Memecoins shine as crypto market cap falls by $408.8 billion in Q2 2024

Published by

Samuel Bolaji

Key Points

Market Capitalisation, a crucial metric in the cryptocurrency industry, showing the total value of a cryptocurrency. It is calculated by multiplying the current price of a cryptocurrency by the total number of coins in circulation. As of this report, the total market capitalisation of cryptocurrency stands at $2.5 trillion.
Memecoins, a type of cryptocurrency inspired by internet memes, pop culture references, or trends. Created primarily for fun, they are often driven by community enthusiasm. Popular memecoins include Dogecoin and Floki.

Coingecko, a leading crypto-tracking website, has released its Q2 2024 report, highlighting that memecoins were the primary market movers in the second quarter.

The report noted that the overall cryptocurrency market capitalisation declined by 14 per cent.

Crypto Market Cap Drops in Q2

The total cryptocurrency market capitalisation experienced a significant drop, losing $408.8 billion over the last three months, and ending Q2 with a total market cap of $2.43 trillion. This marked a substantial decrease, preventing the market from reaching a new all-time high.

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Memecoins Lead the Industry in Q2

According to Coingecko, memecoins emerged as the most popular narrative in Q2 2024, accounting for 14.3 per cent of the market share.

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The memecoin frenzy was fuelled by various projects that saw their prices surge, bringing substantial returns to investors.

High-profile celebrities like Andrew Tate, Iggy Azalea, and Caitlyn Jenner further boosted the popularity of memecoins by launching their own projects.

The PoliFi category within the memecoin sector also garnered significant attention, particularly due to activities related to the upcoming November US presidential elections.

Notably, the assassination attempt on Donald Trump led to a 46.9 per cent surge in the price of Maga (TRUMP) coin.

Market Outperformed by S&P 500

The report also highlighted that the crypto market capitalisation was outperformed by the S&P 500, which registered a 3.9 per cent increase during the same period. This disparity led to a significant drop in the correlation between the total crypto market cap and the S&P 500, plummeting to 0.16 in Q2 from 0.84 in Q1.

High Volatility in the Crypto Market

Volatility remained a key factor in Q2, with the total crypto market cap exhibiting an annualised volatility of 48.2 per cent. Bitcoin’s volatility stood at 46.7 per cent, in contrast to the S&P 500’s lower volatility of 12.7 per cent.

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Blockchain Ecosystem Insights

In the blockchain category, four out of 49 ecosystems—Solana, Ethereum, Base, and TON—made it into the top 15 crypto narratives. Solana and Base were the most popular ecosystems, capturing a 22.9 per cent share of market attention.

Additional Q2 Data

The report also provided insights into Ethereum’s performance during the quarter, Bitcoin mining hash rates, and trading volumes across centralised and decentralised exchanges.

The report from Coingecko underscores the dynamic nature of the cryptocurrency market, highlighting the significant role of memecoins and the broader market trends impacting the industry in Q2 2024.

Samuel Bolaji

Samuel Bolaji, an alumnus/Scholar of the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, holds a Master of Letters in Publishing Studies from the University of Stirling, Scotland, United Kingdom, and a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Lagos, Nigeria. He is an experienced researcher, multimedia journalist, writer, and Editor. Ex-Chief Correspondent, ex-Acting Op-Ed Editor, and ex-Acting Metro Editor at The PUNCH Newspaper, Samuel is currently the Editor at Arbiterz.