Memecoin market crash reveals crypto hype and politics

After a spectacular boom, the memecoin market has entered a painful reset, with memecoin market capitalization collapsing even as Bitcoin price holds near record territory.

From $150.6B peak to sub-$40B bust

According to CoinGecko, total meme-coin market capitalization hit an all-time high of $150.6 billion in December 2024, powered by a wave of new dog, frog, AI and political tokens. However, that momentum quickly faded as speculative excess and hype gave way to fear.

By November 2025, the sector had retraced sharply. CoinGecko data put memecoin market cap around $47.2 billion, while CoinMarketCap and CoinGlass charts showed roughly $39.4 billion on November 21, 2025. In effect, the space has suffered a drawdown of about 73% from its late 2024 peak.

The bust has opened a wide gap between speculative meme tokens and major cryptocurrencies. While the combined value of meme assets has plunged from roughly $150 billion to the high-$30s billion, Bitcoin itself has held near multi-month highs around $80,000–$90,000.

Meme coin mania and 2024’s trading boom

Last year’s rally was broad and frenzied, extending far beyond Dogecoin. CoinGecko reports that daily memecoin trading volumes jumped about +767% year-over-year in 2024, at one stage topping $87.4 billion. Moreover, newly launched tokens flooded the market across several blockchains.

New launchpads, most notably Solana-based Pump.fun, made it easier than ever to issue joke tokens. At the same time, high-profile listings on Robinhood and Coinbase for coins like PEPE and WIF added a layer of perceived legitimacy and drew in retail traders looking for quick gains.

Dogecoin did regain prominence, yet the landscape was far more diverse than in 2021. Tokens such as PEPE, BONK, SHIB and hundreds of other so-called “funny coins” chased upside in an increasingly crowded field. That said, the lack of fundamentals behind most of these assets remained a persistent risk.

By December 2024, the combined market capitalization of all meme tokens, including DOGE, reached $150.6 billion, nearly double the previous peak of $88 billion recorded in 2021. The speculative high was widely described as a new memecoin market season, with investors hunting for the next viral breakout rather than focusing on established projects.

For context, Bitcoin price had already climbed above $60,000 by late 2024. However, much of the crypto narrative shifted toward high-beta memecoins instead of large-cap assets, underscoring how quickly sentiment can rotate toward riskier corners of the market.

High-profile political flops trigger a confidence shock

The downtrend accelerated as early 2025 brought a sobering reality check. Analysts point to growing criticism of meme tokens’ lack of real-world utility, combined with a string of spectacular pump-and-dump events that damaged trust. Moreover, several politically themed launches turned into costly failures for retail traders.

In January 2025, political figureheads introduced their own coins and then effectively abandoned them. U.S. President Donald Trump‘s Solana-based token TRUMP rallied to about $75 on January 19, 2025, before crashing more than 90% to roughly $5.42. The token became a textbook example of pump and dump tokens.

Similarly, Argentina’s President Javier Milei backed a token called LIBRA that surged to a $107 million market capitalization and then collapsed. According to estimates, around 86% of participants lost roughly $251 million on that trade, highlighting how political meme tokens can amplify risk.

These high-profile meltdowns shattered investor confidence and accelerated the market slide. CoinGecko explicitly links the mid-2025 crash to such events, citing “critical reviews about the lack of real asset value and a series of high-profile scams” as major contributors to the downturn.

By November 2025, total meme-coin market capitalization had plunged to about $47.2 billion, a roughly 70% drop from its $150.6 billion zenith. CoinGecko data also confirm that it reached its lowest level of 2025 in late November, around $39.4 billion.

Oversupply, fatigue and traffic collapse

The crash was not driven solely by political scandals. Extreme token oversupply also played a decisive role. Moreover, as the novelty faded, trader enthusiasm waned, leaving many new issues with little liquidity or community support.

Speculative mania created a glut of meme assets: over 13 million new meme coins were issued in 2025 alone, according to sector estimates. Most had no clear use case, revenue model or long-term roadmap, underscoring a mounting memecoin supply glut issue.

Investor fatigue soon followed. Once the initial euphoria passed, traders rotated into other narratives, from DeFi to NFTs and AI-related tokens. CoinGecko reports that dedicated memecoin web traffic fell by roughly 81.6% in 2025, mirroring the collapse in valuations and illustrating a sharp deterioration in retail crypto investor sentiment.

These elements combined to produce a pronounced memecoin market cap decline. Supply kept growing, but incremental demand dried up. As a result, even previously popular tokens struggled to hold prior levels, and the sector’s risk profile intensified.

Bitcoin resilience as meme assets decouple

Throughout the meme slump, Bitcoin has shown remarkable resilience. As of late November 2025, Bitcoin price hovered around $82,778 despite a brief pullback. By mid-December, it was trading closer to $90,000, underlining how blue-chip crypto has held firm during the shakeout.

In other words, bitcoin has remained on relatively solid footing despite a broader risk-off tone in smaller altcoins. However, the decoupling between major meme tokens and the top cryptocurrency has become increasingly evident, suggesting a structural shift in how investors treat these different segments.

Dogecoin, the original meme token, is down about 57% year-to-date, while Shiba Inu has fallen roughly 61%. Neither move tracks bitcoin’s performance, indicating that the dogecoin shiba inu pair now behaves more like leveraged speculation than proxies for the wider market.

The sector’s concentration has also evolved. CoinGecko data show DOGE still represents roughly 47.3% of the entire meme universe, down from dominating nearly all of it in 2021 but up in relative terms as many rivals lost ground. That said, this dominance has not translated into stronger absolute performance.

In practical terms, meme assets now trade as high-volatility side bets, while bitcoin functions as the primary market bellwether. This divergence is visible across memecoin market trends, on-chain flows and derivative positioning, where traders increasingly segregate their risk allocations.

Is another meme season coming?

Looking ahead, skepticism dominates in the absence of a fresh catalyst. Some industry insiders, however, insist that the meme cycle is not over and that attention-driven assets will continue to resurface in future bull phases.

MoonPay President Keith Grossman recently pushed back against the idea that the “meme coin era is over,” calling that narrative “lazy and wrong.” He argued that meme tokens have uniquely “tokenized attention” on blockchains, creating a new way to trade culture and sentiment.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao went further, teasing the prospect of a renewed “funny coins season” in late 2025. However, those comments have not yet translated into a clear memecoin market cap surge, and secondary liquidity remains thin across many tickers.

Most professional analysts now treat meme tokens as speculative curiosities rather than core portfolio holdings. Once the bullish craze peaked, few could identify strong fundamentals capable of justifying prior valuations or driving a sustained recovery in memecoin total market cap.

With bitcoin stronger and the broader crypto complex focusing more on DeFi, NFTs and AI narratives, retail investors appear to have moved on. Moreover, the sector’s history of pump and dump tokens has left many newcomers wary of chasing short-lived trends.

For now, the lesson is that meme assets remain highly event-driven. Without a compelling and sustained story, they have burned out: after peaking at $150 billion, the combined memecoin market cap now sits under $40 billion, leaving a stark reminder of how quickly sentiment can reverse.

In summary, the memecoin sector’s rapid rise and steep fall highlight the dangers of hype-driven speculation. While future cycles may bring new waves of experimentation, the latest crash underscores the need for caution, due diligence and a clear distinction between market entertainment and long-term investment.