Original Title: (Meme Coins Market Statistics – 2024 Trends)
Written by: Diana Ploscaru
Translated by: Baihua Blockchain
On November 20, the Google search volume for 'Memecoin' surged to an all-time high. Although it still pales in comparison to the peak popularity of NFTs, it indicates that the interest in Memecoins is steadily increasing and may even be beginning to break into the mainstream.
In 2024, Memecoins became the fastest-growing cryptocurrency sector, achieving an average return rate of an astonishing +1300%. This performance has led some crypto traders and analysts to speculate that the Memecoin market may be entering a supercycle, as compared to the brief surge of Dogecoin in 2021, Memecoins have not only seen a robust recovery but have also officially gained recognition as a sector.
So, how is the Memecoin sector currently developing? What are the key influencing factors for the future?
01 Memecoin Market Statistics
Earlier this year, the Memecoin market was highly volatile, peaking at a total market capitalization of $89.95 billion in May 2021, but then fell below $20 billion in 2022, a decline of nearly 80%. However, this year's Memecoin market has generally remained high.
According to CoinTelegraph, Memecoins have become the fastest-growing cryptocurrency sector in 2024, with the best-performing Meme having an average return rate of +1300%.
As of June 2024, the year-to-date performance of different cryptocurrency sectors, source: Cryptonary
In fact, the performance of Memecoins at the beginning of 2024 exceeded all other crypto sectors by ten times. Although RWA and AI sectors have also seen significant growth since then, Memecoins remain the best-performing sector, with a year-to-date growth rate of up to 449% as of June.
02 2024 sees a surge in memecoins
Attention to Memecoins is particularly evident on social media. According to Cryptonary's data, since December 2023, discussions of Memecoins on social platforms have been steadily rising, especially on the X platform.
With over 8 million interactions, the X platform holds 75% of the share, far ahead of other social platforms. This is not surprising, as many Memecoin projects choose to announce presales on the X platform. Additionally, CoinGecko's survey shows that over a third of cryptocurrency participants prefer X for crypto news and updates.
As of October 2024, the interaction counts related to Memecoins on major social media platforms, data source: Cryptonary
YouTube ranks second, accounting for 20.5% of all observed cryptocurrency content, likely due to the growing number of crypto analysis channels and videos on the platform.
According to the same survey data from CoinGecko, 23.4% of crypto participants primarily rely on YouTube for crypto news.
In addition to social media, interest in Memecoins search in 2024 seems to have reached unprecedented heights, as evidenced by the latest search trends.
Source: Google Trends
Considering that most experienced crypto users mainly get news through X (Twitter) and YouTube, this surge in search volume may partly come from newly entering crypto investors.
This indicates that public awareness of Memecoins is continuously improving in this cycle. In fact, we have also observed an increase in the adoption rate of Memecoins. During March 2024, the number of active PEPE wallets doubled. Other top Memecoins like DOGE and WIF may have also attracted a significant number of new crypto investors.
03 Record number of Memecoin projects in 2024
With the rise of blockchains like Solana and BSC, as well as the emergence of launchers like Pump.fun, a plethora of new Memecoin projects have emerged in recent years. From April to August 2024 alone, over 500 new Memecoins were added to CoinMarketCap, with April setting a historical high of 138 new entries.
As of October, CoinMarketCap has listed over 3,000 Memecoins. However, considering that Pump.fun has launched over 1.7 million Memecoins to date, this is just the tip of the iceberg. This trend reflects the high level of attention currently on Memecoin projects but also exacerbates market liquidity fragmentation.
As Memecoins often rely on attention and community support, the increasing number has led to intense competition, gradually diminishing the potential for new projects—many of which have an average lifespan of only five days. According to a recent report from Web3 consulting firm BDC, 89% of Memecoin projects have market capitalizations ranging from $0 to $1,000, with 43% of projects having zero trading volume. More notably, only 5% of Memecoins had market capitalizations exceeding $10 million in 2024 (this data is based on a sample analysis of 2,000 projects). In other words, market competition has reached an all-time high, and most Memecoin projects are destined to fail.
