At one point on Sunday, Solana (SOL) soared to an all-time high of $294, fueled by a surprise meme coin launch from President Donald Trump and another memecoin tied to the first lady. The intensified trading activity revealed strains in Coinbase’s infrastructure, prompting the exchange to apologize and promise faster, more robust service going forward.

Solana’s Network Strain and Coinbase Delays

Solana’s troubles began shortly after President Trump launched his official memecoin on the blockchain last Friday. This sudden influx of users seeking to trade and purchase the new token drove Solana’s trading volume above $36 billion, according to DeFiLlama. As buyers rushed in—some offloading other cryptocurrencies to free up capital—Coinbase’s systems buckled under the surge.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong took to X to confirm that some Solana transactions were being delayed or canceled outright. He characterized the problem as a “high quality” issue, arguing that high demand signaled Solana’s growing appeal.

Coinbase under pressure, Source: X

Nevertheless, he conceded that Coinbase needed to “step up our game on Solana, scale our infrastructure, and provide native support for common use cases like DEX/memecoin trading.” Andrew Allen, a protocol specialist at Coinbase, echoed Armstrong’s stance on X, stating, “It’s on us to improve. Not Solana’s fault. Solana usage has pushed our infra past its limits.”

Though the blockchain itself did not fully crash, the exchange delays were serious enough to cause transaction backlogs of up to 21 hours. Armstrong said the difficulties have been “triaged,” encouraging anyone with canceled transactions to retry them. However, this was not Coinbase’s first brush with technical hiccups. Last February, a wave of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds similarly overwhelmed the platform, leaving some users locked out during critical buying and selling windows.

Critics on social media questioned why Coinbase still struggles when trading volume spikes. Meanwhile, Ryan Rasmussen, head of research at Bitwise, noted that the rush into Trump’s memecoin caused investors to rotate funds rapidly, “leading to an explosion of on-chain activity.” The frenetic pace of trading again spotlighted concerns that Solana’s ecosystem, while growing, may still be on uncertain footing when confronted with unprecedented demand.

Price Volatility Amid Rising Competition

Despite—or perhaps because of—its performance woes, Solana’s price briefly climbed to $294. Major drivers included the Trump-themed memecoin craze, along with the introduction of another token launched by the first lady. Trading enthusiasts piled onto the blockchain at record levels, setting off considerable hype and speculation that Solana might sustain its upward momentum.

Still, new players in the crypto space are seizing the opportunity to position themselves as stable alternatives. Platforms such as DTX Exchange tout hybrid models and scaling capabilities, aiming to accommodate large volumes without service interruptions. While Solana has claimed a top-five ranking by market capitalization, analysts warn that repeated outages and exchange slowdowns risk undermining investor confidence. If such events persist, some fear that users could gravitate to emerging platforms offering faster speeds and fewer reliability issues.

Armstrong has promised that Coinbase will prioritize Solana going forward, vowing to bolster the exchange’s capacity to handle extreme swings in traffic. Whether these assurances can quell user skepticism remains to be seen. For now, Solana’s rapid ascent—and the turbulence that accompanied it—underscores both the promise and the perils of a market still learning how to manage blockbuster demand. As crypto continues to grow, infrastructure upgrades will be crucial to sustaining widespread adoption, with eyes trained on Solana and Coinbase to see if they can stay ahead of the next wave.