Meme coins have taken over the crypto ecosystem; bombarding markets and sparking interest in the community worldwide.
The most notable among them are Solana based meme coins that have eclipsed other meme coins since the dream run of BONK coin in 2023.
The past year saw hundreds of Solana based meme coins popping up and setting new price trends in the crypto community, so much so that crypto enthusiasts are now thinking of launching their own meme coins.
Deploying a meme coin on Solana requires minimal prior experience in smart contract development. However, it’s not necessary to be a developer as there are a number of techniques available that simplify meme coin launching. In this blogpost, we will get to know two ways of creating a meme coin on Solana and why the platform has become an ideal blockchain for meme coins.
Why Solana Is Ideal Blockchain For Meme Coin?
Solana provides transaction efficiency by offering high speed and low cost executions that are required for meme coins. We know that meme coins are more culture-driven rather than strong fundamentals so the much needed and only requirement is quicker transfers. Solana does so with its novel infrastructure design that aims to foster the blockchain landscape.
On Solana, meme coin can be created by either developing an SPL (Solana Program Library) token from scratch or using pre-built platforms like Pump.fun. Let’s understand what pump.fun is and how it works and later we will move to launching meme coin with the method of a SPL token.
Launching Meme coin Using Pump.fun
Pump.fun is a meme coin platform which is designed to facilitate fair-launching of meme coins. It enables users to create a meme coin by simply providing details such as token name, ticker and image. While not requiring any coding, the token will be created automatically from the backend of pump.fun contract. Pump.fun is a tailored platform that keeps away rug pulls and promotes meme coin launching in a fair manner.
To get started with creating a Solana meme coin, go to pump.fun and follow the simple steps described below;
Step 1: Go to pump.fun & connect your wallet. It is recommended to use Phantom wallet as it aligns more with Solana. Make sure you have at least 0.02 SOL in your wallet.
Step 2: Click on [ Start a new coin ] and fill in all the details. Give your meme coin a name, ticker, image and additional description if you want. You can also attach Twitter, telegram or website if you want.
Step 3: Click on ‘Create Coin.’ It will ask if you want to buy the meme coin initially.
Step 4: Click on ‘Create.’ It will ask you to complete a transaction of 0.02 SOL from the wallet you connected. When the transaction is processed! hurrah your meme coin will be live on pump.fun for trading.
This meme coin can now be bought or sold on pump.fun until the market cap reaches a bonding curve or $69,000 of market cap. The bonding curve is a milestone that will lead your meme coin to be launched on Solana’s most popular decentralized exchange Raydium. On reaching the bonding curve, the $12k of liquidity will be deployed on Raydium pool for meme coin and LP will be burned to ensure safety.
While launching a meme coin could be a complex process, pump.fun makes it easier by keeping away malicious acts like rugpulls.
Creating Meme Coin Via Typical SPL Token Method
The typical method of deploying a Meme coin on Solana requires a thorough understanding of blockchain programming. It includes creating a SPL token from scratch and deploying it manually by following the smart contract development process. In this method, we will break down the process of creating a meme coin on Solana within a proper development environment. Smart contracts – also called Programs on Solana – are developed using the tools provided by the platform’s ecosystem.
Following is the process of creating a meme coin which also applies for creating any token on Solana. The method is divided into four major steps: CLI installation, wallet setup, and programming launching. Let’s get into it;
Step 1: Installing Solana and SPL CLI
Before moving any further with programming on Solana, we first need to install Solana CLI (command-line Interface) in order to interact with Solana’s blockchain network. It is required for developers for interchanging programming data and to communicate to Solana nodes.
Installing Solana CLI is an easy process but it differs depending on the operating system (OS) you are using. First you need to open Command Prompt (cmd.exe) as an Administrator. If you are using MacOS or Linux, Open any terminal application you like. Now enter the following commands;
Windows:
curl https://release.solana.com/v1.9.5/solana-install-init-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.exe --output C:\solana-install-tmp\solana-install-init.exe --create-dirs
Now install the latest version using the following command
C:\solana-install-tmp\solana-install-init.exe v1.9.5
MacOS & Linux:
sh -c "$(curl -sSfL https://release.solana.com/v1.9.5/install)"
To install SPL CLI, enter the following command.
cargo install spl-token-cli
After completing this process, our system is now ready to begin with the actual programming. But before getting into SPL token development, we will first create a Solana wallet using which the meme coin will be deployed.
Step 2: Creating a Solana Wallet
Below is the command to create a wallet in your directory.
Creating a new Solana wallet:
solana-keygen new --no-outfile
Now if you want to first launch your meme coin on testnet, set testnet by entering the following command and if you directly want to deploy on mainnet, do it by entering the mainnet command.
Testnet
solana config set --url https://api.testnet.solana.com
Mainne (beta)
solana config set --url https://api.mainnet-beta.solana.com
For launching the token, we will need some SOL balance. If you want to run it on testnet, you can acquire 1 free test SOL by running solana airdrop 1 command. For mainnet, you can buy and send SOL from any exchange to this wallet address. Check your balance by running the solana balance command.
Now we are ready to program the meme coin.
Step 3: Programming the SPL token
To create the meme coin, first enter the below input.
spl-token create-token
The output will show a Token ID (the address shown after ‘Creating token’) and a signature. Now the initial supply of our token will be zero and we will have to set it. But before minting the supply, we will create an account for our meme coin because Solana does not have any storage by default. In short, we will be assigning a contract address to the meme coin.
Enter the following command and to assign an address;
spl-token create-account <token-id>
And now mint supply with this command. You can enter any amount to mint the supply but remember that it can not be changed later.
spl-token mint <token-id> <amount>
It will automatically mint the tokens into our wallet. You can check the balance with the command we used earlier. You can also create multiple tokens the same way.
Step 4: Adding Metadata
Now our meme coin can be transferred to different wallets but it still is incomplete with the necessary metadata such as token name, ticker, and image. If you send to any other wallets, such as Phantom or Trust Wallet, it will not recognize the meme coin due to lack of metadata.
To add metadata to our token, we will be using Metaplex Metadata Standard. This GitHub repository could be copied and pasted into any compiler. All you have to do is insert your keypair and Token Address and run the program. In this repository, the main.ts is used to update the logo image, name and ticker for your meme coin while the intial.ts is used to create a metadata account and your logo, image, and description.
Once completed, our meme coin can now be seen in all Solana-compatible wallets by searching it using the contract address or token ID we generated before. To transfer tokens from this wallet to another, such as Phantom, you would need to input the following command;
spl-token transfer <token-id> <amount> <receiver-wallet-address> --fund-recipient
So now our meme coin is ready to be used. In order to be seen in the cryptocurrency market, you would need to follow a proper growth strategy.
Both of these above mentioned methods are used by developers to launch meme coins and other tokens on Solana. However, there are also numerous other methods available to launch a token on Solana with customized functions. You can choose any method by your own convenience and expertise.
Also Read : How To Bridge Crypto Assets From Ethereum To Solana: Top 5 Trusted Bridges
