Will Memecoins Still Dominate Attention in 2025 and Beyond?

Memecoins started as a cultural powerhouse riding on the back of the 2021 bull run. However, the hype surrounding this digital asset class died down a few years later due to obvious reasons. But these tokens surged in popularity following the scheduled date of Donald Trump’s inauguration back in January. Could it mean that the memecoin frenzy is still alive in 2025?

It has become glaring that the crypto market prefers to stick to the old narratives. Otherwise, memecoins wouldn’t be dominant, according to CoinGecko’s quarterly research report. The report states that these tokens captured 62.8% of investor interest. Let’s find out in this blog if memecoins will be dominant in 2025 and beyond.

The Memecoin Narrative and the Cultural Phenomenon

Memecoins went from being an internet joke to a phenomenon. The likes of PEPE, SHIB, DOGE, and FLOKI rose on the back of memes, trends, and pop culture. Unlike mainstream cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin and Ethereum, with strong fundamentals and defined use cases, meme assets are backed by their community, hype, speculation, and marketing. 

Let’s take Dogecoin, the first memecoin in the crypto space, for example. This token was launched in 2013 as a Bitcoin parody. 8 years later, the coin was endorsed by Elon Musk, and it shot to the mainstream. It paved the way for others, like SHIB and PEPE. That’s the power of endorsement and influence.

Several retail investors saw an opportunity in these tokens to turn a small investment into generational wealth. This was what early SHIB and DOGE adopters did. Thanks to their cheap price, they became accessible and psychologically appealing to new investors. Imagine owning millions of tokens for just a small price.

The Internet Satire Fizzles Out

After a few explosive years, meme digital coins began to decline. They began to lose appeal among savvy and new investors, despite their accessibility and constant community endorsements from high-profile people like Elon Musk. 

The reasons were obvious – memecoins lacked serious fundamentals despite years of existence, and celebrity influence couldn’t hold them down anymore. As the crypto world evolved, a significant number of them remained stagnant. 

For example, PEPE reached an all-time low price of $0.000000171 on April 21, 2023. Others experienced a significant decline due to reduced retail interest in owning the coins. With no real use case, memecoins were looking like they’d fade out, until recently. 

The Resurgence of Memecoins

Interest in memecoins began to swirl sharply in January following the announcement of Donald Trump’s token, Official Trump (TRUMP) and Official Melania (MELANIA) token, on January 18 and 19 on the Solana network. Within three hours of launch, TRUMP surged to $8 billion in market cap. This reflected on the broader memecoin market immediately.   

Additionally, the surge in Bitcoin rubbed off on the broader crypto market. BTC for the first time in history hit $100,000, a figure that was widely celebrated. The meme space rode on this significant gain, too.

But those aren’t the only catalysts for the rise. Memecoins are now evolving, merging their meme appeal with real utility. For example, Shiba Inu (SHIB) is in partnership with ShibaSwap to build a layer-2 blockchain called Shibarium. PEPE is exploring NFT features, while FLOKI is going into DeFi. NFTs appeal to young investors, especially Gen Z, which will aid the adoption of meme assets. Whether these developments will become a reality is subjective. 

Will Memecoins Still Dominate?

Likely, but not all meme assets will. Memecoins are making a shift to utilities and real features to sustain their communities. The sheer speculative madness that once dominated the early 2020s will taper off, and only coins with real features will maintain a spotlight.

Other factors, like regulatory pressure, will also reduce the proliferation of memecoins that thrive on media vitality and pump-and-dump schemes. So yes! Memecoins will dominate in 2025 and beyond, but in a more refined form.

However, the market still needs to be cautious of pump-and-dump schemes that may catalyze a nosedive. The memecoins market took a big hit after the LIBRA token collapse, a coin endorsed by Argentine President Javier Milei. Over $4 billion was wiped out from the crypto market within hours after early investors withdrew $107 million in liquidity. Still, it doesn’t stop profitable traders from scouting for speculative meme investments with potential yield. 

Final Say

Meme projects are starting to realize that celebrity endorsements and media hype no longer suffice. If they want to remain relevant, they must combine utility with value. 2025 and beyond will see the emergence of meme coins that build actual ecosystems with real use cases. They are evolving into cultural assets that retain their community vibe but with some real functionality.