Memecoins
Memecoin Floki, Dogwifhat and Pepe Surge Amid Ethereum ETF Green light
- Memecoins have surged over the past week, with WIF leading the pack with gains of 33%, with Floki and Bonk at 25% each following suit.
- While the biggest gains are being spread across Solana, analysts say the Ethereum ETF approval was the biggest benefit, with increased attention from retail investors eventually turning to memecoins.
The memecoin mania that characterized this year’s bull rally is back in play, with the fun-themed cryptocurrencies leading the market in gains over the past two weeks. Dogwifhat leads the pack after PEPE fell significantly in the last day following days of huge gains.
As of this writing, the memecoin market cap stands at $68.7 billion, up 1.1% over the past day. The trading volume also saw an increase during this period to reach $10.09 billion. Dogecoin remains the market leader at $23.74 billion, far ahead of second-placed Shiba Inu at $15.9 billion. The two have barely moved over the past 24 hours, and over the past week DOGE is down nearly 1% while SHIB is up 8.6%.
While the major memecoins have been relatively stable, the situation has been volatile for most cryptocurrencies in this category. WIF was last week’s biggest gainer, up 32.7% to trade at $3.78. With a market capitalization of $3.757 billion, WIF is the fourth largest meme coin after DOGE, SHIB, and PEPE.
WIF, issued on Solana, continued to trade strongly with a trading volume of $1.193 billion over the past day and a gain of 3.2%.
WIF FLOKI and BONK follow, each gaining 29% in the past week. There is little that separates the two memecoins: both have seen just over $850 million in trading volume, and their market cap is just $1 million as of this writing, although they have exchanged several times in the last day. BONK, issued on Solana, is currently trading at $0.0000396, while FLOKI changes hands at $0.0002804.
Despite their momentum over the past week, they saw a decline over the past day, with FLOKI losing 8% and BONK losing 5.7%.
PEPE, valued at $0.0000151, is the third largest memecoin and has maintained its position despite losing nearly 6% over the past day. However, in the last month, it has gained 120% and over 1,000% year to date, making it one of the best performing cryptocurrencies.
Ethereum ETF or strong Layer-1 growth: what’s behind the Memecoin surge?
Analysts have been debating the surge in memecoins, with opinions divided on what triggered the latest push. Some believe this is due to the approval of the Ethereum ETF. Like Crypto News Flash reportedGary Gensler bowed to market pressure and approved eight Ether ETFs a week ago.
According to Derek Horstmeyer, the approvals “brought bullish people to the outer edges of the monetary space.” This fringe is where memecoins live, which have attracted a lot of interest from investors, explains the finance professor at George Mason University said Fortune.
Jonathan Bixby, head of Phoenix Digital Assets, agrees, saying: “The theory is that when money flows into the ecosystem through ETFs, it often gets to these smaller projects.”
However, for others, it’s all about the continued growth of the layer 1 blockchains on which these altcoins are built. BitGo’s Matt Ballensweig says if the ETF were the main tailwind, Ethereum memecoins would lead in gains. However, Solana’s memecoins have skyrocketed, from WIF to BONK.
Matt said:
Solana has essentially cemented itself as the chain with the most “speculative fun” as traders continue to bet on memecoins on decentralized exchanges.