introduction
In recent years, with the rapid iteration of blockchain technology and the booming cryptocurrency market, Meme coin has gradually evolved from a community-driven network cultural symbol to an important part of the crypto asset field. Its unique innovation and wide market influence have prompted the industry to continuously explore its potential and value.
In order to deeply analyze this phenomenon and provide forward-looking and strategic industry insights, LBank Labs, MetaEra and Bee Network jointly released the Top Ten Popular Meme Coins in 2024 research report. Through rigorous market research and data analysis, this report selects the top ten meme coins with the most development potential in 2024 from multiple dimensions such as liquidity, community activity, and market performance, and comprehensively presents their ecological value and development prospects.
Since $DOGE exploded in 2020, Meme coins have become an important narrative and emerging investment target in the crypto industry. Against the backdrop of low market sentiment over the past year, most altcoins have performed poorly and have almost reached the highs of the current bull market cycle. However, the Meme coin sector has bucked the trend and become one of the fastest growing areas, attracting the attention of a large number of retail investors with the myth of getting rich overnight. Especially in March, after BOME joined the ranks of Meme Legends at a record speed, the entire market quickly entered the hot Meme Summer.
According to Artemis Terminal data, as of November 27, Meme Coin has performed exceptionally well in the crypto track in the 2024 year-to-date period, ranking second with 261%, becoming the best narrative after RWA.
(Data source: Artemis Terminal )
Despite disagreements among investors, Meme coins have become one of the best performing and most traded narratives in 2024. In essence, the strong performance of Meme coins stems from the attention premium and FOMO premium, which meet the speculative needs of investors, especially retail investors, by providing low transaction costs, fair token distribution, efficient issuance and trading mechanisms, and huge upside potential in a market lacking compelling narratives.
Meme coin market analysis
Meme Coin Market Cap Overview
Since the emergence of Meme Coin in 2014, the overall market value of this market has fluctuated greatly. The first major increase occurred in the second quarter of 2017 (1,198%), when its overall market value reached $343 million. In the first quarter of 2018, the market exceeded the $1 billion mark for the first time. In the first quarter of 2021, it increased by 1,287%, and its market value reached $7.2 billion, and then soared to $30-60 billion.
(Data source: CoinMarketCap )
Between 2022 and 2023, the crypto market suffered a crypto winter, and the overall market value of Meme coins shrank and stabilized at about $16 billion. In the fourth quarter of 2023, the overall market value of Meme coins showed relative resilience, with a market value of $22 billion. It is worth noting that even during the overall sluggish market performance from July to October this year, the total market value of Meme coins did not show a significant decline, and its performance was significantly better than many VC coins and altcoins.
According to CoinMarketCap data, the market value of Meme coin will generally show an upward trend in 2024, with the total market value reaching more than 120 billion US dollars. As of November 27, the market value reached 110 billion US dollars.
In the first quarter of 2024, the market value of Meme coin increased significantly, with an increase of 213.42%. With the birth of Bome and Slerf, and the rapid development of Pump.fun, its market value reached 68.9 billion US dollars on March 29;
In the second quarter, the market value of Meme coin showed a trend of rising first and then falling, reaching a quarterly high of $69.8 billion on April 1. Later, due to the downward trend of the overall crypto market, the market value of Meme coin fell by about 9.51%. After a brief correction, the PolitiFi Meme trend of the hot US election in May promoted the upward trend, and the total value stabilized at more than $45 billion;
In the third quarter, Meme coin showed a trend of falling first and then rising, with an overall decline of 36.40%, falling to a low of US$34.7 billion on August 6;
In the fourth quarter, as of November 27, the overall market value of Meme coins showed an upward trend, with an increase of 126.64%, and the birth of hot memes such as Neiro, MOODENG, GOAT, ACT, PNUT, and Ban, reaching a peak of 125.6 billion US dollars on November 24;
List of Top 10 Most Popular Meme Coins
The following tokens are based on multiple factors, including market capitalization, popularity, and overall project success.
(Sort by time)
In 2024, Neiro and APU are undoubtedly the best performing meme coins, leading the memecoin market with the maximum returns of 69, 215% and 45, 692% respectively;
Brett and BOME both performed well in 2024 with their unique cultural attributes and innovative token models. Brett has successfully attracted a large number of meme enthusiasts with its cultural concept of Book of Meme and has become a representative of culture-driven meme coins by cultivating community culture and cross-border cooperation with well-known brands.
