Tech
Cryptocurrency Memes Back in Full Force After Bitcoin ETF Frenzy
If there’s one thing cryptocurrency enthusiasts love more than the digital asset itself, it’s memes. A frenzy of cryptocurrency memes gained new momentum last week as Bitcoin rallied.
Rising expectations that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will authorize exchange-traded funds that invest directly in bitcoin have pushed the largest cryptocurrency by market value up more than 25% in the past two weeks, to about $35,000 on Wednesday, its highest level in about 18 months. The breakout gives bulls some hope, even as memories of the industry’s recent woes linger. Just last week, Sam Bankman-Fried took the stand to defend himself from criminal charges stemming from the collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange FTX. He has pleaded not guilty.
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Memecoins like Pepe Coin (PEPE) have surged alongside Bitcoin. The coin based on the Internet meme of a green anthropomorphic frog that has been around since the early 2000s surged 77% on Friday from the previous week, according to data from cryptocurrency market tracker CoinGecko. Pepe Coin, which was issued this year, rose to a market value of more than $1 billion in May before reversing course and plunging more than 60% in the following days, according to data tracker CoinMarketCap.
“The bear market has dampened meme activity, especially in terms of market value, but it’s still been pretty buoyant,” said Noelle Acheson, author of the Crypto is Macro Now newsletter. “As sentiment becomes more bullish, meme tokens will come to represent even more of the fun and YOLO side of cryptocurrency investing.”
Memes, from Baby Yoda to Bob Ross, have been part of the cryptocurrency space since its inception, and in 2013 they began trading as digital tokens known as memecoins. Dogecoin, often cited as the first memecoin, was valued at as much as $50 billion in 2021, according to data provider CoinMarketCap.com. Dogecoin rose to prominence when Elon Musk tweeted memes based on the coin, inspiring other dog-themed memecoins like the Shiba Inu. There are now hundreds of memecoins that range from being worth next to nothing to having market values of $100 million or more.
“Cryptocurrencies attract rebels who believe that money is not serious, that legacy systems are untrustworthy, that the future is uncertain, and that those in charge are corrupt, so they might as well have some fun,” Acheson said.
This isn’t the first time memecoins have been in tune with overall market sentiment. During the Covid-19 pandemic, one of the most popular memes, “money printer go brrr,” was about how the Federal Reserve was “printing” an infinite amount of dollars and how that increased the value of Bitcoin, which has a finite supply of tokens. That meme disappeared in October 2022, leaving the average investor with little interest in the fact that there is a finite amount of the digital asset.
“We can scoff at the lack of fundamental value in these tokens, but I think that overlooks the fact that ultimately the market decides,” Acheson said. “Meme tokens are cultural expressions with monetary value, and there will always be some level of enthusiastic participation in the cryptocurrency market.”
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