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Bitcoin Hovers at $62K as Pepe Hits Record While GameStop Extends Rally
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Crypto markets have remained relatively stable over the past 24 hours, with only meme coins recording significant gains.
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Bitcoin (BTC) gained just over 1%, Ether (ETH) lost 0.5%, while BNB chain BNB and Solana SOL fell as much as 3% in 24 hours, data from CoinGecko shows.
Crypto markets were little changed over the past 24 hours, with only a few meme coins posting huge returns as the effects of GameStop’s (GME) share price rally earlier this week continued to weigh on some tokens.
Bitcoin {{BTC}} gained just over 1%, ether {{ETH}} lost 0.5%, while the BNB chain’s BNB and Solana’s SOL fell as much as 3% in the last 24 hours, data from CoinGecko shows. CoinDesk 20, a broad index of the largest tokens, minus stablecoins, fell 0.17%.
Dog-themed Floki (FLOKI) rose 12%, the most among the top 50 tokens by market cap, while pepe (PEPE) jumped 5% to a new lifetime high.
meme tokens began to meet earlier the week following Keith Gill’s first X post since 2021 boosted risk-taking sentiment among traders. Gill is a retail trader whose online persona and investing strategies contributed to a small decline in video game retailer GameStop’s shares in 2021.
A simple photo posted by Gill sent the shares soaring, nearly doubling in value on Monday despite several trading halts, although he did not directly mention the company. The recovery showed signs of slowing, however. Stocks are 13% drop in pre-market trading on Wednesday.
Some traders expected their influence to cause rises in stocks and meme tokens, as reported.
Several cat-themed tokens – which refer to Gill’s online personality @TheRoaringKitty – and major meme coins have risen by as much as 50% in recent days. A joke GameStop (GME) token on the Solana blockchain reached $100 million in capitalization on Wednesday, an increase of more than 700% over the past week.
Meanwhile, some traders say the overall environment for bitcoin and major tokens appears weak despite meme coin rallies.
“Neither the meme craze in stocks, the general positivity in stock indexes, nor the weakening dollar appear to be helping cryptocurrencies at this time,” said Alex Kuptsikevich, senior market analyst at FxPro, in an email to CoinDesk.