Leading tokens from last cycle’s viral meme coin phenomenon are skyrocketing in value this week as Bitcoin reclaimed $100,000, Ethereum marked double-digit percentage gains, and Solana hit a two-month high.
Solana-based tokens Moo Deng (MOODENG) and Peanut the Squirrel (PNUT) lead the category, jumping 143% and 55% respectively in the last 24 hours on more than $900 million in respective trading volume, according to CoinGecko.
The pair, which became notable enough to earn listings from major centralized exchanges, were formerly trading at market caps of $680 million and $2.4 billion respectively—but now sit around 80% off their all-time highs, even after their gains.
Other notable Solana meme coins are undergoing a similar phenomenon in the last 24 hours as traders add risk, propping up the meme coin category as a whole by more than 23.7% per data from CoinGecko.
Fwog (FWOG) and Unicorn Fart Dust (UFD) have jumped 37% and 45% in the last 24 hours, and Goatseus Maximus (GOAT)—the token adopted by the popular autonomous agent that conceived of Fartcoin (FARTCOIN)—has jumped nearly 48% to a $125 million market cap. It previously traded at more than a $1 billion market cap in November.
Do Old Memes... ever really die...?
The old 'viral' memecoins are seemingly leading the pack. $PNUT up 60% on the 24hr to 276mil mcap $MOODENG up 180% on the 24hr to 134mil mcap $CHILLGUY up 53% on the 24hr to 78mil mcap$FWOG up 55% on the 24hr to 75mil mcap$MICHI up 44% on… pic.twitter.com/2KzLqCH3pD
The list extends even further with viral TikTok-inspired meme coin Chill Guy (CHILLGUY) jumping 33.6%, while the Ethereum-based NEIRO rose by 23%. And while last year's viral tokens have seen some of the biggest swings, even meme coins from years back are seeing buzz—like ConstitutionDAO's PEOPLE token, which has traded like a meme coin after the failed 2021 attempt to buy a copy of the U.S. Constitution.
The category-wide bounce comes just a few months after traders were entertaining the debate about the death of Solana meme coins. But Alon Cohen, the co-founder of popular Solana token launchpad Pump.fun, previously told Decrypt that he believed meme coins were “here to stay.”
Speaking about the meme coin market in late March, Cohen told Decrypt, “As soon as majors stopped going down, meme coin activity quickly stabilized and has been on an upwards trajectory.”
This rally has followed the same pattern, with Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana all rallying—led by ETH and SOL, which have risen by nearly 27% and 15% in the last week, respectively.
Leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin has had a volatile start to the week as it rose 2.5% from $103,850 to $106,500 before slumping 3.8% to $102,450 on Monday.
With Bitcoin’s major moves $178.46 million worth of positions have been liquidated over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGlass, with a fairly equal split between long and short positions.
This comes as a class action lawsuit was filed against MicroStrategy, the firm led by Michael Saylor that is bullishly acquiring Bitcoin, claiming that the...
Bitcoin’s rally has lifted the value of El Salvador’s holdings as the asset continues to prove itself a savvy investment for Central America’s smallest nation.
President Nayib Bukele shared a screenshot Sunday showcasing how the country’s Bitcoin holdings were worth over $644 million following an increase of 30 BTC last month.
🤷🏻♂️ pic.twitter.com/05izbAR202
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) May 19, 2025
Though that total has since retraced slightly to around $637 million, El Salvador’s Bitcoi...
Meme coins are once again outperforming broader crypto markets as renewed investor appetite drives up prices and trading volumes across speculative assets.
The rally marks a return of risk-on sentiment in the sector, with meme coins—often driven by retail enthusiasm and social media virality—outperforming many major Layer-1 tokens.
Meme coins saw steep corrections in the weeks following President Donald Trump’s January inauguration, as speculative appetite cooled and momentum faded across the b...