04 Market recovery and speculation about supercycles
According to CoinMarketCap data, the Memecoin market rapidly rebounded in the first quarter of 2024, with a total market capitalization exceeding $60 billion.
Source: CoinMarketCap
Despite a decline in total market capitalization since the end of the second quarter, it remains above levels from 2022-2023. In October this year, the Memecoin market stabilized at around $50 billion and showed signs of short-term recovery. The current market indicates that this positive trend continues.
Some crypto traders believe that a new supercycle of Memecoins could emerge this year, with potentially more mid-market Tokens performing well compared to the previous few Tokens that saw massive gains. However, it won't be as intense as the initial explosion of DOGE and SHIB in 2021. The main reason is that the number of Memecoins in the market has significantly increased since 2021.
Although the performances of OG Memecoins (like DOGE and SHIB) are still far below their peaks in 2021, Cryptonary's analysis for 2024 shows that these assets have nearly doubled the returns of mainstream crypto assets like BTC, ETH, and BNB in this cycle. According to the same analysis, OG Memecoins have shown relatively stable performance, while second and third-generation Memecoins are expected to reach new historical highs by the end of 2024.
In fact, despite market fluctuations due to the price adjustments of multiple Tokens, top emerging Memecoins like PEPE, POPCAT, and BONK performed strongly in the second and third quarters.
POPCAT performed strongly from April to September 2024, data source: CoinMarketCap
Despite an overall bearish market sentiment mid-year, we have still seen several projects performing exceptionally well. For instance, as of October 25, POPCAT's increase this year has reached +8900.77%.
05 Memecoins have propelled the growth of Solana
Overall, the Solana platform has the highest number of Memecoins, with several outstanding Tokens among them.
Solana appears to be the most popular blockchain for Memecoins in recent years, likely due to its fast transaction speeds, user-friendliness, and low fees. Nowadays, emerging and rapidly growing Memecoins like WIF and BONK are mostly based on Solana, not to mention the many projects launched through Solana's Pump.fun platform.
According to DEX aggregator data provided by BDC, these leading blockchain platforms see an average of 40,000 to 50,000 new Tokens emerging daily, with Solana accounting for nearly half of the Memecoin projects. In comparison, the BNB chain is Solana's biggest competitor, but it only sees about 5,400 new Tokens daily.
As of March 2024, the blockchain with the most recorded new crypto Tokens, source: BDC
Editor's Note: According to the latest CoinGecko data, the top rankings in the Solana ecosystem have not changed since the first quarter of research, continuing to lead by a wide margin, though some other ecosystems are putting in more effort to attract attention, gradually shrinking their share of investor interest.
For instance, the BNB chain recently announced an initiative to support Memecoin innovation aimed at helping users launch, migrate, and enhance the liquidity of new Tokens. Given this, we are likely to see more BNB-based projects soon.
The Base chain also ranks in the top five for new projects, averaging about 1,700 new Tokens daily. Given the recent popularity of the Base chain, especially under BRETT's explosive popularity, it could soon become a strong competitor to BSC and Solana.
Although the highest market cap Ethereum chain averages 1,600 new Tokens daily, it remains highly active in the Memecoin sector, with 95% of multi-chain Memecoins supporting Ethereum. Additionally, about 40% of multi-chain Memecoins support both Ethereum and BNB. Notably, the popularity of Ethereum-native Tokens like SHIB, PEPE, and FLOKI further demonstrates that Ethereum continues to be one of the dominant forces in the Memecoin market.
06 Latest Memecoin trends
Since the first quarter of 2024, we have seen an increasing number of promising Solana Memecoins, along with some notable Base chain Memecoin projects emerging.
Among these projects, several categories of Memecoins have been particularly popular this cycle:
1) Animal coins like dogs and cats
Doge-themed coins remain the most popular category of Memecoins. The world-famous Dogecoin (Doge) showcases how animal-related memes can gain strong community support in the cryptocurrency space. The success of the two OG Tokens, DOGE and SHIB, is strong evidence of this phenomenon. By 2024, this trend continues, with DOGE and SHIB still being the highest market cap Memecoins.
