Last Year’s Viral Meme Coins Are Back From the Dead as Solana and Ethereum Gain

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. 

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.

Edited by Andrew Hayward