Meme Coin Market Crashes 69% After $150B Political Token Frenzy

The meme coin market’s trajectory in 2024-2025 was nothing short of a historic rollercoaster. As detailed in the CoinGecko report, the collective value of meme-inspired cryptocurrencies surged to an unprecedented $150.6 billion in December 2024. This figure shattered the previous 2021 high of $88 billion, with the rally largely fueled by the ‘PolitiFi’ trend surrounding the U.S. presidential election. Tokens like Official Trump (TRUMP) gained significant traction, while others, such as LIBRA linked to Argentine President Javier Milei, also launched. However, this political token mania marked the zenith before a steep decline.

By November 2025, the total market capitalization had imploded to just $47.2 billion, representing a 69% wipeout of value. This collapse occurred against a backdrop of frenzied creation; at the peak in January 2025, token launchpads like Pump.fun and BONK.fun were facilitating over 73,000 new token launches every single day. The United States remained the epicenter of public interest, with its share of global attention growing from 20% to nearly 30%, yet overall global interest in meme coins plummeted by more than 80% from January levels, directly mirroring the market’s dramatic pullback.

The ease of token creation that powered the boom also laid the groundwork for widespread malfeasance and risk. The CoinGecko report highlights that beyond insider-heavy launches, the landscape was marred by an increase in ‘rug pulls,’ where developers abruptly abandon projects after raising funds. Another prevalent issue was ‘bundling,’ a practice where insiders use multiple wallets to fabricate organic demand for new coins. These schemes exploited the speculative fervor, contributing to the sector’s instability and significant investor losses during the downturn.

The volatility inherent in meme coins was starkly illustrated by the dominance shifts within the sector itself. While the cycle that began in early 2024 spread across diverse networks like Solana, Bitcoin, Base, and BNB Chain, the original meme coin, Dogecoin (DOGE), demonstrated remarkable resilience. After briefly seeing its market share drop below 30% during the height of Solana-based meme trading, DOGE recovered to control about 47% of the total sector value by the report’s analysis, reaffirming the enduring power of the dog-themed narrative.

Despite the crash, the narrative is not solely one of speculation and collapse. CoinGecko’s analysis points to an emerging maturation within a segment of the meme coin ecosystem. While dog-themed tokens remain the largest category and new narratives around politics and artificial intelligence captured significant market share, some projects are actively building broader utility. Tokens like BONK and FLOKI now support decentralized finance (DeFi) tools and gaming platforms, and DEGEN has evolved into the native currency for an entire social media layer-3 network.

Looking forward, the report suggests that the integration of centralized exchanges (CEXs) with DeFi protocols may define the next chapter for meme coins. Major platforms like Coinbase and Binance are now providing in-app access to on-chain token trading, effectively blurring the boundaries between traditional exchange services and the on-chain meme coin ecosystem. This convergence has the potential to onboard a new wave of users, though it also brings the inherent volatility and risks of meme assets closer to mainstream crypto trading venues.