However, this year has also seen the emergence of other top Doge-themed Memecoins such as WIF, FLOKI, and BONK, all of which have noteworthy performances.
According to Cryptonary, by March 2024, Doge-themed Memecoins accounted for more than half of the total market capitalization of Memecoins, with a market capitalization of about $36 billion and a return rate of 2.5 times.
Growth of different Memecoin categories in 2024, source: Cryptonary
However, cat-themed Memecoins have also seen significant growth, becoming the fastest-growing category in the fourth quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024. By March 2024, the market capitalization of cat-themed coins skyrocketed from $50 million to $1.8 billion, providing investors with a tenfold return.
The recent popularity of pufferfish, goats, and others seems far from over. In the future, we are likely to see more animal-themed Tokens entering the Memecoin market.
2) PolitiFi Memecoins
With the U.S. elections being a hot topic, PolitiFi has become one of the most active categories of Memecoins in the first half of this year. However, as the dust from the elections settles, this trend has cooled.
According to Cryptonary's analysis, the market capitalization of the PolitiFi category broke $1 billion earlier this year, with some major Memecoins providing investors with returns as high as 27,000% at their peak.
However, many crypto assets have significantly retreated since then. As of October, the market capitalization of PolitiFi has dropped to $634 million, covering 133 listed Tokens on CoinMarketCap.
It is worth noting that many PolitiFi coins' market capitalizations are self-reported, so actual data may vary significantly. Currently, ConstitutionDAO is the largest project in this field, with a market capitalization exceeding $400 million. On the other hand, many PolitiFi coins have dropped 80%-90% since their all-time highs.
Overall, PolitiFi coins are highly volatile (more so than other Memecoins), and few Tokens can maintain lasting community support.
3) Celebrity-themed Memecoins
While celebrity-themed Memecoins have garnered significant attention in recent years, they have also attracted considerable skepticism and criticism.
Celebrity-backed Memecoins often trigger temporary hype, but the vast majority of projects have extremely short lifespans. Additionally, these Tokens are often viewed as tools for ripping off investors and are even considered potential scams, as project teams typically use investors' funds as exit liquidity.
For example, TrumpCoin (DJT), launched in June 2024, has one wallet address holding 67% of the Token supply. This situation often signals a rug pull risk, making it hard for the asset to recover. In fact, as of October, DJT's price has dropped 97.72% from its all-time high.
Celebrity-themed memes often have shorter lifespans
This concerning trend of dubious projects has even drawn public criticism from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. He explicitly stated that many celebrity-themed Memecoins offer little real value to investors.
The failure of TrumpCoin (DJT) is not an isolated case. According to analysis from CryptoPotato, data from July 2024 showed that since June, the prices of all new celebrity Memecoins launched on Solana have fallen by an average of 94%. Even the better-performing projects have generally seen declines of over 70%. Nowadays, celebrity coins like JENNER and LILPUMP are priced far below their historical highs.
Despite this, a few projects remain active in the market, primarily due to ongoing discussions on social media. The most notable example is Iggy Azalea's Token MOTHER, which has seen a price increase of 192.8% as of 2024, despite a decline from its historical peak.
However, like Memecoins in the PolitiFi category, celebrity-themed Memecoins often generate hype but seem destined for short-term survival.
07 What are the most popular Memecoins right now?
Although most Memecoins find it hard to escape failure, some have withstood the test of time due to strong community support. Especially in recent months, some emerging Memecoins have been gradually establishing themselves in the market with a solid community base.
Below are the top ten Memecoins ranked by market capitalization as of November 20, 2024.
