Solana’s meme coin ecosystem has seen a surge in presale activity on X following the breakout success of Book of Meme (BOME). In this model, token creators ask users to send SOL before a token officially launches, promising future allocations in return. According to blockchain investigator Zackxbt, the trend has now brought in nearly $150 million worth of funds on Solana.
BOME helped normalize the format
The report says the trend was pioneered by Darkfarms, the meme artist behind BOME. After the token quickly became one of the leading meme coins in the crypto market in less than a week, similar fundraising campaigns multiplied across the Solana community. Many users on X began trying to replicate that momentum by collecting SOL first and launching tokens later.
Scams and impersonation follow the hype
The rapid rise of these presales has also created fertile ground for abuse. Zackxbt said several users who promoted token launches never followed through and instead kept the funds they received. In other cases, impersonators allegedly set up similar campaigns to exploit retail enthusiasm. He reported that participants in these “presales” have already lost more than 28,000 SOL, though the full scale of the damage remains unclear given how widespread the activity has become.
Network strain adds to concerns
The boom has also increased activity across Solana to the point that the network has been pushed close to its operating limits, with many users complaining about dropped transactions. Solana Labs co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko publicly urged users to “Stop doing this.” At the same time, the Solana Foundation has shared guidance for app developers and is preparing an update to the transaction scheduler aimed at improving network capacity. The episode highlights how meme coin speculation can drive both capital inflows and serious operational and fraud risks at the same time.