Empire co-host Santiago Santos makes the case that memecoins have actually helped push infra forward…just not in the way you think
vittryp/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks
This is a segment from the Empire newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe.
“Memecoins are stress-testing infra,” Empire co-host Santiago Santos said on the Empire roundup this morning.
Santos compared it to the porn industry stress-testing the internet. Good times.
“ I get really excited about the fact that we’ve come such a long way in building infrastructure … [and you] see a line of sight into actually becoming the future of finance, like tokenizing stocks,” he continued.
The point Santos makes is a personal favorite of mine, as I’m sure you’re aware.
We’re seeing a lot of developments happening, and I’m speaking to a new founder almost every day about their projects and raises. It’s hard not to — even as an objective bystander — respect the amount of work that’s gone into getting crypto to this point.
It’s also just so inherently “crypto” for the space to use memecoins as a stress test. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, they seem to have a use case after all (but don’t tell the SEC).
With the Digital Asset Summit next week, my assumption is that we’ll see more bullishness, given that DAS is offering something that a conference like ETH Denver couldn’t: a look behind the scenes of what the institutions are up to. And we know that’s going to play a big part this cycle.
Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:
- Blockworks Daily: The newsletter that helps thousands of investors understand crypto and the markets, by Byron Gilliam.
- Empire: Start your morning with the top news and analysis to inform your day in crypto.
- Forward Guidance: Reporting and analysis on the growing intersection of crypto and macroeconomics, policy and finance.
- 0xResearch: Alpha directly in your inbox. Market highlights, data, degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance and more.
- Lightspeed: Built for Solana investors, developers and community members. The latest from one of crypto’s hottest networks.
- The Drop: For crypto collectors and traders, covering apps, games, memes and more.
Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave
Tues – Thurs, March 18 – 20, 2025
Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.
Industry City | Brooklyn, NY
TUES – THURS, JUNE 24 – 26, 2025
Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.
Mon – Wed, October 13 – 15, 2025
Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.
Research
The Solana validator landscape has changed drastically over the past year. The chain now has 1,332 active validators with 380.9 million SOL staked (63.9% of supply) as of February 2025. Validator revenue has diversified beyond inflationary rewards (still making up 55%) to include Jito tips (30%), priority fees (24%), and base fees (<1%), especially with the increased activity on Solana. There has been a strong shift towards non-inflationary revenue sources, which have become more central to validator economics as priority fees and off-chain blockspace auctions gain traction. Client diversity has also improved drastically, with implementations such as Agave, Jito-Solana, and Frankendancer already in use, and upcoming clients like Firedancer and Sig expected to further strengthen resilience and reduce reliance on a single codebase.
news
Breaking headlines across our core coverage categories.
Bridgewater Associates CIO Greg Jensen claimed “it’s a dangerous time to be overexposed to US assets, and almost everyone is”