1) Dogecoin (DOGE)
DOGE is the earliest and most resilient Memecoin in the market, having stood the test of time for over a decade. DOGE was launched on the BNB chain in December 2013, with early adoption being slow. Although it peaked at an all-time high of $0.7376 between April and May 2021, the subsequent Memecoin market saw a significant pullback in 2022. It was not until this cycle that it experienced a major breakthrough, with DOGE being the first to rebound this year, starting its rise in early February, breaking past $0.2 in March, reaching its highest level since December 2021. Despite some price pullbacks during this time, its gains this year remain considerable, with a market capitalization far exceeding other Memecoins, reaching about $57.62 billion as of November 20, placing it first.
2) Shiba Inu (SHIB)
SHIB was initially a project on Ethereum aimed at replicating the success of DOGE and has achieved significant results. Since its launch, SHIB has seen cumulative gains of hundreds of thousands of times, reaching an all-time high during the Memecoin craze in 2021, but subsequently experienced a downturn in 2022-2023. In 2024, SHIB has risen again, with a market capitalization of about $14.5 billion as of November 20, currently ranking second on CoinMarketCap.
3) Pepe (PEPE)
PEPE was launched on Ethereum in April 2023, and as of now, its price has increased by hundreds of thousands of times. The significant rise of PEPE began in March 2024, largely driven by the Certik audit report released in December 2023, which gave its code security a high score of 91%. In the recent Memecoin craze, it surged again, and as of November 20, PEPE's market capitalization is approximately $8.54 billion.
4) Bonk (BONK)
BONK is one of many Doge-themed Memecoins released last year, with steadily rising prices since October 2023. It is also one of the few Memecoin projects with extensive cross-chain interoperability, transferable across five major blockchains including Ethereum, BNB, Solana, and Polygon. As of November 20, its market capitalization is about $4.1 billion.
5) Dogwifhat (WIF)
WIF is another emerging Doge-themed Memecoin launched on Solana in mid-December 2023. It began trading in March 2024 and quickly became the first top Memecoin to break $1. This news further fueled WIF's popularity, leading it to reach an all-time high of $4.85 on March 31, 2024. At one point, WIF's market capitalization even surpassed PEPE, but the price then fluctuated. Currently, WIF's price is around $3.4, with a market capitalization of about $3.4 billion as of November 20.
6) FLOKI (FLOKI)
FLOKI is one of the earlier launched Memecoins that has seen a resurgence recently. This coin is inspired by Elon Musk's Shiba Inu Floki, launched in mid-2021 on Ethereum and the BNB chain. Within four months of its release, the price reached an all-time high but then entered a downward trend. In 2024, market enthusiasm was reignited as FLOKI may become an asset in the upcoming Valhalla NFT game. In June 2024, the coin reached a new all-time high of $0.0003462, but the price then fell back. As of November 20, FLOKI's market capitalization is about $2.32 billion, still one of the top Memecoins.
7) Brett (BRETT)
BRETT is one of the few top Memecoins on the Base blockchain and is the second most popular Pepe-themed Memecoin in 2024. This meme was released in March 2024, initially performing poorly but began to rise in mid-May, reaching an all-time high of $0.193 in early June, with a market capitalization of about $1.73 billion as of November 20.
8) Popcat (POPCAT)
POPCAT is one of the stars of this Memecoin supercycle. It was launched on Solana in December 2023, initially experiencing a decline until early 2024 when it began to rebound. Starting in March, POPCAT entered an upward channel and reached its first all-time high of $0.97 in July. Despite significant volatility in the third quarter of 2024, it regained strength in early September. As of November 20, its market capitalization reached $1.67 billion, an impressive performance for a Memecoin launched in less than 12 months.
9) Peanut the Squirrel (PNUT)
PNUT is a Memecoin launched on the Solana chain in November 2024, inspired by a euthanized internet celebrity squirrel named Peanut. The incident sparked heated discussion on social media, rapidly boosting the Token's popularity. PNUT skyrocketed by 800% within a week of its launch, reaching a market capitalization of $1.6 billion, and was listed on exchanges like Binance and OKX, becoming a market hotspot, with a market capitalization of about $1.61 billion as of November 20.
