Original Title: Memecoin Market Map - a $120B Asset Class
Author: Eli Nuss
Compiled by: Scof, ChainCatcher
Over the past year, Memecoins have been the best-performing segment in the crypto market. Today, the total market cap of Memecoins has surpassed $100 billion, exceeding the combined totals of DeFi, DePin, gaming, and the metaverse.
As the scale and diversity of this asset class continue to expand, we attempt to map out a market landscape to identify opportunities within it.
We analyzed the best-performing Memecoins each quarter this year, and the results confirmed our hypothesis — Memecoins dominated the market every quarter. In the first quarter, $POPCAT, $WIF, $MOG, and $MYRO were the top performers;
In the second quarter, $PONKE, $SPX, $TURBO, $GIGA, $WOJAK, $BRETT, and $MOG performed outstandingly; in the third quarter, $SPX, $GIGA, $FUD, and $MUMU led the way.
When trying to establish a methodology for the Memecoin market, one thing is very clear: understanding 'meta' (cultural trends and fads) is crucial. While this applies generally in cryptocurrency, it is especially important for Memecoins, influencing them far more than other categories. Below is an extended timeline aimed at highlighting some significant meta changes and emerging trends.
Until 2021, the Memecoin market was almost solely Doge. Then, Shiba Inu launched as the first true 'Dogecoin killer', drawing people in, hoping to replicate Doge's success. This search for 'the next XX' is the root of forming the meta. The success of Shiba Inu spawned various Memecoins related to dogs and Elon Musk, making 2021 the first true Memecoin meta. Then, in 2023, the launch of Pepe Coin drove a large number of Memecoins related to frogs and the 'boys club', while later launches like Bonk and Wif established Solana as the dominant Memecoin chain, ultimately forming pump.fun. In the first quarter of 2023, the Memecoin market erupted with widespread frenzy, with new metas appearing almost weekly or even daily. After peaking in March, the market slowed slightly in the summer. As Bitcoin began to break out, market enthusiasm surged again, with new metas continuously emerging, including @truth_terminal's $GOAT, $MOODENG (the cute hippo coin), and $PEANUT.
Today, the Memecoin market has seen an overwhelming emergence of metas, and we are trying to dissect the market based on different categories.
As you can see, Dogecoin remains the dominant segment of the Memecoin market, primarily driven by Doge. A few weeks ago, when we started compiling this data, the Sentient AI category was almost non-existent, and the Martyr category had no significant performance (though we must respect the OG coin $Harambe). This is enough to demonstrate how quickly the Memecoin market evolves.
Not surprisingly, since the launch of Pepe Coin, the dominance of Dogecoin has begun to gradually decline.
This trend seems likely to continue, as new metas will continuously emerge, and different sectors will be pushed to the forefront.
From the changes in market capitalization across categories, there are several interesting trends.
For instance, Memecoins in the Crypto Culture category (such as $bitcoin) gained some attention in 2023, especially at a time when new capital was relatively scarce entering the market. But as new capital flowed in at the end of the year, the Crypto Culture category gradually made way for broader internet culture (like $giga, $npc, etc.).
As mentioned earlier, the rapid rise of $GOAT and $PEANUT is also quite surprising. While it may still be too early to categorize them into new categories, it is evident that there are many AI-related Memecoins today, many of which have already reached nine-figure market capitalizations.
Additionally, earlier celebrity tokens and politically related Memecoins had seen slight growth, but most have gradually cooled down since then.
Over time, Memecoin has the potential to become a fractal of the entire crypto market, with the status of Dogecoin akin to that of Bitcoin (BTC). Some 'cult coins' will have loyal community support and exist long-term; however, most Memecoins may be fleeting like NFTs in 2021.
Nevertheless, it is evident that there are significant opportunities for early entry into new metas.
I expect that the fastest-growing categories in the future will be internet culture and self-aware AI. Internet culture is widely recognized and has a rich cultural foundation, giving it a clear advantage over other categories. Meanwhile, self-aware AI combines the most exciting technology with the most volatile asset class, which may continue to dominate the Memecoin market in the future.
As for the open market space, there is always room for new types of animals — currently, many animals are lacking in the market, especially some exotic animals (like tigers, giraffes, zebras, etc.). As for entirely new categories of Memecoins, existing fan cultures (like superheroes, sports, etc.) might be tokenized in creative ways.