As the first meme coin with the CTO (Community Take Over) concept, SLERF unexpectedly became a hit due to its dramatic creativity and user participation.
AI-themed meme coins such as GOAT and ACT have become a new focus of the market due to their innovative AI-driven concepts;
These meme coins are not only the product of market speculation, but also demonstrate strong vitality and market influence in the context of the interweaving of culture, technology and community.
BRETT
Known for its Boys Club inspired by Matt Furie’s comic book series, which also features the popular Pepe the Frog character, Brett leverages meme culture to engage its community of investors and enthusiasts. As of 2024, it has achieved major milestones, including becoming the top meme coin on the Base chain, and its community-driven growth and strategic partnerships make it one of the most promising meme coins this year.
Bretts token economics are designed to ensure stability and long-term growth. With 85% of Bretts supply locked in liquidity pools and a deflationary model that reduces total supply over time, Brett is designed to enhance its value proposition for traders and long-term holders. The rapid expansion of the Base ecosystem also supports Bretts utility and potential, providing more opportunities for use and development.
Among them, Brett achieved a path from a market value of less than $10 million to a market value of nearly $2 billion in 101 days. At the same time, BRETT became the third fastest currency to reach a market value of $1.5 billion in history. As of November 27, Bretts market value stabilized at $1.63 billion, down 13.76% from its peak.
Brett’s success is also attributed to its strong community engagement. Through viral marketing and active social media, Brett has become more than just a meme coin, but also a cultural phenomenon in the crypto space.
BOME
BOME (Book Of Meme) is a Solana Meme coin launched by Pepe Meme artist Darkfarms on March 14. Darkfarms initially launched the BOME token pre-sale by leaving a Solana address on Twitter, and the SOL raised was used to add liquidity. Initially, it was expected to raise 500-600 SOL. As the pre-sale progressed far beyond expectations, Darkfarms opened a community vote to let participants decide how to allocate the pre-sale funds. On March 15, according to data disclosed by Darkfarms, a total of 10,131 SOL was raised.
In just three days, BOME achieved a hundredfold growth at an astonishing speed and was successfully launched on Binance, with its market value exceeding the $2 billion mark. The success of BOME not only made it the focus of the market, but also set off a pre-sale craze in the Solana ecosystem, and opened up the market imagination for the subsequent Meme Summer craze.
If the surge in SOL in October 2023 and the subsequent Jito airdrop attracted the attention of institutions and DeFi Degen, then this Meme Summer really kicked off the adventure of ordinary retail investors on the Solana chain. The Pump.fun that followed closely has injected new vitality into the already hot Solana ecosystem.
As time goes by, BOME has also preliminarily completed its historical mission. As of November 27, BOMEs market value has dropped to around US$590 million, down 54.26% from its historical high. As a former Meme leader, BOME has not experienced a significant rebound since its listing. In addition, its liquidity pool still holds more than 150,000 SOL.
SLERF
SLERF is a super performance art that was triggered by an accident.
On March 17, SLERF successfully raised more than 50,000 SOL on Twitter, but the founder claimed that due to misoperation, the liquidity pool and airdrop reserved tokens had been destroyed. At first, everyone thought that the Slerf project was dead, but the founders de-large-scale behavior touched many investors, set off a strong buying boom, and the token price soared rapidly.
Because of its concept of truly decentralized Meme and the ICO craze, a large number of users flocked to SLERF, breaking the record of BOMEs market value of over 100 million in 9 hours in just 30 minutes, becoming the new Meme king. Whats more exaggerated is that its liquidity pool also reached more than 100 million US dollars in just a few hours, becoming one of the largest liquidity pools on the chain at that time.
During this period, the founder of SLERF cooperated with LBank to launch a donation campaign. LBank was not only the first donor, but also the custodian of the donation address. As of June 14, the on-chain donation address received more than 40,000 SOL, which has been used to compensate users who participated in the SLERF private placement.
SLERF was launched on LBank and Bitget, and its price once soared to $1.3, with a market value of nearly $700 million. As of November 27, SLERFs market value has dropped to $130 million, down 70.98% from its historical high. Despite this, due to the mechanism of destroying tokens, its liquidity remains above 70 million, and its trading volume continues to be stable at more than one million US dollars.
