Meme Token Craze Boosts SOL and AVAX

High volatility has shifted interest from Bitcoin to altcoins and meme tokens. According to CoinGecko, the total capitalization of the latter has increased by 10%, reaching $56.5 billion. 

Analysts at QCP Capital noted in a Telegram post that the weekend was “filled with both fear and greed,” as the leading cryptocurrency fell to $64,500. 

“Since then, Bitcoin has risen above $67,000 again, and we have seen active coin sales, indicating that ‘fear’ has dissipated and investors are happy to buy the dip,” the experts emphasized. 

The company highlighted interest in long-term Bitcoin options expiring in September and December in the $100,000-150,000 range. 

The most trending direction from March 16 to 17 was meme coins. Among the growth leaders: SHIB (+15%), WIF (+30%), and BONK (+10%). Some “newcomers” like BOME and CORGIAI also showed significant dynamics in terms of capitalization and quotes.

Meanwhile, the hype around meme coins pushed up the price of native tokens of the networks on which they are issued. Solana (SOL) added 11%, rising to $201, while Avalanche (AVAX) grew by 20%, reaching $60.  

“Solana has once again become the hottest crypto asset among traders, with new meme tokens appearing almost every minute,” said ContentFi Labs COO Nick Rak in a note provided to CoinDesk.

Presale Frenzy

According to crypto researcher 0xGumshoe, over the past weekend, traders sent more than $100 million to Solana addresses in an attempt to acquire meme tokens through presales. 

One hundred million dollars ($100M)

Sent to memecoin presales in the last 48 hours, on Solana

Can’t believe we’ve reached such high levels of degeneracy this fast

It’s not the way I wanted it to be, but this makes SOL price targets a lot higher than expected

— Gumshoe (@0xGumshoe) March 17, 2024

“Can’t believe we’ve reached such high levels of degeneracy this fast. […] But this makes SOL price targets a lot higher than expected,” he noted. 

The list of coins users attempted to acquire by sending funds to smart contract addresses includes Book of Meme (BOME), Nap (NAP), Nostalgia (NOS), and others.

Trader Nick pointed out that whales are investing large capital in meme tokens. Some have spent significant sums — $90,000 and $180,000. 

This is legit peak degeneracy. Aping $180K & $90K into meme coins.

It’s absolutely insane how we are still in this phase of the market. pic.twitter.com/ef1UEXkmcI

— Nick | Crypto Crusader (@NCashOfficial) March 17, 2024

Presales involve users sending cryptocurrency to a wallet address in exchange for receiving a corresponding amount of coins after the meme token launches.

This model offers no guarantee of receiving assets, making presales an extremely popular method of scamming. 

The founder of The Daily Gwei, Anthony Sassano, criticized this method of asset distribution. 

2 years later and everyone is right back to bidding ponzis

People can do what they want with their money but sending money to a “memecoin presale” that has a 99.9% chance of rugging is actually just dumb as hell https://t.co/cWL3xjzlE2

— sassal.eth/acc ?? (@sassal0x) March 18, 2024

“Two years later and everyone is right back to bidding ponzis. People can do what they want with their money, but sending it to a ‘memecoin presale’ that has a 99.9% chance of rugging is actually just dumb as hell,” he remarked. 

Trading meme coins is not always profitable. Lookonchain discovered a wallet that lost 754 SOL (~$150,000) in three days trading 11 Solana-based tokens.

Not everyone can make money by trading #memecoins on #Solana!

This guy traded 11 #memecoins in 3 days, losing money on each one, for a total loss of 754 $SOL($147K).

He seems to be very #FOMO, always buying high and selling low.https://t.co/lxijIqGLZC pic.twitter.com/f7KfOf5i17

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) March 17, 2024

In March, the increased network activity in Ethereum due to the popularity of meme coins led to fees reaching a two-year high. From March 2 to 9, transaction fees on the mainnet reached $193 million. 

Analysts at K33 Research saw the meme coin rally as a sign of an emerging alt season.

Back in March, a Solana trader missed out on $1 million in profits from the meme token BOME. He managed to earn over $100,000 from the rise, but after selling, the asset’s quotes rose even further.