Meme Coin BONK Spikes 40% on Coinbase Listing

Solana-based meme coin bonk (BONK) surged 40% in the past 24 hours after prominent exchange Coinbase (COIN) said it would list the token on Thursday, making it the third largest meme coin behind dogecoin (DOGE) and shiba inu (SHIB) to be offered on the platform.

“Once sufficient supply of this asset is established, trading on our BONK-USD trading pairs will launch in phases,” the exchange said in an announcement on Wednesday. “Support for BONK may be restricted in some supported jurisdictions.”

Coinbase listings have often led to a short-term pump in token prices, given the exchange’s tendency to be selective with the tokens it offers, and a listing may give traders a sense of legitimacy for listed projects.

BONK prices reversed nearly all losses from last week following the announcement. BONK traded at $0.000014 on Thursday morning, with a trading volume of over $235 million.

The tokens were issued last December in the aftermath of Sam Bankman-Fried’s downfall – which prompted a sharp drop in sentiment for the Solana ecosystem at the time as the once crypto titan was a prevalent backer of the network.

Despite initially being fashioned as a meme coin, bonk saw quick adoption in the Solana ecosystem. Several Solana projects integrated the token for use as payment for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), while some used “burn” mechanisms for NFT-based events in the weeks after launch.

Bonk has been a team of 22 individuals with no singular leader, all of whom were involved in the inception of the project; CoinDesk previously learned from one of the several developers. The project has previously built decentralized applications (dapps), NFTs, and other related products on Solana.

Since October, strong interest in the Solana ecosystem seemed to have boosted the token’s appeal. SOL's market capitalization has risen from $50 million to as much as $800 million, making it one of the best-performing tokens of 2023.