- Bitcoin-based meme coins like DOG and PUPS surged in price, with DOG rising 85% over the past week to a new all-time high of $0.007542
- The surge in these Bitcoin “Runes” tokens challenges the narrative that the hype around them has faded since their launch alongside Bitcoin’s halving event in April
- While trading volumes for Runes remain tiny compared to other meme coins, the DOG rally has generated internet chatter about whether the Runes market sector will make a comeback
The emerging market of Bitcoin-based meme coins showed signs of life Thursday as the price of several so-called Runes tokens increased, all while the value of memetic assets on other networks fell. The market capitalization of meme coins tracked by CoinGecko had fallen 46% over the past day to $66 billion, yet Bitcoin Runes token DOGGOTOTHEMOON (aka DOG) has increased 20% to $0.0007 as of this writing. Not far behind, the Bitcoin-based meme coin PUPS has also jumped 15% over the past 24 hours.
DOG’s Performance
Described by Runes creator Casey Rodarmor as a venue for people to create “shitcoins”, several Runes are competing for attention amid a steady sluice of Solana-based meme coins that have been launched through platforms like Pumpfun.
Created by the pseudonymous Twitter aka “X” influencer Leonidas, DOG was airdropped after Runes’ release to those who held assets from Leonidas’ Runestone Ordinals project. On Thursday, the account highlighted DOG’s performance amid a sea of red for other meme coins:
“DOG is at a $740M market cap and people don’t even know how to buy it yet. I’m honestly scared of what will happen when we get our first Tier-1 CEX listing and increase liquidity by an order of magnitude. I’ve never seen a memecoin move upward this violently before.”
DOG is now up 85% over the last week alone, setting a new all-time high price of $0.0007542 late Wednesday. It now has a market cap of nearly $730 million.
Meme Coin Landscape
The popularity of meme coins on Ethereum and Solana relative to those based on Bitcoin is reflective of a technical gap and lackluster user experience, according to Blockspace Media co-founder Charlie Spears. Meme coins have existed for several years on other networks, yet on Bitcoin the concepts and tech are fresh.
Right now especially with memes coins being the resurgent sector in crypto, people don’t really care how a Rune or BRC-20 works, Spears said. They want to trade them as quickly and with as much liquidity as possible.
Even though the price of Runes has increased notably on Thursday, the assets’ trading volume was tiny compared to other meme coins. The aforementioned DOG has notched $97 million in trading volume over the past day, while the Ethereum-based Pepecoin has racked up $15 billion in the same span.
Political Meme Coins
Among dog-themed tokens, the Bitcoin-based DOG was top in terms of weekly gains, posting a 73% increase. However, several tokens inspired by Former President Donald Trump have increased more, speaking to the shifting political backdrop around crypto in the US.
Trump-themed MAGA Hat (MAGA) cryptocurrency has surged by over 150% in the past 24 hours, while the MAGA TRUMP meme coin is up by a more modest 127% overnight. Intriguingly, the ConstitutionDAO PEOPLE token is also up by 47%.
Originally created as a governance token for a now-defunct DAO aiming to purchase a rare copy of the U.S. Constitution at auction, PEOPLE tokens have found new purpose as a political meme coin.
Conclusion
Over the past 30 days, the total sales volume of Bitcoin-based collectibles including BRC-20s, Ordinals inscriptions and Runes has plummeted 70% to $180 million compared to the previous span, according to CryptoSlam data. But as more robust solutions for trading Runes are built out, Spears said Dog’s performance can challenge the narrative that Runes are dead.
Leonidas’ DOGGOTOTHEMOON token was pumping pretty hard and that generated a lot of internet chatter, Spears said. I think right now everyone’s waiting to see if in fact Runes as a market sector for fungible tokens does come back.
