The memecoin market skilled a pointy decline in December, shedding almost 30% of its general worth, signaling lowered momentum and curiosity in meme-themed tokens.
The market capitalization of memecoins stood at $120.14 billion on December 1. This determine briefly rose to $137.06 billion on December 9 earlier than plummeting to $92.67 billion by December 23, marking a considerable 32.38% drop throughout the month. Presently, the market cap sits at $98.72 billion, representing an 18% lower from the month’s begin.
Pepe, the third-largest memecoin by market capitalization, mirrored this volatility. Latest information highlighted its rise to $0.000026 on December 9 earlier than retreating to $0.000017 on December 20. A notable enhance for Pepe got here from its December 4 itemizing on Binance.US, which led to a surge in its worth and market cap.
Following the itemizing, Pepe briefly outpaced Uniswap’s token UNI in market capitalization, reaching a staggering $11 billion valuation. This marked an 18-fold enhance because the begin of the yr when its market cap was roughly $591 million.
The memecoin craze additionally resulted in extraordinary beneficial properties for sure merchants. In a single occasion, a dealer who initially spent $3,000 on Pepe in April noticed their holdings balloon to $46 million after the token’s worth soared by over 15,000 occasions inside a month. One other dealer, who invested simply $27 in Pepe, reactivated their dormant pockets after 600 days, transferring tokens now value $52 million—a exceptional 1,900,000x return, as reported by Lookonchain.
Regardless of these particular person success tales, the numerous market decline in December raises questions concerning the sustainability of the so-called “memecoin supercycle.”