In recent years, with the rapid iteration of blockchain technology and the booming cryptocurrency market, Meme coins have 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 the potential and value behind it.

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 the explosive growth of $DOGE 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 hit 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 outstandingly in the crypto track since the beginning of 2024, ranking second with 261%, becoming the best narrative after RWA.

(Data source: Artemis Terminal)

Despite the disagreement among investors, Meme coin has become one of the best performing and most traded narratives in 2024. Essentially, the strong performance of Memecoin stems from the "attention premium" and "FOMO premium", which meets 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.

Memecoin Market Analysis

Memecoin Market Cap Overview

Since the emergence of Memecoin 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 US$343 million. In the first quarter of 2018, the market broke the US$1 billion mark for the first time. In the first quarter of 2021, it increased by 1,287%, and its market value reached US$7.2 billion, and then soared to US$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 US$16 billion. In the fourth quarter of 2023, the overall market value of Meme coins showed relative resilience, with a market value of US$22 billion. It is worth noting that even during the period of 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 that of many VC coins and altcoins.

According to CoinMarketCap data, the market value of Meme coin in 2024 showed an overall growth trend, with a total market value of 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 US dollars on April 1. Later, limited by the downward trend of the overall crypto market, the market value of Meme coin fell by about 9.51%. After a brief correction, it relied on the PolitiFi Meme trend of the hot US election in May to promote the upward trend, and the total value stabilized at more than 45 billion US dollars;

• In the third quarter, Meme coins as a whole showed a trend of first falling and then rising, with an overall decline of 36.40%, falling to a low of 34.7 billion US dollars 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 hot Memes such as Neiro, MOODENG, GOAT, ACT, PNUT, and Ban were born, reaching a peak of 125.6 billion US dollars on November 24;

List of the top 10 popular Meme coins

(Sort by time)

In 2024, Neiro and APU are undoubtedly the best performing meme coins, leading the memecoin market with the largest returns of 69,215% and 45,692% respectively;

Brett and BOME both performed well in 2024 with their special cultural attributes and innovative token models. Brett has been deeply involved in community culture and cross-border cooperation with well-known brands. With its cultural concept of "Book of Meme", BOME has successfully attracted a large number of meme lovers and become a representative of culture-driven meme coins.

SLERF, as the first meme coin with the concept of CTO (Community Take Over), unexpectedly became a hit due to its dramatic creativity and user participation.

GOAT and ACT, AI-themed meme coins, have become the 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 show strong vitality and market influence in the context of the interweaving of culture, technology and community.

BRETT

Famous for the Boys Club inspired by Matt Furie's comic series, which also includes the popular Pepe the Frog character, Brett uses Meme culture to attract 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.

Brett's token economics are designed to ensure stability and long-term growth. With 85% of Brett's supply locked in a liquidity pool and a deflationary model that reduces total supply over time, Brett aims to enhance its value proposition for traders and long-term holders. The rapid expansion of the Base ecosystem also supports Brett's 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, Brett's 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. Initially, Darkfarms 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, and participants decided how to allocate the pre-sale funds. On March 15, according to the 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 a market value exceeding the 2 billion US dollar mark. The success of BOME not only made it the focus of the market, but also set off a wave of pre-sales 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 huge 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. And Pump.fun, which followed closely, injected a new vitality into the already hot Solana ecosystem.

As time goes by, BOME has also preliminarily completed its historical mission. As of November 27, BOME's market value has dropped to around $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 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 had died. However, the founder's "de-big-user behavior" moved 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 boom, a large number of users flocked to SLERF, and it took only 30 minutes to refresh BOME's record of breaking the market value of 100 million in 9 hours, becoming the new Meme king. What's more exaggerated is that its liquidity pool also rushed to 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 not only served as the first donor, but also served as the custodian of the donation address. As of June 14, the on-chain donation address has 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 the price once soared to $1.3, with a market value of nearly $700 million. As of November 27, the market value of SLERF 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 the 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 emotionality.

On March 11, 2024, APU Apustaja was tokenized and deployed on the Ethereum blockchain. Since tokenization, APU Apustaja has experienced a rapid rise in cryptocurrency popularity.

Despite many challenges in the early days, including the abandonment of the project developers, the resilient APU community has remained united and demonstrated a strong commitment to the beloved meme. In just over a month, APU Apustaja's market capitalization has exceeded $300 million. This rapid growth not only proves the huge potential of community-driven projects, but also highlights APU's enduring appeal as an iconic Internet figure, inspiring great enthusiasm among investors for its future development.

In order to follow in the footsteps of other successful meme coins, APU Apustaja's community has launched a series of innovative activities aimed at promoting and expanding the popularity of the meme coin. 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 an APU game and a legend book with more than 30 chapters, further enriching the APU Apustaja brand experience. Through grassroots marketing methods 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, unity, 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, APU's market value stabilized at $280 million, down nearly 38.34% from its all-time high. MEW is the abbreviation of "CAT IN A DOGS WORLD", which is the leading cat-themed meme on Solana. Through the narrative framework of 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. At the beginning 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. Subsequently, MEW was 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 US$0.01288, with a market value of over US$1 billion. As of November 27, the market value of MEW exceeded US$800 million, down 24.36% from its historical high.

It is worth mentioning that MEW has cooperated with the well-known animation studio LOCUS Studios to enhance brand appeal through high-quality animation content. This cooperation has enhanced the narrative and character design of MEW, making it not only a cryptocurrency token, but also a cultural symbol with broad appeal.

