CoinGecko: Meme coins may be "dead" now, but they will definitely come back

Memecoin activity boomed after the launch of President Trump’s TRUMP meme coin on Jan. 18, but has cooled off since the Libragate incident.

Enthusiasm for memecoins appears to have cooled after a series of bad token launches and runaways dampened investor interest, according to CoinGecko founder Bobby Ong.

In a March 6 report, Ong said that the metrics of token issuance platform Pump.fun immediately plummeted after the Libra project runaway incident. The number of newly created tokens and daily unlocked tokens on the platform has fallen by more than 90% since the peak in February.

“The launch of Trumpcoin (TRUMP) and Melaniacoin (MELANIA) marked the peak moment for memecoins as it sucked liquidity and attention from all other cryptocurrencies.”

This is in stark contrast to the activity of memecoins after the launch of President Trump’s meme coin on Jan. 18. At that time, the usage of Pump.fun hit a record high of $3.3 billion in weekly trading volume.

However, from January to February, Pump.fun’s trading volume plummeted 63%. CoinMarketCap data also shows that the total market value of memecoins reached an all-time high of $124 billion on December 5, but has since fallen to $54 billion.

Ong added: "If the launch of these two coins (Trump Coin and Melania Coin) was not enough to end the memecoin craze, then Libra was the last straw that broke the camel's back, breaking the illusion that memecoins were launched fairly and exposing the fact that some small groups and insiders were profiting from almost everyone else."

After the launch of Libra, a cryptocurrency "promoted" by Argentine President Javier Milei, insiders cashed out more than $107 million, and the value of the token evaporated by nearly 94% in a few hours.

Ong said that memecoins "have always been seasonal," but some of them will survive the volatile market cycle.

In February, on-chain analytics platform Santiment noted that the cryptocurrency market could be heading toward a healthier market cycle as interest in memecoins wanes and attention shifts back to Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other layer-one altcoins.

Ong speculated that the market could be heading toward an “extreme power-law distribution scenario,” where 99.99% of memecoins fail, with only a few able to stand out and persist.

“Coins like DOGE, SHIB, and BONK have withstood the test of market cycles, providing lessons for memecoin creators looking to build a long-term asset,” Ong said.

“The most successful memecoins are those that have successfully built a community of rabid fans who are passionate about the idea, don’t sell their coins, and are able to spontaneously create content or stories around it.”