Cat-themed airdrops for the upcoming Solana “Chapter 2” mobile phone could cover the cost of the device alone ahead of its tentative 2025 rollout.
The airdrop of 5,199 newly-launched Maneki (MANEKI) tokens on April 24, combined with an earlier airdrop of 37,600 Cat in a Dogs World (MEW) tokens on April 1, briefly covered the pre-order cost of Chapter 2 on Thursday. The two airdrops alone reached a value of $459 at one point, compared to the $450 price of the device, according to Solana Floor.
MANEKI is trading up more than 10% over the past 24 hours, though MEW is down 3%, per CoinGecko data. The MANEKI airdrop is currently valued at $127.38 and MEW’s at $214.78, according to the Two Loot dashboard.
Combined with $43.45 worth of three other memecoin airdrops — WUFFI, IQ50 and CWIF — the total Chapter 2 airdrop value is currently $385.62.
MANEKI/USD price chart. Image: CoinGecko.
Solana Mobile unveiled the cheaper Chapter 2 as the successor to its first crypto phone, Saga, in January, reaching 60,000 pre-orders within a month, and is expected to ship in the first half of 2025. Customers pre-ordering the phone can connect their Solana wallet addresses, meaning they are eligible to receive the airdrops before they receive the device.
The new phone includes the same features as Saga — including a built-in crypto wallet, dapp store and custom Android software — but will use different hardware.
Cats vs dogs
Multiple cat-themed memecoins might soon cover the cost of the Chapter 2 if their prices rise, similar to how a single dog-themed token, Bonk, previously covered the cost of the original Saga device.
Initially priced at $1,000, the first Saga phone’s price was reduced to $599 due to slow sales. However, in December, the value of the Solana-based memecoin Bonk soared by over 800%. Since each device included 30 million BONK tokens, their combined value soon surpassed that of the phone itself.
This increase in value caused the rapid sale of the company’s limited inventory of 20,000 phones, with some orders being canceled and refunded due to stock shortages. Reports indicate that some of these phones were resold on eBay for as much as $5,000.
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