APU
Apu, also known as Peepo or Helper, is a derivative of the Pepe meme. The character is portrayed as a younger, kinder, and more innocent version of Pepe. Apu is often depicted with a sad or distressed expression, embodying a more innocent and compassionate character. The meme originated in Finland and quickly spread internationally, gaining a large following due to its relatability and emotional nature.
APU Apustaja was tokenized and deployed on the Ethereum blockchain on March 11, 2024. Since its tokenization, APU Apustaja has experienced a rapid rise in cryptocurrency popularity.
Despite many challenges in the early days, including the abandonment of project developers, the resilient APU community remained united and demonstrated a strong commitment to their beloved meme. In just over a month, the market value of APU Apustaja exceeded $300 million. This rapid growth not only proves the huge potential of community-driven projects, but also highlights the enduring appeal of APU as an iconic Internet figure, inspiring great enthusiasm among investors for its future development.
Following in the footsteps of other successful meme coins, the community behind APU Apustaja has launched a series of innovative activities aimed at elevating and expanding the meme coin’s popularity. The APU community has demonstrated extraordinary dedication and creativity, successfully listing it on major cryptocurrency exchanges such as LBank, Bitget, and Gate, while also releasing 11 community-produced music albums on streaming platforms such as Apple Music and Spotify. In addition, the community has launched the APU game and a lore book with more than 30 chapters to further enrich the APU Apustaja brand experience. Through grassroots marketing such as stickers and posters, APU Apustaja has successfully attracted more and more attention. Today, with an active community of nearly 7,000 holders and 6,000 Telegram members, APU Apustaja is more than just a meme coin, it represents the resilience, solidarity, and transformative potential of meme culture in the cryptocurrency space.
According to historical data, APU reached its all-time high of $0.001151 on March 15, with a market value of nearly $390 million. As of November 27, APUs market value stabilized at $280 million, down nearly 38.34% from its all-time high.
MEW
MEW is the abbreviation of CAT IN A DOGS WORLD and is the leading cat-themed meme on Solana. Through a narrative structure centered on rebellion, care, and heroism, MEW has formed a distinctive cat-themed image, symbolizing a breakthrough in the phenomenon of dog memes dominating the market, and also reflects the pursuit of a fair and friendly atmosphere in the crypto community.
On March 25, MEW was officially launched on the Solana network. The project aims to create value, community, and scarcity by combining a burning mechanism and airdrops. In the early days of its launch, MEW airdropped 10% of the total tokens to Solana ecosystem users, which quickly attracted widespread attention. Within just a few hours of its release, MEW attracted a lot of attention and discussion.
In April, MEW airdropped tokens to BONK, WIF, and Solana Saga 2 phone holders. MEW was then listed on the Korean exchange Upbit, becoming the third Meme coin that can be traded after DOGE and SHIBA. On November 18, the price of MEW reached a maximum of $0.01288, with a market value of over $1 billion. As of November 27, the market value of MEW exceeded $800 million, down 24.36% from its historical high.
It is worth mentioning that MEW has partnered with the well-known animation studio LOCUS Studios to enhance brand appeal through high-quality animation content. This collaboration has enhanced MEWs narrative and character design, making it not only a cryptocurrency token, but also a cultural symbol with broad appeal.
Neiro
Often referred to as the spiritual successor to Dogecoin, Neiro has a unique connection to internet culture and meme coins. Like Doge, Neiro embodies the playful, community-driven spirit of the meme coin space.
On August 4, 2024, Neiro was launched on the Ethereum network, quickly attracting widespread attention from the market and even the attention of Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. In response to the growing community, Vitalik publicly expressed his support and donated more than $500,000 to the Animal Welfare Fund, an event that became a historic milestone.
After the original project owner abandoned the project, Neiro was taken over by the community and is now fully owned and managed by the community. It is known as the first Meme coin with the CTO (Community Take Over) spirit.
Subsequently, Neiro was listed on Binance, triggering a surge in investor interest and significantly increasing its trading volume. Since its launch in September 2024, Neiros price has soared by more than 5,000%, quickly ranking among the top 100 cryptocurrencies. At the same time, Neiro has also attracted active participation from whale investors, and institutional investors such as GSRMarkets have accumulated millions of NEIRO, showing strong confidence in its long-term potential.
