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Meme Coin Demand Higher Than Ever With Fast Money Chasing Pepe and WIF: Analyst
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CoinMarketCap saw a record 138 meme coins in April, according to pseudonymous Crypto analyst Coryo.
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Fast money is chasing PEPE and WIF.
Meme coin season continues to surge, undeterred by the slowdown in the bitcoin {{BTC}} rally.
Data tracking site CoinMarketCap listed a record 138 meme coins in April, extending the parabolic rise from the April 2023 tally of just 18, according to pseudonymous Crypto analyst Coryo. The number could be much higher, as CoinMarketCap reportedly lists only 10% of all tokens, Crypto Coryo said on X.
At the time of going to press, 2,229 meme pieces have been listed on CoinMarketCapwith a combined market capitalization of over $50 billion, almost the same the market value of investment banking giant JPMorgan (JPM) and American electric carmaker Tesla (TSLA).
This is an impressive feat, as meme coins are often criticized for their lack of utility or real use case and seen as a substitute for pure speculation.
“In principle, people participate in meme coins because (i) the value can increase, (ii) they feel democratic and open to everyone’s participation, and (iii) they are fun,” said Vitalik Buterin, founder of the smart contract blockchain Ethereum, which is also home to several popular meme coins. said in a blog post.
Arthur Hayes, co-founder and former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX and chief investment officer at Maelstrom, supports a deeper understanding of meme coins as a driver of growth in the blockchain ecosystem.
“You can ridicule these things as stupid and worthless, but if it brings attention and more engineers into the space, that’s a positive value for the channel itself,” Hayes said in an interview with Real Vision on March 30.
Number of memecoins registered per month per chain on CoinMarketCap. (Crypto Coryo)
The programmable blockchain Solana, cheaper and faster than its rival Ethereum, has become the new home for these tokens since late last year. At one point during the first quarter, the meme frenzy led to record network activity on Solana, pushing the price of SOL above $200 for the first time since November 2021.
“Due to high gas fees, degenerate activity has (partially) shifted away from Ethereum. We saw this with Bonk on Solana and Bald on Base. But Solana is now the home of meme coins,” Crypto Coryo noted.
PEPE, the hunt for quick money
The recent negative price action of Bitcoin has pushed speculators to turn to a popular meme token, pepe (PEPE). The token has increased by nearly 17% in seven days, becoming the ninth best-performing cryptocurrency on CoinMarketCap’s list.
Additionally, it has the second-highest ratio of open interest (OI) to market cap among perpetual futures contracts, according to data tracked by Paris-based Kaiko. Dogifwhat (WIF), also a meme coin, has the highest OI to market cap ratio.
The story continues
“Pepe (PEPE) and Dogwifhat (WIF) have a 2x ratio compared to other altcoins. A higher ratio indicates that an asset’s derivatives market positioning is large relative to its market cap, making price discovery for these tokens more concentrated in perpetual futures markets,” Kaiko said in the weekly newsletter.
Notional open interest refers to the dollar value locked in the number of active or open futures contracts.
Open interest/market capitalization ratio of major cryptocurrencies. (Kaiko)