We’ve just experienced the craziest week in meme coin history, with both Donald Trump and new First Lady Melania launching their own meme coins days before his presidential inauguration.
TL;DR
- Trump and Melania meme coins overwhelm crypto markets
- Balaji slams meme coins as unsustainable hype
- Bitcoin and Solana hit new ATHs
- Meme coins dump as liquidity rotates
- Bitcoin Runes are surging again
Intro
We’ve just experienced the craziest week in meme coin history, with both Donald Trump and new First Lady Melania launching their own meme coins days before his presidential inauguration!
There are claims that the Sherlock Holmes of crypto, ZachXBT, dumped on his followers, but some seem to disagree. We will have to wait until next week to get the full story. Zach received tokens as donations, so what’s the problem?
Meme coins are receiving major criticism from high-profile crypto figures like Balaji. Bottom signal?
7-Day Meme Coin Market Snapshot
The overall meme coin market cap is up from $101.40 billion to $109.19 billion over the last seven days as the whole market turns bullish and Trump pardons Ross Ulbricht.
The top meme coins had a rally leading up to the U.S. presidential inauguration but then cooled off after crypto was not even mentioned once.
Source: CoinMarketCap
The crypto blue chips did well, Bitcoin made a new all-time high (ATH), Solana absolutely ripped and also hit an ATH, XRP continued its run, and Ethereum as usual lagged behind with the CT timeline at extreme levels of ETH fud.
Source: CoinMarketCap
Meme Coin Market vs Other Crypto Sectors
DeFiLlama's Narrative tracker showed that the crypto majors outperformed memes, AI took a beating and PolitiFi shined as expected with a pro-crypto U.S. president now in office and dropping his own meme coins.
The 30-day trajectory continued going sideways but some degens are still calling it the future of Finance.
Source: DeFiLlama
Top 20 Meme Coin Leaderboard
Meme coins and AI agents got destroyed as the Trump tokens sucked all the liquidity from the market.
Meme Coin Charts: 7-Day Insights
It’s probably a good idea to look at which tokens still performed well, like SPX6900, while most tokens are down due to a rotation of liquidity.
Biggest Gainers (Last 7 Days):
- OFFICIAL TRUMP (TRUMP): +536.39%
- Fartcoin (FARTCOIN): +62.85%
- SPX6900 (SPX): +31.81%
- Bonk (BONK): +19.77%
- Gigachad (GIGA): +18.41%
Biggest Decliners
- Official Melania Meme (MELANIA): -45.80%
- Peanut the Squirrel (PNUT): -35.69%
- Pudgy Penguins (PENGU): -23.19%
- Turbo (TURBO): -18.09%
- Brett (BRETT): -17.67%
Meme Coins by Chain
Solana Memes
- Unicorn Fart Dust (UFD) surges by 39% and Ron changes his mind on crypto and meme coins.
- Fwog (FWOG) rises by 30% and they want to put a flag on Mars.
Ethereum Memes
- SPX6900 continues to shine and is up almost 32% as they take on TradFi aka TardFi.
Tron Memes
- BULL gains 5.5% and their time is soon.
- SunDog lives up to his promise.
Most Tron meme coins have low market caps compared to tokens on chains like Ethereum and Solana, so they are extremely risky until proven otherwise.
SUI Memes
- Sonic Snipe Bot (SONIC) rises by 15% and is one of Sui’s top performers this week.
- AAA is up 14% as they can’t stop and won’t stop.
Most SUI meme coins have low market caps compared to tokens on chains like Ethereum and Solana, so they are extremely risky until proven otherwise.
Base
- Based Fartcoin (FARTCOIN) soars by 45% as they advise people to fart responsibly.
- Mister Miggles gains 40% and it’s time to do the hardest, most important work of their lives.
Bitcoin Runes
- PUPS is up 8% while their new Memedeck just dropped.
Most Bitcoin Runes have low market caps compared to tokens on chains like Ethereum and Solana, so they are extremely risky until proven otherwise.
Meme Coin News
Trump and Melania Meme Coins Controversy
The Trump family recently went into full retardio mode with back-to-back meme coin launches, TRUMP and MELANIA.
Donald Trump launched TRUMP on Jan. 17, a meme coin built on the Solana blockchain, which quickly soared to a peak of $75 and a market cap of nearly $15 billion. Days later, Melania Trump launched MELANIA, also on Solana, which reached a $2 billion valuation before pulling back.
The launches triggered a backlash from the crypto community and even Trump supporters, who called the tokens cash grabs. Some pointed out the centralized nature of MELANIA, with 88% of its supply held by just 10 wallets, raising concerns about market manipulation.
BNB Chain Launches No-Code Meme Solution
BNB Chain introduced a no-code solution that allows users to easily create and launch their own meme coin projects. The platform is designed for individuals and businesses, offering tools such as analytics, launchpad support, and liquidity provision through PancakeSwap.
The launch comes after the recent hype and success of the TRUMP and MELANIA tokens on Solana. BNB Chain aims to capitalize on this trend by providing accessible tools for creators while challenging meme coin networks like Solana and Ethereum.
Balaji Criticizes Meme Coins
As the Trump tokens dominate the market, former CTO of America’s No.1 crypto exchange and Network State advocate Balaji Srinivasan has spoken out against meme coins and called it a "zero-sum lottery."
In a thread on X, he argued that meme coins don’t create wealth but instead transfer it, leaving late buyers at a loss. He compared investing in meme coins to gambling in Las Vegas, suggesting they should only be approached for entertainment purposes
Balaji also said that some meme coins maintain value through added use cases or consistent media. He advised investors to focus on assets with long-term value like Bitcoin, highlighting Bitcoin’s real-world utility, decentralized infrastructure, and decade-long growth trajectory.
What Can You Do Next?
- Keep an eye on MemeFi because it’s here to stay.
- Meme coins show signs of slowing growth. Make sure to have a diversified portfolio.
- Be careful of scams promoted by influencers and celebrities.
- Remember that meme coins often decline faster when the larger market retraces.
- Consider reinvesting some profits into safer crypto tokens or stables.
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