Memecoin’s overall market capitalization dropped by about 30% in December, showing a slowdown in momentum and demand for meme-based tokens.
CoinMarketCap data shows that on Dec. 1, the total market cap for memecoins was $120.14 billion. It went up to as high as $137.06 billion on Dec. 9 before plummeting to a low of $92.67 billion on Dec. 23. This marks a 32.38% decrease in market capitalization within the month.
Meme tokens’ overall market capitalization. Source: CoinMarketCap
At the time of writing, the overall market cap for memecoins is $98.72 billion, 18% lower than its performance at the start of the month.
Pepe, exchange listings drive December’s memecoin surge
Pepe (PEPE), the third-biggest memecoin by market capitalization, mirrored the broader memecoin market’s price movements. Cointelegraph Markets Pro data shows that Pepe went up to $0.000026 on Dec. 9 but dropped to $0.000017 on Dec. 20.
The Pepe memecoin’s 30-day price chart. Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro
On Dec. 4, Binance.US listed Pepe as the US-based digital asset exchange platform competed for their share in the lucrative memecoin market. Apart from Binance, Coinbase listed tokens like Moodeng (MOODENG), Mog (MOG), and Dogwifhat (WIF) in December.
Following its listing on Binance’s US arm, Pepe’s price hit an all-time high, surpassing Uniswap’s token (UNI) in market capitalization on Dec. 7. At the start of 2024, the memecoin had a market cap of about $591 million. After the listing, the token’s market cap crossed $11 billion, representing an 18x growth since the start of the year.
Related: Is the ‘memecoin supercycle’ over already? Analysts weigh in
Traders earn millions trading Pepe
Throughout the year, savvy traders invested in the Pepe memecoin and made millions of dollars as the token surged. In April, a crypto trader spent $3,000 buying the meme-based token. After a month, the trader’s Pepe holdings became worth as much as $46 million after the token showed a price increase of over 15,000 times.
In December, a trader who spent $27 buying Pepe tokens and went dormant for over 600 days finally touched their holdings. The wallet transferred about $52 million in Pepe tokens to a new address. According to onchain analytics firm Lookonchain, the trader experienced a 1,900,000x return on their investment.
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