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Meme Cryptocurrencies Surpassing Bitcoin
Top line
The first half of 2024 will probably be best remembered in the country of digital assets for the debut of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), but there have also been several lesser-known cryptocurrencies that have stolen the show.
Shiba Inus were the face of the 2024 cryptocurrency rally.
NurPhoto via Getty Images
Main aspects
According to CoinGecko, the market value of all cryptocurrencies increased by $661 billion in the first six months of the year; of that gain, $409 billion was attributed to Bitcoin, by far the most valuable cryptocurrency in the world.
Bitcoin’s 48% surge, as institutional investors warmed to the asset, was outpaced by several “meme coins,” tokens with little intrinsic value whose prices tend to fluctuate wildly as traders who often congregate on social media accumulate and mine coins.
Dogwifhat, an aptly named token whose logo is a Shiba Inu wearing a knitted hat, is the highest-yielding of the roughly 70 coins with market caps above $1 billion, gaining about 1,300%, while Pepe, a token named after the often-popular meme frog associated with marginal circles on the right, it is the second best performer of the first half with a gain of almost 800%, according to CoinMarketCap.
Floki, a coin named after the Shiba Inu dog owned by the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, and a coin known simply as Shiba Inu, have surged 418% and 67%, respectively, again outpacing Bitcoin.
Shiba Inus (the dog, not the token) are undoubtedly the mascots of the meme coin boom, but perhaps the most famous dog-based token, dogecoin, has gained a relatively paltry 35%.
Several tokens outside the meme coin umbrella have also seen higher rallies than Bitcoin, including Ether (up 51%), the Ethereum network token that could be approved for Bitcoin-like ETFs. as soon as this summer, and Binance Coin (up 81%), the coin often abbreviated to BNB that is issued by the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange and owned primarily by Binance’s struggling billionaire founder Changpeng Zhao.
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Top 10 Best-Performing Cryptocurrencies (Market Cap Above $1 Billion)
- Dogwifhat: Up 1,306%, Market Cap of $2.1B
- Pepe: Up 815%, Market Cap of $5B
- Artificial Superintelligence Alliance: Up 545%, Market Cap of $3.6B
- Floki: Up 392%, Market Cap of $1.6B
- JasmyCoin: Up 343%, Market Cap of $1.4B
- Arweave: Up 188%, Market Cap of $1.8B
- Core: Up 152%, Market Cap of $1.2B
- Toncoin: Up 135%, Market Cap $18.8B
- Bitget: Up 100%, Market Cap of $1.6B
- Bonk: Up 90%, Market Cap of $1.5B
What is a meme coin?
There is no hard and fast rule as to what constitutes a meme currency, but it is generally considered a cryptocurrency that is tied to a viral internet joke and whose price moves even more dramatically than the already volatile asset class. Notably, these coins tend not to have a use case beyond speculative investing, unlike, say, bitcoin, which Some seen as a modern alternative to gold for its ability to retain value independent of inflation or central bank activity. All cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin are refering to as altcoins (alternative coins), many of which are not meme coins. Investing in memes is not exclusive to cryptocurrencies, as the stock market has seen a surge in social media-driven momentum trading in recent years with shares of companies like GameStop and AMC.
Crucial quote
“Meme coins could capture the public’s attention today and disappear tomorrow,” BankRate analyst James Royal warned. The CNBC“If demand dries up, all that will be left are worthless digital assets and a beautiful story,” Royal added.
Key context
First minted in 2009, bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market experienced a surge in popularity and value during the COVID-19 pandemic, rising from a low of nearly $4,100 in March 2020 to a peak of nearly $69,000 in November 2021. The sector then endured the brutal “crypto winter” of 2022, marked by a series of high-profile failures such as Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX, which sent bitcoin below $16,000 by the end of 2022. The cryptocurrency market then rebounded as broader market conditions improved and investors became excited about the prospect of spot bitcoin ETFs, which brought in about $15 billion in new capital in their first five months of existence, according to Bernstein analysis. Bitcoin peaked at $73,768 in March. The stock is currently trading about 15% below that peak, but continues to outperform the S&P 500 stock index year to date.
Surprising fact
Despite the rise in value of several other cryptocurrencies, bitcoin has reached its most dominant level since the first half of 2021 this year, second at CoinMarketCap. Bitcoin represents over 55% of the aggregate market value of the global cryptocurrency market, up from 40% at the end of 2022.