Decentralized financial platform Jupiter organized an event called Catstanbul 2025 in Istanbul last weekend. The interest of both foreign and domestic participants in the event was quite high.
At the Catstanbul 2025 event How many coins?Answering questions from economist Efe Bulduk, one of the leading names in Turkey’s crypto ecosystem, the memecoin frenzy has shaken the market, Solana Network’s current state of affairs and his predictions for the market. why
How do you think Jupiter organizes this event in Istanbul? What are your first impressions?
Crypto is actually a matter of time. Certain chakras have certain energies. We are in a period when Jupiter also shines. So the timing of the event is very good. In Turkey we are generally a nation that everything comes to us very late. Memecoin gets hyped and comes to us after a year. Usually, in crypto events, you jump forward a year or two, like time travel. There is a large number of foreign visitors from abroad. There are almost no Turkish speakers. The interest of the Turkish people, the interest of foreigners, the right timing and the high budget brought about such a result.
“The Turkish crypto community has proven itself.“
Do you think this and similar events pave the way for developers in the Turkish crypto ecosystem?
How many coins? Perhaps this will give its readers a good idea: The first establishment of the central exchange is as follows: They are all friends. A group of friends from China, Singapore and Hong Kong come together in a closed community. Soon after, developing applications such as decentralized finance emerged in a similar parallel. As Turkey, we had a lot of trouble getting into it. how long By 2022 and 2023. Good projects are coming up in Turkey now. Apart from FirstBatch, of which I am one of the founders, there are many applications like Citrea, Clave, Utilify. In this way, the Turkish community also proved itself. This encouraged the developers involved in the topic. When you look at it, yes, we don’t have a crypto entrepreneurship ecosystem that achieves the same success that comes from groups of friends. But we are in a much better place than we were three or five years ago. Projects that are well positioned globally and started in Turkey are starting to reach a certain point. Therefore, this situation encouraged entrepreneurs, software developers and developers. We’re still not ahead of the global trend, but what I’m trying to say is this: Compared to the mainstream stock market crash of 2016-2017 and other crashes that followed, we’re not far behind. We are catching up. More effort and research is required. We’re not far behind, but we’re not far ahead either.
What do you think about the Solana blockchain, which recently broke records with the surge of interest in memecoins, especially TRUMP and MELANIA? There are those who think that the growing importance of Memecoins in the industry will harm the decentralized world in the long run. What do you think?
I went to Solana’s flagship event, Breakpoint, in Lisbon in November 2021. So I jumped in. And at that time, Solana was at a point where everyone was talking a lot. When I looked at her, she was carrying Patek Philippe watches and Hermes bags…I saw that Solana had gone to a very bad place mentally. So I walked out of the event. At that time I was criticized a lot. If I remember correctly Solana was priced at $256, and it performed very well for 10 days after the event. After that, the market entered a bearish trend and the price of Solana fell to $3-5. During this period Solana team took great steps towards institutionalization. The creation of Superteam has improved the user experience of DEXs like Raydium before. In summary, Solana has come to a good place where it touches the user.
“No one is interested in decentralization.“
Yes, I understand what you are talking about. Because it is populism. Solana is a very populist network. What does it mean? Let’s quickly let a user in, he’s making memecoin via Pump.fun etc. Ethereum stands in a completely different position. Life has all colors. No one is just black or white. It is the same in politics. Populist parties are at the forefront in Europe. Nobody is interested in decentralization. When we look at it individually, the bottom line is: “Am I making money with memecoins? Or is it fun?” Because memecoin actually represents a different will. Why do people go and buy National Lottery tickets? Isn’t it to be rich? This is the answer. It gives hope and dreams. At Memecoins it’s like this: when I buy any memecoin, I can dream and feel part of this community. “It’s beneficial for me as well,” he says. As both an investor and trader, I see this: The Solana network is very successful at bringing in new people. They have also removed old organizational flaws. They have academies like Superteam, they do very well regionally. They have applications like Jupiter that touch the end user. They are in a good place. They have investors and are getting great support. They say, is art for art or for society? You can’t sit in front of a Mona Lisa painting of a hungry man and expect to get anything out of it. These people also want to earn money. You can’t say to someone who wants to make money here, “This is not decentralized at all.”
“TRUMP COINS HURT INDUSTRY IN GENERAL”
Although Memecoins have high returns, they also have high volatility. We also know that many of these memecoins, which are not based on a project, create many victims following a fill-and-empty strategy. What is your point here?
I am right in front of you. If you see, the last tweet I sent was a month ago. I’m not being pragmatic here. I don’t think it will do me any good. I saw the TRUMP coin when it was $10. But I didn’t take it. I don’t want anything like that in my life. It probably attracts hundreds of thousands of users to the ecosystem, but I think it usually causes harm. The slope of the curve is steep, with new people constantly arriving. I don’t want 200 or 300 thousand people coming here in a day. Because then you empty yourself. But can you also go against human nature? Who are we to change human nature? People need hope. I am telling you as an example, and most people do not believe that they can make good money with Bitcoin. I was saying buy it when it was $20,000 and approach it for the long term, and today I say buy it for the long term. People are trying to fulfill their gambling desire here. I am also against phenomena that pretend to buy social media but don’t actually buy it and push people here. I am also against stock exchanges that suddenly list it and help spread it. But I can’t be mad at any of them. That too in his business and power. People should not pay any premium on it.
“I expect major US banks to get into crypto in the new year.“
How do you see the crypto market in the new year? How do you read the market with Trump’s crypto-friendly administration?
I am very clear on this. I think the market will be very seriously premium. I have specifically mentioned 10 reasons for this. How many coins? Let me summarize it for readers like this: When spot bitcoin ETFs were launched, investors expected it to go up immediately, right? But it did not rise immediately but increased over time. There are regulations in the US that have prevented traditional financial institutions from coming here. Now they are repealing these laws (like all 121). I expect major US banks to enter this space in 2025. I wouldn’t be surprised if companies like Citi, Bank of America, JPMorgan get into crypto. I expect at least one or two to enter. What did Trump say? He said that ‘report the matter of strategic reserve within one month and submit it within 180 days’. I expect other central banks to make purchases as well, along with the US strategic reserve initiative. Companies like Facebook will also take a lot of notice. Channels will be opened to reach more people. The US economy is already performing well and will continue to support it. This will set a precedent for other central banks.
““After the return, it will be the turn of altcoins”
Did you watch the swearing-in ceremony? Are Elon Musk and Sam Altman or Mark Zuckerberg the type to get along? No they support the US president and will be caught here. This will bring new money and people here in the long run. What does it mean? This means higher prices. 1 million tokens are issued daily, so every coin you buy won’t work like before, but 3x, 5x and 10x are still possible if you position yourself right. I am also positive on Bitcoin and Ethereum. I expect the price to peak in September and November. Then, it can be like the previous tense: A peak, a pullback, and an advance of altcoins, followed by a new peak in Bitcoin around September or October, followed by a split phase. After this cycle, price pulls back.
Do you expect Bitcoin’s dominance, followed by altcoin investors to diminish over the same period?
I think it will drop before September. The second phase takes place in September and becomes the Bitcoin distribution phase. I’m talking hypothetically, if we see a peak of $200k, it will pull back to $70k.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading venture involves risk, and readers should do their own research when making decisions.