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Meteora isn’t an obscure protocol quietly gaining traction; it’s one of Solana’s largest decentralized exchanges, and its MET token launch in October 2025 was one of the most talked-about and most controversial token generation events in Solana’s history. Here’s the real story: what Meteora actually is, what happened at launch, and where things stand now.
Vikram Mohan, blockchain researcher and technical market analyst at Solana Price Prediction, frames why this launch mattered beyond the headlines: “Meteora’s approach, releasing nearly half the token supply immediately with zero vesting, broke every convention in crypto tokenomics. That’s either a genuinely fairer distribution model or a recipe for immediate sell pressure, and both camps had a real case. Worth understanding regardless of which side you land on, because it’s a real experiment other protocols are now watching closely.”
What Meteora Actually Is
Meteora is a Solana-native decentralized exchange and liquidity infrastructure protocol, commanding roughly 26% of Solana’s DEX market share and generating approximately $3.9 million in daily trading fees, about eight times more than competitor Raydium’s daily fees at the time of comparison. The protocol’s total value locked (TVL) has sat around $828-829 million, and it has processed over $208.7 billion in cumulative trading volume since February 2023.
Meteora was built by the team behind Jupiter, Solana’s largest DEX aggregator. The project has roots in Mercurial Finance, an earlier protocol that was wound down following the FTX collapse in November 2022, when “vast amounts” of Mercurial’s original MER token were reportedly tied up in FTX, stranding liquidity and shaking stakeholder confidence. The team rebuilt in February 2023 as Meteora, positioning it as a clean start while promising to eventually compensate original Mercurial stakeholders through the new token.
The October 2025 Launch: Why It Was Called “The Most Controversial in Solana History”
Meteora’s Token Generation Event (TGE) on October 23, 2025 broke from standard crypto tokenomics in a specific, deliberate way: 480 million MET tokens, 48% of the total 1 billion supply, entered circulation immediately, with zero vesting period for community and user allocations. No gradual unlocks, no artificial scarcity. Team tokens, by contrast, remain locked on a 6-year vesting schedule.
This is genuinely unusual. Most token launches restrict initial circulating supply specifically to prevent exactly this kind of immediate sell pressure. Meteora’s team framed it as a “Liquidity Generation Event,” a fairer, more transparent distribution model instead of the low-float approach many DeFi tokens use. Critics warned the opposite, that flooding the market with half the total supply at once could trigger a sharp price crash as early recipients sold. The Solana community was genuinely split on which read was correct.
Ahead of the TGE, pre-market perpetual trading on Polymarket and Hyperliquid priced MET at a fully diluted valuation (FDV) between $750 million and $1.8 billion. MET is listed on major exchanges including OKX, Bitget, and Binance Alpha, alongside direct trading support on Jupiter, Phantom, and Moonshot.
Distribution wasn’t a simple airdrop either. Roughly 10% of circulating supply was distributed as active liquidity positions rather than direct token drops, meaning recipients’ allocations automatically earned trading fees while gradually selling down over time, a structural mechanism designed to soften the sell-pressure risk of the zero-vesting approach.
What Actually Happened After Launch
MET opened trading and settled around $0.565, down roughly 17.7% from its opening price, with a market capitalization over $271 million and a fully diluted valuation above $565 million, notably below the $750M-$1.8B pre-market speculation. That gap between pre-launch hype and actual settled price is itself a useful data point on how reliable perpetual pre-markets are for pricing a genuinely novel token distribution.
Worth knowing: Meteora had its own real controversy earlier in 2025, separate from the token launch itself. CEO Ben Chow resigned following allegations of insider trading. This is relevant context for anyone evaluating the protocol’s governance and credibility, not something to gloss over.
Two weeks after MET’s staking/referral program launched, over 69 million MET had been staked, more than 2,000 referral codes were linked, and the program’s first reward cycle totaled approximately $300,000 distributed to participants.
