- Memecoins were the most popular crypto market category in the first half of 2024
- Solana-based memecoins outperformed its Ethereum counterparts 8X.
Memecoins were the most popular cryptocurrency category in the first half of 2024. Per the CoinMarketCap (CMC) H1 2024 report, memecoins eclipsed DeFi, NFTs, and smart contracts.
“Meme Coins accounted for ~23% of page views on CoinMarketCap, with over 25 million in June.”
Source: CMC
This indicated that memecoins attracted more market interest than other categories.
Interestingly, Solana [SOL] based memecoins dominated the space on what the report called “anti-establishment” sentiment towards VC-based tokens.
‘In the Solana (SOL) ecosystem, meme coins reign, symbolizing a rush into speculative assets. Retail investors are prioritizing quick gains over VC-backed high FDV projects, indicating an anti-establishment sentiment’
Solana vs. Ethereum: Memecoins performance
The massive traction in the Solana ecosystem from memecoins like Dogwifhat [WIF], Bonk [BONK], and GameStop [GME] saw the network eclipse Ethereum [ETH].
On average, Solana-based memecoins outperformed their Ethereum counterparts by 8X on a year-to-date (YTD) basis.
“SOL memes outperformed ETH memes significantly, returning an average of 8,469% vs 962% for Ethereum.”
Source: CoinMarketCap
The report attributed Solana’s massive success and traction to WIF and BONK’s explosive rallies.
“This is likely due to the rush of speculative capital from other chains, attracted by the explosive rallies of WIF and BONK, causing more memes to pump and attracting even more capital and attention.”
However, Solana memecoins seem to be off to a rough start in the second half of 2024, as Bitcoin’s [BTC] price action weakened.
As of press time, BTC had dropped below $58K, reducing the market cap of Solana-based memecoins by 18% to $6.32 billion in the past 24 hours. WIF and Popcat [POPCAT] were down double-digits on the daily front.
WIF was down 10% and traded at $1.79, while POPCAT was down 17% and exchanged hands at $0.4. The ongoing crypto market rout could exert more sell pressure and losses across the memecoin segment.
