From theblock by MK Manoylov

Memecoins exploded in popularity this year.

Dozens of new memecoins surged in value — deriving from pygmy hippos, political candidates, artificial intelligence and more — from the thousands flooding the market thanks to new, accessible launchpads like Pump.fun.

Solana, the world’s third-largest blockchain by market capitalization, was the go-to network for these new tokens. Solana saw 455,000 new token launches in May alone, surpassing any other blockchain at the time, and came to control 87% of new tokens popping up on decentralized exchanges by October. Base followed second for new tokens on DEXs, contributing 32,410 on Dec. 9.

Though they’ve been around for over a decade, memecoins have come to define 2024 much like how initial coin offerings (ICOs) dominated 2017 and NFTs took over 2021. Memecoins left their mark on the digital asset industry and aren’t going anywhere, sparking conversations on how the digital asset landscape should consider them moving forward.

Platforms, politics and AI

Pump.fun is perhaps the most important platform inducing the success of memecoins in 2024.

The Solana-based memecoin launchpad initially let users pay a small fee to launch a new token. The creation was so easy that a child could use it (and subsequently miss millions in profits by selling too early).

To incentivize high-quality tokens, however, Pump.fun removed the fee in favor of having first buyers subsidize the development fee, as well as rewarding memecoin creators with 0.5 SOL when their token reaches a certain status in its bonding curve model.

The platform saw such popularity that it reached a peak of $2.58 billion in graduated token volume on Nov. 19, according to The Block’s Data Dashboard.

Pump.fun’s ease of use combined with the 2024 presidential election spurred a frenzy of crypto activity. Memecoins proliferated around Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump, as well as President Joe Biden and his possible replacement before he dropped out of the race. Political memecoins had even outperformed the rest of the crypto market in late May, but they saw lukewarm trader interest on election day.

Politics was not to be outdone by computers, however. Memecoins connected to artificial intelligence posed an interesting intersection between AI and crypto this year. For instance, the token Goatseus Maximus, or GOAT, which is itself an AI-connected token, saw its volume spike after an endorsement from the AI chatbot Truth Terminal. This in turn spurred numerous other AI memecoins on Solana.

The explosion of memecoins didn’t come without controversy. Memecoins themselves have been named after racial slurs and other offensive topics, while many memecoin creators deploy their tokens in purported rugpulls. Solana's founder said memecoins are a "blessing" to help make the network more robust, while Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin noted the desire to see more positive memecoins than bad ones.

Buterin also thought memecoins could have an overall positive impact on the crypto industry based on their use. When he himself received a batch of MOODENG memecoins worth around $182,000, he converted the tokens into ETH and donated them to a charity fighting airborne illness.

Top memecoins surge

While new memecoins surged into the market, the older, more popular tokens had a good year as well.

Dogecoin is the seventh largest cryptocurrency with a $56.9 billion market capitalization and saw a 405.5% year-to-date increase. Starting at $0.091 on Jan. 1, 2024, it hit a high of $0.46 by early December, according to The Block’s Dogecoin Price Page, marking one of the highest growths for a memecoin this year. Elon Musk, a longtime Dogecoin proponent, boosted the token’s popularity with his alignment with Trump and a proposal for a new United States agency called the “Department of Governmental Efficiency” (DOGE).

Shiba Inu (SHIBA), the 15th-largest cryptocurrency, also saw impressive gains. With a market cap of nearly $15.2 billion, SHIBA grew roughly 210% from Jan. 1 to mid-December.

The Block’s GMCI MEME index underscored the rising momentum of memecoins. Tracking market movements of top meme-focused digital assets, the GMCI MEME grew 398.63% year-to-date.

Base vs. Solana for memecoins next year

As for what 2025 could have in store, an expert panelist at The Block’s Emergence conference said Base could contest Solana for both memecoins and market capitalization.

“I think that Base is going to be an interesting area of competition for Solana," Cumberland Labs Director of Research Chris Newhouse said Dec. 5 on the Emergence panel in Prague.

Base reached 8.8 million in daily transitions on Dec. 5, leading other networks in the optimistic rollup ecosystem.