Neiro

Neiro is often called the spiritual successor to Dogecoin, and it has a unique connection to Internet culture and meme coins. Like Doge, Neiro also embodies the playful, community-driven spirit of the meme coin field.

On August 4, 2024, Neiro was launched on the Ethereum network and quickly attracted widespread attention from the market, even catching 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, which became a historic milestone.

After the original project 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 CTO (Community Take Over) spirit Meme coin.

Subsequently, Neiro was launched on Binance, triggering a surge in investor interest and significantly increasing its trading volume. Since its launch in September 2024, Neiro's 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. Institutional investors such as GSRMarkets have increased their holdings of millions of NEIRO, showing strong confidence in its long-term potential.

On November 12, Neiro reached an 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, and the market value remained at around $700 million, down 43.54% from its historical high.

MOODENG

Moo Deng was inspired by a baby hippopotamus born in Khao Kheow Zoo, Thailand in July 2024. The baby hippopotamus, whose name means "bouncing pork" in Thai, quickly became popular online due to its cute expressions, especially when it was sprayed with water or held by the keeper. Its cuteness has sparked a surge in fan art and memes, making it an online star.

The Moo Deng-based meme coin was launched on Solana's Pump.fun platform and has been a huge success, with its market value exceeding $100 million in just a few weeks. In a recent survey, Moo Deng topped the meme coin popularity list, highlighting its appeal among ordinary cryptocurrency enthusiasts.

On November 15, after Binance announced the launch of the MOODENG contract, the meme coin soared more than 100%. Among them, on September 28, the MOODENG token reached an 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 on an experimental platform called "Truth Terminal", which is designed for the spread and experimentation of Memes. It was developed by Andy Ayrey and was born with the support of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). This AI combines "GOAT" (the greatest of all time) with Greek mythology and Latin by posting humorous and philosophical posts on social media, giving memes a 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 deeply inspired and decided to provide Truth Terminal with $50,000 in Bitcoin to support its goals: to gain more autonomy and expand Goatse Gospel into a specific 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, launched GOAT, and launched it on Pump.fun. GOAT's market value reached a peak of $350 million in just a few days. Subsequently, Truth Terminal promoted GOAT through Twitter and Discord, and with the help of the obvious wealth effect of secondary markets such as LBank, the market value of GOAT exceeded $1.3 billion. Although the market value of GOAT has fallen back to $830 million as of November 27, down 38.01% from its historical peak, its influence is still far-reaching.

GOAT's rise not only reflects the intersection of artificial intelligence, blockchain and Meme culture, but also reveals the potential far-reaching impact of AI on the encryption 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, ACT's 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 tokens to plummet by 50% in an instant, almost destroying the prospects of this project.

But under the takeover of Wizard and other community members, ACT has gone through many ups and downs and still has not given up hope. After several rounds of adjustments and revival, ACT finally successfully launched on LBank on October 22, bringing a glimmer of hope to the project. Immediately afterwards, on November 11, the launch of ACT on Binance triggered a warm response from the market, and the price soared, successfully consolidating its second place in the field of AI Meme, and ushering in the opportunity for recovery and breakthrough.

According to CoinGecko data, ACT reached an 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, and the market value remains at around $410 million, down 50.4% from its all-time high.

PNUT

Peanut ($PNUT) is a Meme coin issued on the Solana chain, designed to pay 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 Longo's home and eventually euthanized him due to laws prohibiting the keeping of wild animals and concerns about rabies.

The story of Peanut's capture and death quickly became a political hot spot. The public's regret for Peanut's unfortunate experience spread throughout the Internet, especially with the "fueling" of public figures such as Musk, turning the 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 born on the Solana chain. Then on November 3, PNUT was first launched on LBank, and on November 11, it was launched on Binance, and ushered in a 4-day surge. On November 14, PNUT's price once soared to an all-time high of $2.484, and its market value exceeded $2.4 billion. As of November 27, PNUT's price has fallen back to $1.09, and its market value remains at around $1.1 billion, down 55.71% from its all-time high.

The superposition of external attention and internal narrative core has caused the spillover of related narrative FOMO emotions, and similar "rescue" narratives and themes have begun to appear, such as $JORGIE (a monkey taken away by the police), Free Shayne Coplan (an eagle, a petition after the founder of Polymarket was arrested), etc., but currently only PNUT maintains a certain market heat.

Summary

This round of Meme narratives began 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. Today's 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 past Meme was a carnival for ordinary users and retail investors, then this round of Meme Summer has started the currency circle's re-recognition of Meme's potential, and many old investment institutions have also personally participated in Meme projects. In the near future, Meme will inevitably become an indispensable and important puzzle in the entire Web3 ecosystem.

After all, greatness cannot be planned. In the history of encryption, has Bitcoin ever been a Meme coin?

At the same time, we need to be aware that when promoting new Meme coins, they are easily influenced by social media influencers. However, since many of these tokens do not offer real-world value or utility, they should be traded with caution. While there have been success stories of such trades, most people end up losing money because many tokens derive their value from social engineering. They are also most susceptible to pump and dump scenarios, which makes them extremely volatile.

Please make sure to fully research the project and practice good risk management before trading.

Joint publisher:

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 coverage, in-depth analysis and industry insights, MetaEra provides authoritative information and insights to blockchain enthusiasts and industry practitioners around the world. Its coverage covers areas such as blockchain technology, cryptocurrency markets, decentralized finance (DeFi), NFTs and the 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 enable more users to 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, and interact with other users in the community to explore the diverse application scenarios brought by blockchain technology.

Bee Network's 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 constantly advancing technology research and development and community building to support its long-term development goals.