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- Memecoins have been surging over the past week, with WIF leading the pack at 33% gains, with Floki and Bonk at 25% each following suit.
- While the top gainers are deployed on Solana, analysts say the Ethereum ETF approval was the biggest tailwind, with increased attention from retail investors eventually flowing to memecoins.
The memecoin mania that characterised this year’s bull rally has been at play once again, with the fun-themed cryptocurrencies leading the market in gains over the past two weeks. Dogwifhat leads the pack after PEPE dipped significantly over the past day after days of outsized gains.
At press time, the memecoin market cap stands at $68.7 billion, rising by 1.1% in the past day. Trading volume has also recorded an uptick in that time to hit $10.09 billion. Dogecoin remains the market leader at $23.74 billion, miles ahead of second-placed Shiba Inu at $15.9 billion. The two have barely moved in the past 24 hours, and in the past week, DOGE has dipped by nearly 1% while SHIB has risen by 8.6%.
While the top memecoins have been relatively stable, it’s been volatile for most cryptos in this category. WIF has been the biggest gainer in the past week, surging 32.7% to trade at $3.78. At $3.757 billion in market cap, WIF is the fourth-largest meme coin below DOGE, SHIB and PEPE.
WIF, issued on Solana, has continued to trade strongly at $1.193 billion in trading volume in the past day and a 3.2% gain.
Following behind WIF are FLOKI and BONK, each gaining 29% in the past week. There’s little to separate the two memecoins—they both saw just over $850 million in trading volume, and their market cap is only $1 million apart at press time, although they have been flipping each other several times over the past day. BONK, issued on Solana, currently trades at $0.0000396, while FLOKI changes hands at $0.0002804.
Despite their momentum over the past week, they have dipped in the past day, with FLOKI losing 8% and BONK losing 5.7%.
PEPE, at $0.0000151, is the third-largest memecoin and has held onto its spot despite losing nearly 6% over the past day. However, over the past month, it has gained 120% and over 1,000% year-to-date, being one of the best-performing cryptos.
Ethereum ETFs or Strong Layer-1 Growth—What’s Behind the Memecoins Surge?
Analysts have been debating the memecoin surge, with opinion split over what has sparked the latest drive. Some believe it’s due to the Ethereum ETF approval. As Crypto News Flash reported, Gary Gensler gave in to market pressure and approved eight Ether ETFs a week ago.
According to Derek Horstmeyer, the approvals “have people bullish on the far fringes of the coin space.” This fringe is where memecoins live, and they have been attracting a lot of interest from investors, the professor of finance at George Mason University told Fortune.
Jonathan Bixby, who heads Phoenix Digital Assets, concurs, stating, “The theory is that as money flows into the ecosystem through ETFs, it often trickles down to these smaller projects.”
However, for others, it’s all about the continued growth of the Layer 1 blockchains that these altcoins are built on. BitGo’s Matt Ballensweig says that if the ETF was the major tailwind, Ethereum memecoins would lead in gains. However, Solana memecoins have been skyrocketing, from WIF to BONK.
Matt stated:
Solana has basically solidified itself as the chain with the most ‘speculative fun’ as traders continue to gamble on memecoins on decentralized exchanges.
