TLDR
- Meme coins have seen significant gains recently, with some rising over 20% in 24 hours.
- This surge follows a failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump over the weekend.
- The meme coin sector overall rose by about 12%, outperforming major cryptocurrencies.
- Pepe (PEPE) and Dogwifhat (WIF) were among the top performers.
- New politically-themed meme coins like America Coin (USA) have emerged and gained value.
The cryptocurrency market has seen a shift this week, with meme coins experiencing a significant surge in value. This trend comes in the wake of a failed assassination attempt on former U.S. President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania over the weekend.
Meme coins have outperformed major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. The meme coin sector as a whole rose by about 12% on Tuesday.
Among the top performers were Pepe (PEPE) and Dogwifhat (WIF), which saw gains of 22% and 25% respectively in a 24-hour period. Pepe, an Ethereum-based token, reached a price of $0.00001256, while Dogwifhat, a Solana-based coin, hit $2.24.
Other meme coins also saw significant gains. Popcat, another Solana-based token, jumped nearly 18% in 24 hours, reaching $0.8995. Even Dogecoin, the original meme coin and tenth largest cryptocurrency by market cap, rose by about 5%, outpacing both Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The surge in meme coin prices comes as Bitcoin broke above $65,000 per coin for the first time in nearly a month, though it has since settled around $64,359. This represents a more modest gain of about 1% over 24 hours.
Interestingly, the meme coin rally has also seen the emergence of new, politically-themed tokens.
Following the incident involving Trump, coins such as America Coin (USA) and Super Trump (STRUMP) have appeared on the market. These tokens have seen explosive growth, with America Coin up by 204% and Super Trump rising 43% since the event.
Analysts suggest that this surge in meme coins may be due to traders taking profits from larger, more established cryptocurrencies and diversifying into more speculative assets. Meme coins have historically performed well during periods when major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum are trading in a range near local highs.
The current meme coin trend aligns with findings from CoinGecko’s Q2 2024 Crypto Industry Report, which highlighted meme coins as the most popular narrative in the crypto market for the second consecutive quarter.
The report noted that 4 out of the top 15 most popular narratives were memecoin-related, with Solana and Base memecoins registering significant market share.
