The Decline of Memecoins

According to some of the biggest names in crypto, the peak of memecoin mania has passed.

With the sitting president of a G20 country facing initial impeachment proceedings for promoting a memecoin, every Trump family memecoin has declined since its listing on a major US exchange. Moreover, memecoin platforms are being targeted for money laundering due to billion-dollar hacks, suggesting that the bubble may have burst.

Even Solana, the host blockchain for most memecoins, has shed one-third of its market capitalization over the last month.

People seem to be fed up with losing money in memecoins. TRUMP has declined over $11 billion since its peak, MELANIA is down 90%, and investors have lost untold millions in Argentina’s LIBRA, Central African Republic’s CAR, and numerous offerings by celebrities and brands.

These include projects launched by Dave Portnoy, Changpeng Zhao, Enron, Vine, John McAfee, Donald Trump’s inauguration pastor, the Hawk Tuah girl, and many more.

Savvy investors have spotted a pattern: endless supply and dwindling demand.

Long before the recent rallies, many crypto veterans suspected that memecoins would follow the same trajectory as the metaverse craze, NFT bubble, DeFi Summer, ICO winter, and other seasonal crypto trends.

Trends in crypto may be popular for a few months, but eventually, nobody wants to invest.

No Value Except for Vibes

The problem with memecoins is particularly severe: they are, by design, self-described as worthless. Unlike utility tokens, yield-bearing farms, or artwork-owning NFTs, most memecoin founders explicitly promise no value to token holders and no long-term development.

This tactic helps them avoid US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosure requirements. By promising nothing, memecoin creators evade the Howey test for investment contracts.

Read more: Abolish the SEC! A decade of battling crypto’s top regulator

The Cyclical History of Memecoin Seasons

Memecoins have been around since the creation of Dogecoin and Counterparty tokens in 2013. Although the current wave of primarily Solana memecoins appears to have peaked, a brief decline may not necessarily indicate that memecoins will be gone for good.

Since 2013, numerous memecoin seasons have emerged. There was one during the ICO boom of 2017, and then in spring 2021, Dogecoin surged tens of thousands of percentage points, creating multi-billion dollar dog coins like Shiba Inu.

In late 2023, another so-called “memecoin supercycle” boosted prices of DOGE, SHIB, MOODENG, and PNUT by thousands of percentage points.

Most recently, in January 2025, at least the presidents of the US, Argentina, and the Central African Republic launched tokens on Solana, leading many to believe this marked a permanent top.

Perhaps it was the end. Or maybe memecoins will rise again, as they have repeatedly done over the past decade.