As the new year began, crypto enthusiasts eagerly returned to memecoins, causing the market capitalization of these tokens to surge by more than 23% within a week after hitting their lowest point in 2025’s final days.
According to CoinMarketCap, the total value of memecoins climbed from $38 billion on December 29th to surpass $47.7 billion by Monday.
The leading memecoins by market cap experienced significant gains: Dogecoin (DOGE) rose over 20%, Shiba Inu (SHIB) increased nearly 20%, and Pepe (PEPE) skyrocketed with an impressive growth exceeding 65% during the same period.
Transaction volumes for memecoins mirrored this upward trend, jumping dramatically from $2.17 billion on December 29th to $8.7 billion on Monday — a remarkable increase of approximately 300%.
Memecoin valuations had plunged more than 65% throughout 2025, bottoming out at around $35 billion on December 19th amid reduced risk appetite among traders. Given that memecoins are considered some of the riskiest assets in cryptocurrency markets, their resurgence signals renewed investor willingness to embrace higher risk profiles.
The Potential Ripple Effect: Altcoins May Follow
Market analysts at Santiment observed that this rebound in memecoin prices started shortly after retail investors’ fear and uncertainty peaked just days following Christmas. They emphasized that markets often move contrary to popular expectations and advised investors to act swiftly and focus on assets dismissed by most retail participants.
A trader known as Wealthhmanger shared insights via X (formerly Twitter), suggesting altcoins might soon experience similar momentum as capital flows diversify beyond meme tokens. Historically, Solana has been one of the primary beneficiaries when meme coins rally strongly due to its integral role in supporting such ecosystems during previous trading surges.
Mainstream Crypto Market Trails Behind Memes
Despite strong performance from memecoins last week, broader cryptocurrency markets have lagged somewhat behind — with overall market capitalization increasing modestly by over five percent from $2.97 trillion up to about $3.13 trillion.
Bitcoin (BTC) appreciated roughly five percent during this timeframe and was trading near $92,335 as of Monday; meanwhile Ethereum’s native token Ether (ETH) gained approximately seven percent reaching around $3,168 per coin.
The general sentiment across crypto investors is also showing signs of improvement: The CoinMarketCap Fear & Greed Index shifted into neutral territory for the first time since October with a score reading forty points as measured Sunday evening.