Solana co-founder calls meme coins and NFTs digital trash… Community backlash

Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko has described memecoins and NFTs as “digital trash.”
In a post on X on the 27th, Yakovenko wrote, "Meme coins and NFTs are digital garbage with no intrinsic value. I
"I've been saying this for years," he said, likening them to "loop boxes" (probability-based rewards) in free mobile games.
The statement was made by Base founder Jesse Pollack.
Pollak, and the debate revolved around whether meme coins and NFTs have any real value.
Yakovenko believes the value of meme coins and NFTs is driven by a market-based price discovery process.
While some argued that content is formed through the content itself, Pollack countered that "content has inherent value in itself, just as a painting has intrinsic value even if a museum does not charge a fee."
Yakovenko also acknowledged that "without Memecoin, Solana wouldn't exist today," but added that "Memecoin is a major player in Apple App Store revenue."
The company claimed that the percentage of loop boxes is the same as that of loop boxes. Loop boxes are elements that provide random rewards in free games and have been criticized for encouraging users to make repeated payments.
Discussions on regulation are also underway in countries such as Australia and Germany. Yakovenko has publicly stated since January 2024 that meme coins and NFTs have no value. However, in recent
Since his remarks, criticism from the community has intensified. X user Caps criticized Yakovenko, saying, "Yakovenko is mocking his own core user base," while another user, Ka
Karbon said, “I don’t like Vitalik’s (Ethereum founder) approach to meme coins, but Yakovenko’s is much more offensive. I don’t believe they have value.
"But they continue to promote meme coins," he said. Ironically, the Solana ecosystem still relies heavily on meme coin activity.
According to the firm Syndica, memecoins accounted for 62% of all decentralized app (dApp) revenue on Solana as of June 2025, a record high.
Some analysts believe that the majority of Solana's approximately $1.6 billion in revenue in the first half of the year came from memecoin-related activities.