After a long period of weakness, the meme coin has finally seen an encouraging rebound.
Since mid-September last year, the total market capitalization of Meme Coin gradually declined from approximately $80 billion to a low of only $35 billion, with virtually no significant rebound along the way. However, in the first week of 2026, the total market capitalization of Meme Coin finally rebounded, returning to nearly $50 billion.
During the same period, the market capitalization of Meme coin as a percentage of the overall altcoin market reached its lowest point since July 2022, at only about 3%. In 2026, this figure finally rebounded, returning to about 4%.
This recent rebound in Meme coins feels like a "classic" resurgence. It seems the market dynamics of Meme coins have shifted from "newcomer frenzy" back to "classic old coins." Pepe has surged over 70% in the past week, with a staggering 24-hour trading volume of approximately $1.1 billion, exceeding 50% of Doge's 24-hour trading volume.
Doge, Shiba, Pepe, BONK, Pengu, SPX, and Fartcoin—these familiar large-cap, long-lived meme coins have all seen widespread gains in the past week, with none falling below 20%. If this trend continues, based on past experience, we could see a repeat of the pattern seen in previous bull markets, where large-cap memes surged before new meme stars emerged.
This recent rebound in Meme coins is seen by optimistic cryptocurrency investors as the starting point for a new round of comprehensive market rally. Historically, Meme coin price movements have repeatedly served as a leading indicator of shifts in market risk appetite, such as the Doge surge in 2021 and the Bome and Pump.Fun rallies in 2024. Because Meme coins are largely driven by sentiment and easily generate discussion on social media, increased positive discussion during price increases can easily create a widespread bullish atmosphere among retail investors.
If this bull market really does arrive, from the current perspective, from what angles can we best capture the new opportunities in this new bull market?
"Currently Hottest": Attention Tokens
The resurgence of meme trading has accelerated the shift in focus. White Whale's success has only lasted a little over a week, and its price is still near its all-time high. However, a new gold dog named "114514" has emerged in the last two days, and it just broke through the $40 million market capitalization mark today, setting a new all-time high, with a gain of about 250 times in 2 days.
The meme "114514" originates from the 2001 gay adult film "BABYLON STAGE 34 中夏夜之淫梦the IMP" released by the Japanese film company COAT CORPORATION. An actor who played a "senior" in the film had outstanding acting skills and lines, especially his line "好啊！来啊！（いいよ！こいよ）" (Okay! Come on! (いいよ！こいよ)). This line was used by Japanese netizens as a homophone for the Japanese number and incorporated into various meme images and videos.
Although the true identity of this "senior" remains unknown due to the confidentiality agreement with the production company, in 2011, a molester named Koji Tadokoro was arrested in Japan. Because of his striking resemblance to the "senior," netizens assumed that the "senior" was Koji Tadokoro. This meme is also very popular in Chinese-speaking communities. Comments accompanying "114514" are usually accompanied by words related to stench, such as "stinky," "disgusting," and "disgusting," stemming from the fact that the molester committed by the supposedly "senior," Koji Tadokoro, was indeed extremely offensive. The frequently seen phrase "A good era is coming" is also a deliberate translation of "114514."
It's difficult to objectively analyze why the old meme "114514" suddenly surged in the cryptocurrency market, but we can still make some predictions based on the overflow of sentiment. Since there's no objective reason, the direction of this sentiment overflow depends on how the market interprets it and how funds direct their investment. It can be understood as a Japanese meme or as a purely numerical meme like "42069".
In attention token games, you don't need to ask why, but rather to judge what other players will think, what reasons will be accepted by most people as buy orders, and luck.
"Long-termism": Classical Meme Coin
The resurgence of meme coins in this market rally, particularly the return of "classic meme coins" like Pepe, BONK, and Pengu, is a pleasant surprise. These large-cap, time-tested meme coins haven't been in the spotlight for a long time. With the rise of attention-grabbing strategies, people are more accustomed to fast-paced gameplay, and the term "diamond hand" has even taken on a somewhat sarcastic connotation.
However, in every truly comprehensive market rally, some outstanding meme coins will stand out, be accepted and recognized by the market as "good coins," maintain a high market value in the long term, and have a group of steadfast holders.
This is actually what Meme Coin has been waiting for, a sign that the sector has truly matured. Murad's "Meme Coin Supercycle" theory includes a set of standards for judging the quality of Meme Coin—being able to maintain a medium or even large market capitalization (over $5 million), having withstood the test of time for at least 6 months, having a clear enough goal and concept to achieve certain things, and being able to evoke a resonance in people's hearts to truly achieve the accumulation and unity of holders, etc.
Based on this standard, besides the meme giants like Doge, Shiba, Pepe, BONK, and Pengu, which are already considered "too big to fail" by the market, there are still many potential stocks worth paying attention to. Larger ones include SPX, Fartcoin, Mog, and BITCOIN (HarryPotterObamaSonic10Inu), while smaller ones include neet, Chillhouse, Joe, and others.
In the world of classic meme coins, it's crucial to detach from personal emotions and objectively and deeply observe their social media and community. Meme coins that reach this stage are rare and easily identifiable. Firstly, the long-term, stable operation of a meme coin is inherently difficult; it either requires a cohesive community capable of collective content creation, or a resource-rich team with ambitious goals for sustainable development. These coins no longer aim to stabilize their internal community and token supply, but rather, having achieved internal integration, consider how to attract external growth through multiple channels, and even how to let meme culture influence and change the real world from a certain perspective.
"Revenue is King": The Implementation of Token Rights
It's always been difficult to analyze cryptocurrency projects with impressive, stable revenue performance using the price-to-earnings ratio (P/E ratio) logic of the stock market, because token holders don't enjoy dividends or other rights like shareholders. Therefore, profit in the cryptocurrency world serves more as a "hope," acting as a "narrative." This fragile "narrative" is also argued by meme maximalists who believe there's no fundamental difference between altcoins and meme coins; altcoins are meme coins.
Nevertheless, the revenue narrative still holds true in the cryptocurrency world. Uniswap and Aave, from a more distant perspective, remain among the top cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, while Hyperliquid's rapid growth has single-handedly raised the ceiling for the Perp DEX sector.
Even better, we've seen some progress in implementing token rights since last year. For example, the long-standing issue of unblocking Uniswap fees was finally resolved, and while the controversial proposal to transfer brand asset control to token holders ultimately failed, Aave Labs pledged to share off-protocol revenue with token holders, acknowledging that synergy is crucial for both Aave Labs and AAVE holders.
While numerous legal and practical issues remain on the path for tokens to align with equity interests, the improvement of governance models within the industry and the growing awareness among token holders represent significant progress. If the market performs well in terms of revenue and profit synergy, projects that excel in this area should gain greater market recognition. This represents an upgrade before revenue distribution truly becomes a reality, moving beyond mere rhetoric.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this rebound in the meme market is just the prelude to a full-blown bull market. And if such a market rally occurs, hopefully new stars will emerge, completing a "generational shift" in the crypto space.
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