol users are compensated. We are not protected in SOL. @toly stop shilling phoenix, looks cringe

[ZachXBT @zachxbt]

@hklst4r @evilcos @circle Depending on the chain if it is native USDC it’s technically feasible however Circle still does not care about its users / customers.

[Fr4ktal @Fr4ktal]

@harkl_ @HyperliquidX @PhoenixTrade I'm sure ethereum defi has much better track record than @solana defi. It's apparent which chain puts users first and which chain only wants to extract from them. Pushing borderline scams on users and then being surprised nobody takes the chain seriously. @toly @SolanaFndn

[Drift Victims Committee @DriftVictims]

The way @aave handles this makes you question the reality of what devoted @Solana users are experiencing over at @DriftProtocol. 🤯

Completely opposite standards.
Zero panic. Daily transparency.

Massive respect to the @aave team.
This is how real reliability is built.👏

[ZachXBT @zachxbt]

@circle @HyperliquidX Here before Circle & Jeremy say how much they care about the HL community and later a 8-9 fig exploit happens on HL core or EVM and they do nothing to freeze the USDC.

[HYPEconomist @HYPEconomist]

FARM PHOENIX NOW, YOU ARE STILL EARLY

PHOENIX WILL BE THE NEXT DRIFT

DON'T FADE TOLY!!!

[CSK @Trader_CSK]

So is the volume going to come from the millions who got rugged in the trenches on solana? Or the millions of others who got rekt trading perps last time on solana? Or the people who are hooked on other gambling platforms that exist on solana? Focusing on the wrong things here

[Doonhamer @Doonhamer_]

solana was once about the community, getting rich together, in it for the tech etc.

21-23 it was a truly special place. most of those who made it special have now left the space entirely or are have moved their attention elsewhere.

all that’s left of Solana is paid KOLs regurgitating slop and cringy slogans, ultimately providing little value to anyone but themselves. as well as foundation members who are at last shilling SOL products, but it’s far too late.