10) Goatseus Maximus (GOAT)
GOAT was officially launched in October 2024, founded by Andy Ayrey. Initially an AI humor experiment, GOAT gradually evolved into a phenomenon with 'AI doctrine' and a cult-like follower culture due to its viral spread on social media. GOAT was initiated on the Pump.fun platform on Solana, promoted by an AI account called Truth Terminal after its launch, rapidly gaining attention and briefly surpassing a market capitalization of $500 million, triggering a wave of memecoin and related project airdrops, making it another dark horse in the Memecoin trend of 2024. As of November 20, its market capitalization is approximately $1.1 billion.
08 Key factors influencing Memecoin trends
The trends of Memecoins are influenced by various factors, and here are some key drivers:
1) High return potential
Compared to more established cryptocurrencies like BTC and ETH, Memecoins attract many investors due to their high-risk, high-return nature. Traditional cryptocurrencies tend to have higher prices and lower volatility, requiring investors to commit larger amounts of capital to achieve significant returns. In contrast, Memecoins are very affordable, especially during the presale phase, making them more attractive with lower investment thresholds.
Memecoins have significant potential for returns, especially in the first few months after a project launches, when prices often experience substantial increases. For example, since its release in December 2023, POPCAT has seen its price rise by +8900.77%. In other words, if $2,500 were invested last December, the current return could exceed $220,000 (based on October data).
2) Social sentiment
Social sentiment is one of the key factors influencing the demand and price trends of Memecoins. Simply put, the higher the hype and attention around a Memecoin, the greater the community engagement, and thus the Token's valuation will rise. Take the revival of Dogecoin in 2023 as an example: just 15 minutes after Musk posted a picture of his dog Floki, Dogecoin's market capitalization surged by $500 million. Meanwhile, FLOKI also soared, increasing nearly 50% within an hour.
Overall, the price volatility of Memecoins is closely related to community enthusiasm, and discussions on social media often serve as a major catalyst for price changes.
This highlights the significant impact of social media discourse and public support on Memecoin trends. When the hype around a Token is sufficient, it can trigger drastic market fluctuations in a short time.
3) Utility development
Common criticisms of Memecoins are that they are purely speculative assets with no real utility. Moreover, due to the rapid fade of hype, many Memecoins have extremely short lifespans.
But not every Memecoin is like this; some have integrated into broader ecosystems. For example, Memecoins like FLOKI can serve as assets in crypto games, offering unique in-game purchases, rewards, or staking opportunities.
Similar utility developments in other crypto industries, such as gaming, AI, and DeFi, could provide real-world use cases and help maintain active communities, extending these Tokens' lifespans and relevance beyond the initial hype cycle.
In fact, we have seen the continued integration of Memecoins into crypto gaming, with new Shiba Inu-style play-to-earn Memecoins on the rise.
4) Security and assurance issues
Of course, Memecoins are also controversial for various reasons. First, their high volatility is almost inevitable, especially when these Tokens lack real-world utility. Many liken investing in Memecoins to gambling.
Combined with this already unstable market and the prevalent pump-and-dump schemes, the risk of losing investments seems to outweigh the chances of achieving short-term massive gains.
The image above shows an example of a pump-and-dump scheme seen in PolitiFi Memecoins. Unsurprisingly, many investors may avoid Memecoins because of this. However, the scams in the Memecoin market continue to emerge.
Although all cryptocurrencies have unique cryptocurrency asset IDs (UCID), unscrupulous individuals can still use the same name and symbols to impersonate established Memes, attempting to deceive unsuspecting investors into purchasing their categories.
The image above tells the story of two seemingly identical PEPEs. Due to the vulnerability of smart contracts, a careless misinvestment can lead to the theft of your crypto assets.
09 Summary
It is evident that the current Memecoin market is thriving, surpassing levels seen before 2023 and outperforming other cryptocurrency sectors.
Social media interactions have also reached a historic high, indicating that overall market sentiment continues to be bullish. The success of new Memecoins this season has even led to speculation about a potential supercycle. However, with thousands of new Memecoins flooding the market, fragmentation in the market has intensified, and many projects are destined to be collateral damage.
