Competitors circle after Jupiter founder posts slur

Solana ecosystem leaders called out the behavior and multiple posters pledged to sell Jupiter’s native token

article-image

SPF/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share


This is a segment from the Lightspeed newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe.


Over the weekend, the anonymous founder of Jupiter used a racial slur multiple times in an X post — and the Solana DeFi giant’s competitors perceived an opportunity. 

The post came in response to another anonymous account asking whether a memecoin containing the slur could be verified on Jupiter. Meow, Jupiter’s founder, left the post up for roughly a day, arguing that he didn’t have malicious intent when making the post. He also reposted an “n-word pass” and wrote that he “didn’t know that there is such a big difference between r & a” in reference to the slur.

Some pointed out that meow is not American and “sees everyone using” the term online, so he may not have grasped the word’s potential hurtfulness.

Still, the crypto community’s response was swift and mostly negative, with Solana ecosystem leaders calling out the behavior and multiple posters pledging to sell Jupiter’s native token. Meow eventually issued an apology for the post, saying, “Racism is obviously completely unacceptable and I love you all.”

The market didn’t seem to care much about the incident, however: JUP slid 7.7% over the past 24 hours, but multiple major Solana DeFi tokens drew back 5-10% over that time frame, and JUP’s fall occurred several hours after meow’s racist remark. JUP traded relatively flat on Saturday, and seemingly even saw its price increase relative to other Solana DeFi tokens immediately after the post.

Jupiter’s killer feature is a so-called aggregator that automatically routes user swaps across multiple venues to achieve the best possible price for users. In short, you get more value per dollar when swapping on Jupiter than on Phantom or Coinbase, for instance. 

Jupiter has a pretty big moat with this feature, as we’ve written before, but would-be competitors spied an opportunity after meow’s snafu. 

Solana-compatible swap app DFlow essentially came out of stealth after the faux pas, posting instructions for how developers could switch their APIs away from Jupiter. DFlow’s founder wrote “crypto needs a massive change culturally,” citing meow’s post as evidence. 

“After the Meow posts on the weekend, I think [it’s] becoming clear to everyone that a reasonable competitor for their swap product has to come in,” Chris Chung, CEO of the Solana-based aggregator Titan, told me in a text. 

However, Chung added that “value is everything,” and any Jupiter competitors would have to significantly outperform Jupiter to convince users to switch.

I think another part of this story, if it winds up being much of a story at all, could be the institutional side of things. Risk-averse institutions moving into crypto will likely look to do business with professional-seeming founders, and posting racial slurs on social media probably won’t fit the bill.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

🚀 Build What’s Next — Permissionless IV Hackathon Join us June 22–23 in Brooklyn for the Permissionless IV Hackathon — a 36-hour sprint hosted by Cracked Labs and Blockworks where top builders turn ideas into real products. Come to launch, not just […]

recent research

Research Report Templates (10).png

Research

Kamino has evolved into a full-stack asset scaling suite with V2: unlocking new markets, improving capital efficiency, and catering to various risk profiles. We believe it is best positioned to become the credit backbone of Solana as the ecosystem matures. Simply put, KMNO remains our highest-conviction bet in the Solana ecosystem. This report lays out our thesis.

article-image

With an updated Summary of Economic Projections, the Fed sees growth slowing and inflation increasing

article-image

Where do crypto mobile games go from here?

article-image

Bybit’s Byreal, Binance Alpha and Coinbase’s DEX integrations

article-image

This isn’t the worst hack to ever hit Mt. Gox, but it could be the most entertaining

article-image

Crossover’s CEO discusses institutional interest and how over-the-counter (OTC) trading has picked up in crypto

article-image

Sponsored

This collaboration signifies a major leap forward in expanding the reach and utility of Web3 gaming within the vibrant Asian market