The Solana Saga phone, which was previously having trouble finding a buyer, has had a remarkable turnaround this week, with devices selling for as high as $5,000 on the web marketplace Ebay—a sharp rise above its earlier summer markdown.
The main cause of this sharp change of demand, which occurred after critics labeled the phone a “failure,” is the meteoric rise of the Solana-based meme coin BONK, which has seen an increase in value of over 10,000% over the last two months.
Solana Saga Phones Soar With BONK Airdrop
Sales of Solana Saga phones increased last week as a result of certain arbitrage traders seemingly pursuing an airdrop of 30 million BONK tokens, which is distributed to all phone owners. In peak value last week, the airdrop was more than $700 for a $599 phone.
Saga is a blockchain-capable smartphone that offers unique capabilities for safely storing cryptocurrency on the device’s internal components.
The Saga is SOLD OUT!
Words cannot describe how much we appreciate your support. We are nothing without this amazing community
While these past few days will be cemented in our history, we’re excited for the future
Stay tuned pic.twitter.com/KJje8lBDLL
— Solana Mobile (@solanamobile) December 16, 2023
Two unopened, in-box phones have been sold for $5,000 or “best offer,” according to a Dec. 16 listing on the online marketplace eBay, while another handset sold for $3,316 or “best offer.”
The $1,000 Saga phone, which debuted earlier this year, had unsatisfactory sales and an unclear future. Anatoly Yakovenko, the founder of Solana, had previously acknowledged that Saga’s future was in doubt due to its underwhelming sales results.
However, the narrative has shifted due to the latest BONK hysteria. Blockchain users adopted the dog-themed BONK early in November, and it quickly became popular, rising as high as 110% in a single day and reaching over 700% in a 30-day span.
SOL market cap currently at $32.31 billion. Chart: TradingView.com
That appeared to improve the Saga phone’s situation, as its poor sales had earlier raised doubts about its future.
Every new Saga phone comes with a 30-million BONK token airdrop, which traders and fans noticed last week. The value of the airdrop outweighed the price of the phone as BONK’s price surged, resulting in an unanticipated sell-out of the Saga phones on the official website.
Saga Sales Skyrocket, Discord Erupts
On Thursday, new users who claimed to have just purchased the phone and wanted to receive the airdrop caused the Saga Discord server to blow up. Posts on the Discord server state that users who download the BONK app from Saga’s crypto-forward custom app store are eligible for the BONK airdrop.
Saga sales have surged over tenfold in the last 48 hours, and they are currently poised to be completely sold out before the new year, according to a midday Thursday post by Solana co-founder Raj Gokal on X.
lol. just so everyone is aware, @solanamobile saga sales have >10x’d in the past 48 hours, and are now on track to sell out before the new year.https://t.co/SzKht4DTYL
— raj (@rajgokal) December 14, 2023
The significant increase in sales is noteworthy to the extent that Anatoly Yakovenko, Gokal’s counterpart, took to Twitter to express the need for a price adjustment.
Due to the recent announcements of airdrops and other cash incentives for device users by many Solana-based projects, it appears that phone owners may not be placing all of their money on the price of BONK.
true, solend is working on an airdrop for saga owners https://t.co/1EnphaJV5J
— Rooter | Solend (@0xrooter) December 16, 2023
The pseudonymous creator of the decentralized finance protocol, Solend, stated on December 17 on X (previously Twitter) that the company would be working on an airdrop for Saga phone owners.
WHERE MY $SOL SAGA FAMO AT?!
Yes, it’s TRUE! #Solana Saga Holders are going to get airdropped $SAMO!
We hope you got your paws on one before it was too late…
DETAILS COMING SOON. pic.twitter.com/yePhuOfoqM
— Samoyedcoin (SAMO) (@samoyedcoin) December 16, 2023
Further information on the upcoming airdrop for Saga holders is “coming shortly,” according to Samoyed Coin (SAMO), a fellow memecoin initiative.
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