Another week, another crypto controversy.
TL;DR
- Bankless AI token dumps on their followers
- Meme coins outperform AI agents
- XRP is not slowing down
- Pump.fun analysis shows most traders lose money
- OG meme coins perform well in corrective market
Intro
Another week, another crypto controversy as Youtube channel Bankless and new AI wingman Ejaaz launched an AI agent token, which dumped in price after high-profile private round investors like ai16z’s lead wizard Shaw immediately jeeted their allocations.
The meme coin market remains above $100 billion as Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation numbers came in on target and Trump’s inauguration nears. January 20 is almost here, bringing with it a new class of crypto-friendly policymakers and possibly viral outbreaks of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) for the next four years if we believe Elon Musk and others.
AI agents are down bad after quickly reaching euphoric levels with people calling for an agentic supercycle as opposed to a meme supercycle.
7-Day Meme Coin Market Snapshot
The overall meme coin market cap is down almost 2% from $103.47 billion to $101.58 billion over the last seven days, but the whole market started showing strength again after a huge leverage flush which took Bitcoin to under $90,000.
The top meme coins injected some hopium into the market with a brief relief rally, only to get rejected again.
Source: CoinMarketCap
With XRP outperforming every token in the top 20 tokens by market cap, degens are looking at greener grass over on the other side.
Of the crypto majors, only Bitcoin and XRP ended green while Ethereum and Solana did not show any gains. It still feels awkward to label XRP as a crypto major again but the army deserves it.
Source: CoinMarketCap
Meme Coin Market vs Other Crypto Sectors
DeFiLlama's Narrative tracker showed that memes came fourth again this week but outperformed AI.
The 30-day trajectory went sideways as the overall crypto market could not make up its mind on which way it wants to go.
Source: DeFiLlama
Top 20 Meme Coin Leaderboard
Many meme coins dropped in value over the last week, though we are seeing a nice bounce with Dogecoin up 7% in the last 24 hours.
Source: CMC Meme Coins Page
Meme Coin Charts: 7-Day Insights
Biggest Gainers (Last 7 Days):
Biggest Decliners
- Ai16z (AI16Z): -27.90%
- SPX6900 (SPX): -24.98%
- Popcat (POPCAT): -21.29%
- Gigachad (GIGA): -19.06%
- Mog Coin (MOG): -18.50%%
Meme Coins by Chain
Solana Memes
- Ava AI (AVA) soars by 66% being a digital parasite, and social engineering is her kink.
- Unicorn Fart Dust (UFD) surges by 19% and makes videos about gold, silver and Unicorn Fart Dust.
Ethereum Memes
- ShibaBitcoin (SHIBTC) rises by 9% and is supported by multiple wallets.
- Apu Apastaja (APU) gains 3% as they integrate with Chainlink.
Tron Memes
- All Tron meme coins are down but the SunGod says BTFD.
- You can create AI memes with the AI assistant on SunPump.
Most Tron meme coins have low market caps compared to tokens on chains like Ethereum and Solana, so they are extremely risky until proven otherwise.
SUI Memes
- BULLA (BULLA) is up 6% and bears are not allowed.
- Sonic Snipe Bot (SONIC) surges by 21% and has officially been included on CetusProtocol.
Most SUI meme coins have low market caps compared to tokens on chains like Ethereum and Solana, so they are extremely risky until proven otherwise.
Base
- Based Fartcoin (FARTCOIN) skyrockets by 160% as Tootin’s gas is always in supply.
- Marso.Tech (MARSO) is up 5% while they are busy with their Predict The Future Contest.
Bitcoin Runes
- As usual, they are focusing on security and decentralization.
- All top Runes are down over the week but showing strength during the last 24 hours, with DOG up 13% and BDC up 16%.
Most Bitcoin Runes have low market caps compared to tokens on chains like Ethereum and Solana, so they are extremely risky until proven otherwise.
Meme Coin News
Bankless or Brainless?
Aiccelerate DAO (AICC) and Bankless VC launched the token AICC on Jan. 9, raising 943 SOL through Daos.fun. The token initially skyrocketed, reaching a market cap of $1.4 billion, but quickly crashed to a market cap of $73 million.
The community grew very upset because Bankless promoted AICC on its podcast and then the Bankless VC sold 10% of its token allocation immediately after the launch, earning huge profits.
David Hoffman, co-founder of Bankless, described the token sale as an "impulsive mistake" and rebought the sold tokens two days later but only after the token had lost 90% of its value.
Most did not buy his excuse, arguing he just tried to save face because far less money was spent on the repurchase than was earned from the initial sale. Hopefully, lessons were learned—KOLS please do better.
AI Agents Dump
AI agent tokens like ai16z and VIRTUAL had a huge correction as early investors exited their positions. VIRTUAL has fallen 48% from its peak and ai16z dropped over 50% from its January high.
According to Nansen, the most profitable ai16z trader made $39 million and sold nearly all their tokens. Similarly, the third-most profitable trader earned $19 million before exiting most of their position.
Source: Nansen
The number of ai16z smart money holders dropped from 124 (holding 1.24 billion tokens) in December to 80 (holding 934 million tokens). For VIRTUAL, top profit-makers, such as LVT Capital, have sold all their holdings, generating a massive 4,082% return on investment (ROI).
Pump.fun Profits
A recent analysis of Pump.fun shows that 99.6% of its traders have yet to realize profits exceeding $10,000. According to Dune data, only 55,296 of the 13.55 million wallets have achieved this.
Even more rare are wallets with six-figure profits, representing just 0.048% of traders, and seven-figure profits, with only 293 wallets (0.00217%) crossing the $1 million mark.
Source: Following
However, the data may not provide a complete picture. Analyst Adam Tehc noted that realized profits reflect only closed positions, while unrealized profits are excluded.
Anon analyst Alon added that transactions involving coins already bonded to Raydium are not included in the calculations, potentially underestimating the number of profitable wallets by a significant margin.
What Can You Do Next?
- Keep an eye on MemeFi because it’s here to stay.
- Meme coins show signs of slowing growth. Make sure to have a diversified portfolio.
- Be careful of scams promoted by influencers and celebrities.
- Remember that meme coins often decline faster when the larger market retraces.
- Consider reinvesting some profits into safer crypto tokens or stables.
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