The Mimecoin market has been booming this year. It is actually the only crypto sector that has boomed during the Bitcoin (BTC) halving. In some ways, it is reminiscent of the GameFi story during the last cycle. This is something I predicted right before it took off.
However, despite the enthusiasm surrounding Mimecoin, there is a strong argument that Mimecoin is not the best investment vehicle to lead the bull market. It would be more encouraging for the long-term health of the market if new investors turned their attention to much more sustainable real-world assets (RWAs) and artificial intelligence (AI).
Mimecoins are generally designed to be light and fun. Think of them as the crypto cousins of Mime stocks like AMC and GameStop. Well-known examples of Mimecoins include Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB). I consider these to be the OG Mimecoins.
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It’s been a long journey since Dogecoin, but the memecoin space has grown tremendously in a short period of time. In March 2024, there were only about 2,000 memecoin projects. Of these, only about 1,000 were liquid, meaning they had a trading volume higher than 0. As of August, there were about 1.7 million tokens on PumpFun, a Solana-based memecoin platform.
According to a study published by Binance in June, meme coins have increased in value by almost 600% this year. This figure is more than 10 times higher than Bitcoin during the same period. A combination of high speculative activity and celebrity endorsements have contributed to the growth of meme coins. These tokens are also widely discussed on social media. Mentions have increased by more than 50% during the period studied by Binance.
Celebrities have contributed by leveraging their influence to promote meme coins under their names. Tokens such as MOTHER by Iggy Azalea, RNT by Andrew Tate, Top G by Jason Derulo, JASON by Flocka, Waka Flocka by Davido, and Timeless Davido by Davido are some of the celebrity meme coins listed on CoinGecko. I have been an active investor for many years and have invested in the best projects in the industry, but like most other major crypto users, I have also invested in JASON and MOTHER. The investment amount was $100,000.
Is Mimecoin sustainable?
During this cycle, Memecoin attracted the most liquidity, which has raised questions in the industry about whether Memecoin is a sustainable (or ideal) investment vehicle in the future. The Memecoin party has been driven largely by a short-term mindset. People are looking for a quick investment plan that can cash out. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, it contributes to the fear of missing out (FOMO) in the Memecoin space. This FOMO is one of the biggest reasons why the Memecoin market has grown so much.
During Q1 2024, the average price increase of Mimecoin (over 1,300%) was 4.6x more profitable than the second most profitable narrative, RWA (around 300%). I believe this gap will soon reverse. The blockchain industry cannot grow solely on the liquidity generated by the Mimecoin bubble. Few of these tokens are profitable. According to a report published in August, approximately 97% of all Mimecoins ever created no longer exist, with over 2,000 disappearing each month.
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The blockchain industry will only grow with real liquidity catalysts in sectors including RWA and AI. This is a sustainable area that can advance the industry. The reason is simple. Real assets are tokenized on blockchain through RWA. Meanwhile, according to Gartner research, the AI market will be worth $297 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 19.% over the next few years.
The rapid growth of the Mimecoin sector has been impressive, but it is not the sector that will provide the sustainable liquidity that the industry needs to move forward. Tokenizing trillions of dollars worth of real estate, art, and other valuable collectibles can do what Mimecoin cannot. The same goes for AI-based projects that provide authenticity, augmentation, and automation to businesses on the blockchain. This is the sector that will lead the next bull market.
Evan Luther Guest columnist for Cointelegraph and crypto entrepreneur. He sold his first company, StudySocial, for $1.7 million at the age of 17 and developed over 30 mobile apps before he turned 18. He got involved in crypto in 2014 and is currently building CasaNFT. He has also invested in over 400 crypto projects.
This article is for general information purposes only and is not intended to be, and should not be taken as, legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.