Memecoin trading leaves a token account behind for every coin. Selling the coins down to zero does not remove that account. The SOL deposit stays locked until the account is closed.
Gate News and Coinfomania both report that Solana app revenue was $365 million in Q3 2026, up 42.6% from the previous quarter. Both say this was the 10th consecutive quarter Solana led app revenue across blockchains. Both say Pump.fun accounted for 39% of that Solana total, with fomo at 14% and AxiomExchange at 11%. Pump.fun is a memecoin launchpad, so a large share of that quarter's app revenue came from coins that each open a token account in the trader's wallet.
Why the account is still there after you sell
Solana does not keep every token inside your main address. The associated token account guide describes a separate account for a wallet and a mint. The first time you buy or receive a memecoin, that account is created and funded with a rent deposit. Sell the balance to zero and the account usually remains.
That is why a short run of trades can leave dozens of zero-balance rows. Why empty token accounts accumulate covers the same pattern for swaps, airdrops, and spam.
How much SOL each account holds
The deposit is the rent-exemption balance, not a fee Solana spends. Solana rent reduction: SIMD-0437 has the 2026 figures used here:
| Account | Lamports locked |
|---|---|
| Opened before the rent cut | 2,039,280 |
| New 165-byte account at the current minimum | 1,488,440 |
An account opened before the cut still holds 2,039,280 lamports. Closing it returns that full amount, not the smaller minimum that applies to new accounts. A new 165-byte token account, opened at the current minimum, holds 1,488,440 lamports. One hundred of the older accounts lock 100 × 2,039,280 = 203,928,000 lamports, which is 0.203928 SOL. Later steps of the rent cut can lower the deposit for accounts created after those steps. The rent post is where those steps, and the sources for the two figures above, are written out.
Rent-exempt accounts is the shorter explanation of why the deposit exists at all.
Step 1: Empty the token somewhere else
A normal token account can be closed only when its token balance is zero. Solana's close-account guide states that requirement.
Do this in your wallet or on a DEX:
- Sell a coin that still has a market.
- Burn coins you do not want to sell, if your wallet offers a burn.
- Keep coins you still plan to hold. Close accounts you are finished with.
SolPurge does not burn tokens and does not sell tokens. A classic SPL account with a balance above zero is not ready to close. Wrapped SOL is the exception, and it is covered in the next section.
Do not treat a link inside a token name as a cleanup button. How to prevent spam tokens and Solana scams explain why those prompts are worth ignoring.
Step 2: Close the empty account with SolPurge
When a classic SPL token account is empty, SolPurge can close it. Closing deletes the account and returns its lamports to your wallet. How to reclaim SOL from closed token accounts describes that return. SolPurge keeps a 6% fee on the reclaimed SOL.
Wrapped SOL accounts are the exception to the zero-balance rule. Unwrap wrapped SOL in your wallet first, so the underlying SOL is back in your wallet before you close empty accounts.
SolPurge does not run WithdrawExcessLamports. That instruction leaves the account open and withdraws only the surplus above the new minimum. This app closes the account. If you want the account to stay open, that surplus withdrawal is a separate step, and the rent post explains it.
Pump.fun coins on Token-2022
Pump.fun's create_v2 instruction creates a Token-2022 mint. The project's coin creation docs describe that mint as a new Token-2022 account and set the token program to Token-2022 (TokenzQdBNbLqP5VEhdkAS6EPFLC1PHnBqCXEpPxuEb). Coins made with Pump.fun's older create instruction are classic SPL tokens, so their empty accounts can be closed with SolPurge; the Pump program IDL sets that instruction's token program to the classic SPL Token program (TokenkegQfeZyiNwAJbNbGKPFXCWuBvf9Ss623VQ5DA).
SolPurge does not support Token-2022. It cannot close those accounts yet. Selling or burning the balance to zero does not change that. A classic SPL account can be closed here after it is empty. A Token-2022 account cannot.
Cleanup order
- Decide which memecoins you still want.
- Sell or burn the rest in your wallet or on a DEX.
- Close the empty classic SPL accounts with SolPurge.
- Leave Token-2022 accounts alone for now. SolPurge will not close them.
How to check for unused Solana accounts, the monthly cleanup checklist, and why close unused Solana accounts cover the rest of a wallet that has more than memecoin leftovers.