These memcoins have surpassed bitcoin in the first half of 2024
For the first half of 2024, the price of bitcoin (BTC) has risen 61% from its low of $38,555 recorded on January 23.
However, several memcoins outperformed the major cryptocurrency, posting double-digit and even triple-digit growth.
Forbes named the top memcoins of 2024
According to Forbes, 4 memcoins surpassed BTC in the first half of the year, with Dogwifhat (WIF), Pepe (PEPE), Floki (FLOKI) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) growing by 1,300%, 800%, 418% and 67% respectively. OG coin Dogecoin (DOGE) showed much more modest dynamics, adding only 35%.
Although Forbes believes that tokens inspired by memes and internet jokes have little or no fundamental value, this sector continues to thrive and attract the attention of not only ordinary crypto community members, but also major players.
Recently, asset manager VanEck and exchange BitMEX launched their own indexes to track the largest memcoins. The Avalanche Foundation anticipated a surge of interest as early as late 2023 and has committed to supporting diverse and culturally relevant initiatives.
"Memcoins allow retail investors to access the same opportunities that venture capitalists get during seed, pre-seed and private sales rounds," Jonas Dovidaitis, co-founder and CEO of PAiT, told BeInCrypto.
What narratives have fueled the growth
The January approval of the spot bitcoin-ETF was a watershed moment for the entire crypto market. The landmark SEC decision brought BTC to the threshold of institutional players, increasing the legitimacy of bitcoin, Ethereum and other capitalized cryptoassets.
According to CoinGecko, in the first 6 months of 2024, the crypto market capitalization grew by $715 billion, with memcoins making a significant contribution to this growth.
Among other important narratives, it is worth noting the halving of bitcoin, which took place in April this year. According to a recent CoinGecko survey, 54% of crypto investors remain bullish after the event and hope for a speedy market recovery and the start of the altcoin season. Some analysts believe that memcoins will be the driving force behind the next altcoin season.
"If the altcoin season comes, memcoins will outperform other cryptocurrencies. If the altcoin season does not come, memcoins will still outperform the rest of the cryptocurrencies," predicts analyst Murad Makhmudov.
