The Solana Saga phone, which originally retails for $599, is now being sold on eBay for up to $5,000, a staggering eight times its initial price. The device's sudden demand surge occurred after the recent frenzy for a free memecoin airdrop caused the phone to sell out on the official website for the first time.
Listings on eBay’s online marketplace from December 16 revealed that two unopened phones in their original packaging were sold for $5,000 each, with another device fetching $3,316, all priced as "best offer." Furthermore, over the weekend, approximately 20 more devices were on sale, priced at over $2,000, indicating a significant increase from the initial retail price.
Since its launch on May 8, every new Saga phone has been entitled to a free airdrop of 30 million Bonk (BONK) tokens. The surge in Bonk prices observed recently has caused the value of these free airdrops to surpass that of the device itself, resulting in the phone being sold out as of December 16. Those purchasing the inflated Saga phones are likely speculating on the continued appreciation of the memecoin’s price. Bonk has surged nearly 800% in the past 30 days, gaining traction among memecoin enthusiasts and traders looking to capitalize on the opportunity.
However, for investors to profit from the lofty $5,000 price tag, Bonk’s value would need to increase by an additional 620% from its current level. This would elevate Bonk’s total market capitalization to around $8.68 billion, comparable to the valuation of cryptocurrencies like Tron or Polkadot. Nevertheless, buyers of these phones seem to be wagering on more than just Bonk's value, as several Solana-based projects have announced forthcoming airdrops and other financial incentives for Saga phone holders.
The founder of Solend, a decentralized finance protocol, affirmed in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on December 17 that they are planning an airdrop specifically for Saga phone holders. Additionally, another memecoin project named Samoyed Coin (SAMO) announced intentions to issue airdrops to Saga holders, promising more detailed information "coming soon." Earlier, on November 15, decentralized storage provider GenesysGo had announced that users could mine its native Shadow (SHDW) token through the Saga mobile app.
