As May comes to an end, MEME has performed outstandingly in this cycle. Will PEPE, based on the value consensus, have the last laugh?

Every market cycle is accompanied by the emergence of Meme tokens. Recalling the bull market in 2021, Elon Musk began to call for Dogecoin to make the price of the coin soar a thousand times. The logic at that time was still in the so-called new world of web3. When the time came to April 2023, the frog meme coin $PEPE was quickly listed on major first-tier exchanges, which once again set off a huge meme coin FOMO wave. May has come to an end. Interestingly, Trump-related news has dominated the crypto community for nearly a month. The related meme coins have almost covered most of the popular chains, and the survival time of "trump" on each chain is different. A month later, the only ecosystems with related memes surviving are Ethereum and Solana.

Why May’s MEMEs Performed So Well

According to the CoinGecko report, MEMEs were the most profitable cryptocurrency in the first quarter of 2024, with the highest average return among its top tokens at 1312.6%.

The embarrassing situation of insufficient capital inflow in the market in May fully proves the current market dilemma: the rise is weak and the fall is weak. The main contradiction lies in the growing demand for Bitcoin, while the market liquidity is seriously insufficient. The surge in meme coins shows that the market lacks narrative. There are also too many political events. The Ethereum ETF is waiting for the approval of the S-1 document. Once it is approved, it will be officially listed and traded, and traditional funds will enter the market to push the market higher. Another interesting thing is that Trump-related news has dominated the crypto community for nearly a month. The related meme coins almost cover most of the popular chains, and the survival time of "trump" on each chain is different. A month later, the only ecosystems with related memes are Ethereum and Solana, and their respective "meme survival rules" are just the opposite.

Is the Ethereum meme popular again?

The reason why I mentioned the Ethereum meme is because of the news related to Trump. As a hot topic, every public chain has a Trump-related concept coin. But now if you search for keywords such as "trump" and "maga", the only public chains that can be selected are Ethereum and Solana. From the data of dexscreener, we can see that among the top five Ethereum growth lists, 3 are Trump concept coins. And there is only one Trump-related coin in the corresponding list of Solana.

The difference between the two can be clearly seen from the market capitalization. On Ethereum, we can find TRUMP and MAGA with a market capitalization of more than 10M, but on Solana, they do not exceed 500K, and they are all new coins with a survival time of less than 48 hours.

The meme coin MAGA Memecoin ($TRUMP) on Ethereum appeared on August 23, 2023. After more than four months of gestation, it started in January of this year and has risen from US$0.31 to the current US$14.2, an increase of hundreds of times.

After the news of Trump’s sentencing was suddenly announced, $TRUMP on Ethereum reacted very sensitively, first falling nearly 30% in a short period of time, and then quickly rising by more than 75%, recovering the losses and returning to a high of $14.

Recently, the popularity of celebrity meme coins such as JENNER and MOTHER has once again pushed Pump.fun on Solana to the center of community attention. It seems that the meme season can lead to a wave of "Solana Summer", but judging from the trend of similar meme coins, the speed of new meme outbreaks and vitality, despite the strong momentum of Solana and Base, meme investors will not ignore their love for Ethereum.

With a year-to-date increase of more than 1100%, can PEPE still have the last laugh?

Since its launch in April 2023, the infamous frog has had a significant impact on the Ethereum memecoin ecosystem and has become one of the highest consensus games of this cycle so far.

Last April, PEPE debuted with the mission of replacing DOGE, with a peak supply of 420.69T. Perhaps more important for the recent surge was the very important political development of the Ethereum ETF approval, which boosted the trend of related blockchains and tokens. As the standout memecoin in the ETH cycle, PEPE continues to win big.

PEPE’s continued growth is a testament to the power of memecoins in this recent cycle, as well as the continued strength of ETH-based assets.

This cycle has seen multiple waves of memecoin activity, but the most talked-about wins have often been Solana-based tokens like WIF or BONK. The appeal of ETH L2-based memecoins has drawn attention to the memecoin space on networks like Base, but amid all that traction, it’s still hard to compete with L1.

Although PEPE is currently in a leading position, its future development is still full of uncertainty. Investors need to realize that the cryptocurrency market is full of volatility and risks, and past gains are not indicative of future performance. Although PEPE may continue to be active, its biggest gains may have passed, and new competitors may emerge. For investors, rational thinking, full understanding of the market and risk management are crucial.

In a highly competitive and ever-changing cryptocurrency market, the rise of the PEPE token is a striking case. Its historical origins, development process, and future prospects reflect the diversity and complexity of the cryptocurrency market. For investors and observers, a deep understanding of the past and future of the PEPE token will help better understand this vibrant and potential market.

Given PEPE’s current size, it may be difficult to achieve “incredible” returns from now on. While derivatives may offer higher room for growth, they also carry higher risks due to their lower market capitalization.