Memecoins Surge 23% After Holiday Resurgence
Transaction Volume of Memecoins Significantly Increases
Transactions involving memecoins have surged robustly in the new year, leading to a market capitalization increase of over 23% in the past week after reaching a yearly low at the end of 2025. According to cryptocurrency data platform CoinMarketCap, the market capitalization of memecoins surpassed $47.7 billion on Monday, up from $38 billion on December 29.
The top three memecoins by market capitalization, Dogecoin (DOGE), has increased by over 20% in the last seven days, followed by Shibu Inu (SHIB) with a 19.9% rise, and Pepe (PEPE), which recorded an impressive increase of over 65%. The transaction volume for memecoins skyrocketed from $2.17 billion on December 29 to $8.7 billion on Monday, amounting to a staggering 300% increase.
In 2025, memecoins had declined by over 65%, reaching a market capitalization of $35 billion on December 19, marking the lowest level of the year, prompting traders to become more cautious. However, this recent momentum could indicate that investors are willing to take risks once again.
Analysts from the market intelligence platform Santiment noted that the revival of memecoins began after fear and uncertainty reached peak levels among retail traders a few days after Christmas. Additionally, there is speculation that the rise of memecoins could also herald a rally for altcoins, especially Solana, which has been a key ecosystem for memecoins during the last trading rally.
While memecoins have experienced significant growth, the rest of the crypto market has lagged behind, with overall market capitalization rising by over 5% from $2.97 trillion to $3.13 trillion. Bitcoin (BTC) increased by 5% in the past week, reaching approximately $92,335, while Ether (ETH) saw a 7.3% rise, trading at around $3,168. The overall market sentiment is improving, with the cryptocurrency fear and greed index, which measures investor sentiment, shifting to neutral on Sunday for the first time since October.
