Bitcoin
Meme cryptocurrencies outperform Bitcoin
Top line
The first half of 2024 will likely be best remembered in the land of digital assets for debut of bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the spotlight, but there have been several lesser-known cryptocurrencies that have stolen the spotlight.
Shiba Inus were the face of the 2024 cryptocurrency rally.
NurPhoto via Getty Images
Key facts
The market value of all cryptocurrencies increased by $661 billion in the first six months of the year, according to CoinGecko, with bitcoin, by far the world’s most valuable crypto token, accounting for $409 billion of that gain.
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 congregate on social media move in and out of the coins.
Dogwifhat, an aptly named token whose logo is a Shiba Inu in a knit hat, is the biggest returner of the 70 or so coins with market caps above $1 billion, gaining about 1,300%, while Pepe, a token named after the frequently meme frog associated with circles on the right fringe, is the next 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, similarly outperforming 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 only gained 35%.
Several tokens that don’t fall under the meme coin umbrella also saw rallies that outperformed bitcoin, including ether (up 51%), the Ethereum token that could be approved for bitcoin-like ETFs. as soon as this summer, and Binance Coin (up 81%), the coin often abbreviated as BNB, which is issued by the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange and owned primarily by Binance’s billionaire founder Changpeng Zhao.
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10 Best Performing Cryptocurrencies (Market Cap Over $1 Billion)
- Dogwifhat: Up 1,306%, Market Cap at $2.1 Billion
- Pepe: Up 815%, Market Cap at $5 Billion
- Artificial Superintelligence Alliance: Up 545%, $3.6B market cap
- Floki: Up 392%, Market Cap at $1.6 Billion
- JasmyCoin: Up 343%, Market Cap at $1.4 Billion
- Arweave: Up 188%, Market Cap at $1.8 Billion
- Core: Up 152%, $1.2B market cap
- Toncoin: Up 135%, Market Cap $18.8 Billion
- Bitget: Up 100%, Market Cap at $1.6 Billion
- Bonk: Up 90%, Market Cap at $1.5 Billion
What is a meme coin?
There is no hard and fast rule as to what constitutes a meme coin, but typically it is considered a cryptocurrency that is tied to a viral internet joke and whose price moves even more severely than the already volatile asset class. Notably, these coins tend not to have much use beyond a speculative investment, unlike, say, bitcoin, which some seen as a modern alternative to gold for its ability to store value regardless of inflation or central bank activity. All cryptocurrencies except bitcoin are regarding such as altcoins (alternative coins), many of which are not meme coins. Meme investing is not exclusive to crypto, as the stock market has seen a rise in social media-driven momentum trading in recent years with shares of companies like GameStop and AMC.
Crucial quote
“Meme coins can capture public attention today and disappear tomorrow,” warned BankRate analyst James Royal. CNBC. “If demand dries up, you’re left with nothing but worthless digital assets and a good story,” Royal added.
Main context
First minted in 2009, bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market surged in popularity and value during the COVID-19 pandemic, rising from a March 2020 low of nearly $4,100 to a November 2021 peak of nearly $69,000. The industry then endured the brutal “crypto winter” of 2022, marked by a series of high-profile bankruptcies of companies like Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX, causing bitcoin to fall below $16,000 by the end of 2022. The cryptocurrency market then surged as broader market conditions improved and investors grew excited by the prospect of spot bitcoin ETFs, which brought in about $15 billion of new capital in their first five months of existence, according to Bernstein analysis. Bitcoin peaked at $73,768 in March. It now trades about 15% below that peak, but is still outperforming the S&P 500 stock index year to date.
Surprising fact
Despite the rise in value of several other cryptocurrencies, bitcoin reached its most dominant level since the first half of 2021 this year, according to for CoinMarketCap. Bitcoin represents over 55% of the aggregate market value of the global cryptocurrency market, up from 40% at the end of 2022.