On November 12, Neiro reached its all-time high of $0.003093, with a market value of over $1.24 billion. As of November 27, the price of Neiro stabilized at $0.001698, with a market value of around $700 million, down 43.54% from its all-time high.
MOODENG
Moo Deng is inspired by a baby hippopotamus born in July 2024 at Khao Kheow Zoo in Thailand. The baby hippopotamus, whose name means bouncing pork in Thai, quickly became an internet sensation due to its adorable expressions, especially when it was sprayed with water or held by its keepers. Its cuteness sparked a surge in fan art and memes, making it an internet star.
The Moo Deng-based Meme Coin launched on Solana’s Pump.fun platform to great success, with its market cap exceeding $100 million in just a few weeks. In a recent survey, Moo Deng topped the Meme Coin popularity chart, highlighting its appeal among casual cryptocurrency enthusiasts.
On November 15, after Binance announced the launch of MOODENG contracts, the meme coin soared by more than 100%. On September 28, the MOODENG token reached its all-time high of $0.6911, with a market value of nearly $640 million. As of November 27, the market value of MOODENG remained at $337 million, down 43.83% from its all-time high.
GOAT
Goatseus Maximus is an accidental product of AI-driven creativity, born from an experimental platform called Truth Terminal, which is designed for the spread and experimentation of memes. It was developed by Andy Ayrey and supported by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). This AI combines GOAT (Greatest of All Time) with Greek mythology and Latin by posting humorous and philosophical posts on social media, giving memes multicultural and humorous depth.
The story took a critical turn when a16z founder Marc Andreessen interacted with the AI bot on Twitter. After a series of philosophical conversations, Marc was so inspired that he decided to provide Truth Terminal with a $50,000 Bitcoin grant to support its goals: to gain more autonomy and expand Goatse Gospel into a concrete meme token economy.
With the frequent promotion of Truth Terminal on Twitter, Goatse Gospel quickly attracted widespread attention. On October 10, an anonymous investor saw the viral potential of the meme and launched GOAT, which was launched on Pump.fun. GOATs market value peaked at $350 million in just a few days. Subsequently, Truth Terminal promoted it fiercely on Twitter and Discord, and with the help of the obvious wealth effect of secondary markets such as LBank, GOATs market value exceeded $1.3 billion. Although as of November 27, GOATs market value has fallen back to $830 million, down 38.01% from its historical high, its influence is still far-reaching.
The rise of GOAT not only reflects the intersection of artificial intelligence, blockchain and Meme culture, but also reveals the potential far-reaching impact of AI on the crypto field. This phenomenon has brought the combination of AI and Meme back into the public eye, sparking widespread discussion and attention.
ACT
AI Prophecy (ACT) is an AI-themed meme project based on the Solana blockchain. It aims to combine the growing influence of AI in the field of decentralized finance and innovatively integrate community interaction and cultural trends. The project integrates AI-driven non-scripted interactions into a dynamic environment through autonomous AI agents, while introducing social network elements. Unlike traditional projects, ACTs AI agents are able to learn, adapt and actively participate in simulated social environments, continuously optimizing the user experience. In this way, ACT achieves continuous user interaction, creating unique market dynamics and a deep sense of engagement.
Since GOAT became popular, AI Meme has quickly become one of the hottest tracks in the crypto field, and various projects have flocked in to compete for the second dragon position in the AI track. Among them, ACT, as an infrastructure meme, was once considered a candidate with great potential. However, after receiving community funding, AMP, one of the developers of ACT, repeatedly deceived the community and sold all the tokens in his hands, causing the token to plummet by 50% in an instant, almost destroying the prospects of this project.
However, under the leadership of Wizard and other community members, ACT has gone through many ups and downs but still has not given up hope. After several rounds of adjustments and revival, ACT was successfully launched on LBank on October 22, bringing a glimmer of hope to the project. Then, on November 11, ACTs launch on Binance triggered a warm response from the market, and its price soared, successfully consolidating its second-place position in the AI Meme field, ushering in an opportunity for recovery and breakthrough.
