Key Points
The GMCI Meme Index, a tracker for leading meme coins by market capitalization, has seen a decrease of about 60% since its peak in December. However, the index still shows meme coins (730 points) leading Bitcoin (BTC) (451 points) and Ethereum (ETH) (199 points). The GMCI 30 Index, representing the top 30 crypto assets, stands at 287.
The Rise and Fall of Meme Coins
The GMCI Meme Index started its rapid rise in late 2023, reaching over 1,000 points in 2024. This left Bitcoin and Ethereum significantly behind, showcasing the momentum meme coins gained during that period. A December 2024 report by CoinGecko disclosed that meme coins grabbed nearly 15% of total investor interest, a 6% increase from the previous year. In addition, Binance’s yearly analysis confirmed the dominance of meme coins in 2024, with a yearly gain of 212% for the sub-sector. This increase was largely driven by the popularity of Pump.fun, a meme coin launchpad that launched over 5.7 million new projects, generating more than $400 million in revenue over the year.
Market analysts have started discussing the cooling off of the meme coin sector, reflecting the decline in the GMCI meme. Ki Young Ju, CEO of CryptoQuant, opined in a recent post on X that the excitement around meme coins will fade and the market will transition into a more sustainable one by 2030.
This viewpoint is in line with the larger industry belief that the meme coin narrative may have reached its peak, paving the way for AI-agent tokens. Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly Capital, expressed on X that meme coins are likely to lose market share to AI-agent coins.
Despite these predictions, meme coins continue to outperform BTC and ETH, as per the GMCI Meme Index, indicating that the meme coin narrative still holds strong—at least for the time being.