The Solana phone, previously facing lackluster sales, is experiencing a remarkable surge in demand, largely attributed to the memecoin BONK. Arbitrage traders are seemingly drawn to a lucrative airdrop of 30 million BONK tokens, exclusively available to owners of the Saga phone. Given the current value of BONK, this airdrop amounts to nearly $700, while the phone itself is priced at $599.
Solana co-founder Raj Gokal revealed on Twitter that sales of the Saga phone have increased more than tenfold in the past 48 hours, putting the device on track to sell out before the new year. This unexpected demand spike has even led Anatoly Yakovenko, another co-founder of Solana, to consider raising the phone’s price.
The Saga phone, a blockchain-enabled smartphone, offers unique features for secure crypto storage using the phone’s hardware. This sudden interest in the phone directly results from the excitement surrounding BONK – Solana’s dog-themed counterpart to Dogecoin. The Saga phone’s sales were unremarkable just a week ago, but the BONK airdrop has drastically altered its market trajectory.
The Saga Discord server saw a significant influx of new members, many declaring their recent phone purchase to participate in the BONK airdrop. The airdrop is accessible to those downloading the BONK app from Saga’s specialized crypto app store.
A Solana Mobile employee on the Discord server explained that owners must physically possess the phone to mint a ‘Genesis token’ through the ‘dApp store,’ which is eligible for the BONK airdrop. The employee, known as Jax on Discord, clarified that the BONK promotion is not indefinite, with the end date at the discretion of the BONK team. As of now, there is no specified end date for the airdrop.
This development illustrates the significant impact that crypto-related incentives can have on consumer electronics sales, particularly in the blockchain and cryptocurrency community.