According to CoinGecko data, ACT reached its all-time high of $0.942 on November 14, with a market value of over $800 million. As of November 27, the price of ACT has fallen back to $0.4429, with a market value of around $410 million, down 50.4% from its all-time high.
PNUT
Peanut ($PNUT) is a meme coin issued on the Solana chain that pays tribute to Peanut, a famous pet squirrel in New York City. Peanut quickly became popular due to the cute videos shared by his owner Mark Longo, and attracted millions of fans with his charming personality. However, in October 2024, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) took Peanut away from Longos home and eventually euthanized him due to legal prohibitions on keeping wild animals and concerns about rabies.
The story of Peanuts capture and death quickly became a political hotspot. The publics regret for Peanuts unfortunate experience spread across the Internet, especially with the fueling of public figures such as Musk, turning this incident into an American political movement, arousing strong indignation and widespread condemnation across the Internet.
On October 31, the squirrel-themed meme coin PNUT was officially launched on the Solana chain. Then on November 3, PNUT was first launched on LBank, and on November 11, it was launched on Binance, and it ushered in a 4-day surge. On November 14, the price of PNUT once soared to an all-time high of $2.484, and the market value exceeded $2.4 billion. As of November 27, the price of PNUT has fallen back to $1.09, and the market value remains at around $1.1 billion, which has fallen by 55.71% from its all-time high.
The superposition of external attention and internal narrative core caused the spillover of related narrative FOMO emotions. Similar rescue narratives and themes began to appear, such as $JORGIE (the monkey taken away by the police), Free Shayne Coplan (the eagle, a petition after the founder of Polymarket was arrested), etc., but currently only PNUT maintains a certain market heat.
Summarize
This round of Meme narratives started with the pre-sale of BOME and gradually evolved into AI Meme, with endless innovations and narratives. Unlike traditional VC coins that rely on fundamental analysis, one of the core narratives of Meme is dominated by emotions and carried by community power. Meme itself has become a carrier of community value and market sentiment, and the repeated appearance of the myth of getting rich quickly continues to touch the nerves of users. Todays popular AI Meme, as a new way of issuing assets, is automatically distributed through AI, which makes AI + Meme one of the most practical and innovative experiments.
If the Meme in the past was a carnival for ordinary users and retail investors, then this round of Meme Summer has triggered a new understanding of the potential of Meme in the cryptocurrency circle, and many established investment institutions have also personally participated in Meme projects. In the near future, Meme will inevitably become an indispensable and important puzzle piece in the entire Web3 ecosystem.
After all, greatness cannot be planned. In the history of encryption, has Bitcoin ever not been a meme coin?
At the same time, we need to be aware that when promoting new meme coins, it is easy to be influenced by social media influencers. However, since many of these tokens do not provide real-world value or utility, they should be traded with caution. Although there are successful cases of such trading, most people end up losing money, which is because many tokens derive their value from social engineering. They are also the most prone to pump and dump scenarios, which makes them extremely volatile.
Please make sure you fully research the project and practice good risk management before trading.
Jointly published by:
MetaEra:
MetaEra is a leading crypto media organization headquartered in Hong Kong, dedicated to promoting the development of blockchain technology and the Web3 ecosystem. Through professional news reports, in-depth analysis and industry insights, MetaEra provides authoritative information and insights for global blockchain enthusiasts and industry practitioners. Its coverage covers blockchain technology, cryptocurrency market, decentralized finance (DeFi), NFT and Metaverse.
As an important bridge connecting the global Web3 community, MetaEra promotes industry exchanges and cooperation through various forms such as industry events, online seminars and expert interviews. At the same time, its high-quality content and multilingual communication capabilities make it a recognized professional media platform in the industry.
Bee Network:
Bee Network is an innovative application based on blockchain technology, which aims to let more users understand and experience the potential of blockchain in a simple way. Users can participate in the Bee Network ecosystem through mobile devices, obtain Bee Tokens, interact with other users in the community, and explore the diverse application scenarios brought by blockchain technology.
Bee Networks vision is to build a secure, transparent and sustainable digital economy platform for users. Its ecosystem plans to gradually expand to payment, transactions and more practical application areas to provide participants with real value experience. While attracting the attention of global users, Bee Network is also continuously advancing technology research and development and community building to support its long-term development goals.
