Coinbase users have experienced significant delays with Solana transactions following the launch of memecoins by former President Donald Trump and his wife Melania. The delays began after the TRUMP token was launched on Jan. 18, followed by the MELANIA token on Jan. 19, leading to a surge in activity on the Solana blockchain. This surge caused network congestion and led to delays in Solana transactions on Coinbase, with some users reporting wait times of over 15 hours for their transactions to clear.

Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, addressed the delays on Jan. 19, stating that the exchange had not anticipated such a high level of activity. He assured users that the team was working hard to scale the Solana infrastructure to handle the surge in transactions. Coinbase clarified that the delays were related to their own infrastructure and not the Solana network, which maintained 100% uptime over the past 90 days. Mert Mumtaz, CEO of Solana infrastructure provider Helius, also confirmed that the delays were unrelated to the Solana blockchain.

The congestion was mainly caused by the memecoin launches, which saw a large number of transactions on the Solana network. Moonshot, the platform where the TRUMP token was sold, reported over 200,000 new on-chain users since the token’s launch. Despite the congestion, Solana's blockchain remained stable, with no reported outages. The memecoin launches also generated significant interest in cryptocurrency, with search volumes for terms like "buy crypto" and "buy Solana" soaring to 100 on Google Trends.

Coinbase had initially acknowledged the delays on Jan. 17, explaining that some users were experiencing issues with Solana transactions, including sending and receiving. However, the delays did not affect buying, selling, and fiat withdrawals. The exchange continued to communicate with users, assuring them that the issue was being investigated. By Jan. 20, some users were still reporting delays of up to 15 hours, and Coinbase was estimating a 100-minute processing time for Solana transactions.

The increase in traffic is tied to a broader surge in interest in cryptocurrency. As a result, searches for Coinbase and crypto-related terms also rose sharply. Despite the ongoing issues, Solana’s blockchain has not faced any downtime, and the network continues functioning. Coinbase’s team is working on resolving the delays, but users are still waiting for a resolution to the processing times.