How Meteora’s AMM Actually Works
Meteora’s core product is liquidity infrastructure, specifically designed to reduce idle capital and improve how liquidity providers deploy funds across trading pairs, rather than competing head-on with every Solana DEX as a consumer-facing trading app. Fee structures vary by pool type: standard pools split 90% of fees to liquidity providers and 10% to the protocol, launch pools use an 80/20 split, and limit order fees split 50/50 between LPs and the protocol.
Using Meteora’s liquidity products doesn’t require holding MET. The token itself is used for staking (earning a share of protocol-level fees), liquidity provisioning rewards, and governance participation in decisions affecting the protocol’s future direction. The protocol also maintains a bug bounty of up to $500,000 through security firm OOO Security.
MET Tokenomics
MET has a fixed supply of 1 billion tokens, with no ongoing inflation. The 48% released at TGE went to early supporters, liquidity providers, and ecosystem contributors, including legacy Mercurial Finance stakeholders, active Meteora liquidity providers, and JUP (Jupiter) stakers. Remaining allocations for the team, contributors, and ecosystem reserves unlock gradually over multiple years, the team’s own 6-year lockup being the most conservative part of an otherwise aggressive distribution.
Risks and Open Questions
As with any DeFi token, real risks remain. The zero-vesting distribution model is genuinely untested at this scale; whether it proves to be a durable, fairer standard or an outlier that other protocols avoid repeating is still an open question months into MET’s trading history. The CEO resignation earlier in 2025 is a governance red flag worth factoring into any assessment of the team, even though it predates the token launch itself. And like any DeFi protocol, Meteora carries smart contract risk regardless of its token’s performance; the April 2026 Drift Protocol exploit is a reminder that even large, established Solana DeFi protocols aren’t immune to serious incidents.
Verdict
Meteora is not a speculative, under-the-radar token; it’s an established, high-volume piece of Solana’s DeFi infrastructure that took a genuinely unconventional and closely watched approach to its token launch. The zero-vesting, high-immediate-float model is a real experiment in crypto tokenomics, not marketing language. Whether MET proves out as a durable governance and fee-sharing token depends on Meteora continuing to hold real DEX market share and TVL, the fundamentals that made it significant well before the token existed at all.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did Meteora’s MET token launch? October 23, 2025. The Token Generation Event released 480 million tokens (48% of the total 1 billion supply) immediately, with zero vesting for community and user allocations.
Why was Meteora’s token launch called controversial? Because it broke standard crypto tokenomics conventions by releasing nearly half the total token supply immediately rather than through gradual unlocks. Supporters called it a fairer distribution model; critics warned it could trigger significant sell pressure. Both concerns were legitimate given how unusual the approach was.
What is Meteora’s actual market position on Solana? Meteora commands roughly 26% of Solana’s DEX market share, with total value locked around $828-829 million and daily trading fees of approximately $3.9 million, notably higher than several competing Solana DEXs.
Is MET the same as Mercurial Finance’s old MER token? Related but not the same. Meteora emerged from Mercurial Finance after Mercurial was wound down following the FTX collapse. Legacy Mercurial stakeholders were included in MET’s initial distribution as compensation for the earlier MER token’s exposure to FTX.
What happened with Meteora’s CEO? Ben Chow resigned as CEO earlier in 2025 following allegations of insider trading, a real governance concern worth weighing separately from the protocol’s technical and market performance.
About the Author
Vikram Mohan is a blockchain researcher and technical market analyst specializing in Solana’s on-chain data and market structure, providing readers with a deeper understanding of the forces shaping SOL and the broader crypto space. Since joining solanapriceprediction.com in August 2025, Vikram has become a trusted contributor covering price forecasts, liquidity flows, and developer activity.
Disclaimer
This article is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or trading advice. Cryptocurrency markets are highly volatile and you can lose your entire investment. Always do your own research and consult a licensed financial advisor before making investment decisions.
Data Sources
- The Defiant – MET launch coverage and post-launch price data
- Bitget News – Pre-launch TGE details and tokenomics
- CryptoNews – Launch day coverage
- Solana Compass – Protocol metrics, staking program data, fee structure
- MEXC Research – Tokenomics and distribution model analysis
