CoinGecko: Failed launches and fraud have killed investor interest in meme tokens

What’s new? The excitement around meme tokens is subsiding after a series of failed launches and Rug Pull fraud cases killed investor interest, has said Bobby Ong, the founder of crypto market data aggregator CoinGecko. “The launch of TRUMP and MELANIA marked the top for memecoins as it sucked liquidity and attention out of all the other cryptocurrencies,” the entrepreneur noted in a new report.

CoinGecko report

What else is known? There has been a strong decline in the performance of Pump. fun, the largest launchpad of meme tokens on the Solana network. Following the launch of US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania’s meme tokens in the second half of January, weekly trading volume on Pump. fun reached a record of $3,3 billion.

However, trading volume fell 63% from January to February. Ong noted that Pump.fun’s performance deteriorated sharply after the Libra (LIBRA) meme token collapsed as a result of a fraudulent scheme.

In addition, the daily number of new tokens created on Pump.fun and tokens that have reached a capitalization of $100 000 and listed on the Raydium exchange have fallen more than 90% since peaking in February.

“If the launch of both these coins wasn’t enough to end the memecoin mania, LIBRA was the final nail in the coffin, shattering the illusion that memecoins were fair launches to reveal cabals and insiders profiting off almost everyone else,” Ong added.

Argentine prosecutor’s office demanded the freezing of assets of the LIBRA token team for $110 million

Law enforcers believe that President Javier Milei is involved in the fraudulent asset scheme

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Data from aggregator CoinMarketCap also shows that the total market capitalization of meme tokens peaked at $124 billion on December 5, but has since fallen to $54 billion.

Ong says meme coins were “always going to be “seasonal” and some would continue to survive market fluctuations.

“The likes of DOGE, SHIB, and BONK have weathered market cycles and offer lessons for memecoin creators looking to build a longer-term asset. The most successful memes are those that have managed to build cult-like communities who are extremely passionate about a cause, who won’t sell and can create content or stories organically,” Ong concluded.

Pump. fun meme token daily trading volume has fallen by 94% since January

The share of successfully listed coins on Raydium fell to 0,83%

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In February, analysts at platform Santiment wrote that the crypto market could be heading into a healthier market cycle as interest in meme tokens waned and attention shifted back to bitcoin, Ethereum, and other Layer1 (L1) blockchain native tokens.