Let’s be honest with ourselves, we kind of saw this coming.
Every crypto cycle has its chaos, its curveballs, its moments that no one can fully predict. But if you’ve been paying even half attention this year, you know what’s taken centre stage. It wasn’t the blue-chip altcoins. It wasn’t the latest DeFi protocol or that promising Layer-1 everyone’s been quietly building on.
No, it was the meme coins. Again and this time, they didn’t just steal the spotlight they kicked down the door, lit the room on fire, and threw the furniture out the window on the way in.
A Meme Coin Frenzy, Supercharged
We’re not talking minor pumps or a few Reddit threads going viral. We’re talking $VIRTUAL a token that skyrocketed by 24,908%. We’re talking DOGE, SHIB, PEPE… the usual suspects showing up like it’s 2021 again, but this time supercharged by platforms like Pump.fun, where launching a meme coin is about as easy as sending a tweet.
December alone saw 1.2 million new tokens launched on Solana. Think about that a million-plus coins in a month. Most of them memes. Most of them speculative. Many of them worthless. But for retail traders priced out of Ethereum or Solana itself, they became something else entirely: lottery tickets. And in a few cases, those tickets hit.
But as this meme coin mania played out, something was happening quietly in the background and not all of it was bullish for the rest of the market. So… Where Did the Real Altcoins Go? While the memecoins lit up the charts, the traditional altcoin heavyweights Ethereum, Cardano, even DeFi blue chips felt more like they were stuck in molasses.
Even with long-awaited ETH ETF inflows starting to appear, price action was sluggish. Cardano’s rally stalled out and a great initial surge. The DeFi sector? Quiet, thin liquidity, and a distinct lack of narrative momentum. There has been of course the AI hype and RWA narrative and stable coins are going to evolve in to stables 2.0 but where is the major altcoin pump, we all know and love the face melting returns. Are these a thing of the past?
It led to a very real question:
Are meme coins siphoning the capital that usually fuels altcoin seasons? Let’s look at the hard numbers. As of April 2025:
- Meme coins collectively hold a $47.6 billion market cap
- They’re pushing $8.4 billion in daily trading volume
- Dogecoin is still a top 10 cryptocurrency by market cap
That’s not just a sideshow. That’s a core liquidity event and when that much money is spread across thousands of high-risk, high-volatility tokens, it’s no wonder the traditional altcoins are having a hard time catching a bid.
The Chart That Tells the Story
Let’s put this into perspective. Here’s a quick look at how the landscape is shaping up in 2025:
| Category | Market Cap (Apr 2025) | 24h Volume (Apr 2025) | Notable Examples |
| Meme Coins | $47.6 Billion | $8.4 Billion | Dogecoin, PEPE, WIF |
| Other Altcoins | Varies (e.g., Solana ~$100B) | Varies (e.g., Ethereum ~$50B daily) | Ethereum, Solana, Cardano |
Additionally, a table showing the percentage gains of top meme coins versus top altcoins in 2025 can further illustrate this disparity:
| Category | Top Performers | Percentage Gain (2025 YTD) |
| Meme Coins | Tongtongcoin | 262,586% |
| PepeCat | 12,363% | |
| StratoVM | 2,770% | |
| Derive | 2,350% | |
| AI Meta Club | 1,213% | |
| Other Altcoins | Mantra | 82.2% |
| GateToken | 31.5% | |
| WhiteBIT Coin | 16.2% | |
| XRP | 14.2% | |
| Fasttoken | 13.0% |
This data, sourced from 10 Best-Performing Cryptocurrencies of 2025 So Far Nasdaq, as of March 17, 2025, shows meme coins have significantly higher percentage gains compared to altcoins with higher market caps, supporting the article’s point about capital diversion.
These aren’t fringe numbers. This is serious capital flow. On November 14, 2024, Crypto.news reported meme coins like PNUT and PEPE gained 122.5% and 75% respectively while many other altcoins barely moved. That’s not coincidence. That’s a trend.
Bitcoin’s Holding the Throne — And the Oxygen
Now, here’s something that gets overlooked in these debates: Bitcoin’s dominance.
It’s been climbing all year, hitting local highs in early 2025, buoyed by ETF enthusiasm, institutional trust, and companies like MicroStrategy going on buying sprees.
That’s important because historically, altcoin seasons don’t start when Bitcoin is surging, they start when Bitcoin stalls, consolidates, or even dips. In past cycles (think 2017, 2021), BTC pumped first. Then cooled. Then the altcoins ran.
But this time?
Bitcoin kept pumping. And in that vacuum, meme coins jumped the line.
They didn’t wait for the classic handoff. They absorbed the momentum early giving the market a dopamine hit before ETH, ADA, and others even had a chance to warm up.
So, did they kill the altcoin season? Not quite. But they may have hit the snooze button.
Here’s where the community really starts to split. Some traders, analysts, and Reddit warriors see meme coin rallies as the canary in the coal mine early signals that retail is waking up, that risk appetite is returning. They argue this is just the first chapter in a new altcoin cycle, and meme coins are doing what they always do: front-running the fun.
Others, though, are sounding the alarm. They’re looking at the sheer volume of new launches thousands per week and seeing a dangerously fragmented capital pool, one that’s too diluted to power a real altcoin surge.
Both camps have a point.
BeInCrypto predicted back in July 2024 that meme coins might lead the next altcoin season, thanks to their roots in Ethereum and Solana ecosystems. Meanwhile, CoinDesk warned in March that meme coin hype might delay broader market rotation due to Bitcoin’s gravity. So what’s the truth?
Maybe it’s both. Maybe meme coins are part of the altcoin story now not a distraction from it. So What Happens Next?
If you’ve been around this space long enough, you know better than to call tops and bottoms with absolute confidence.
But here’s what we can say:
The altcoin season isn’t dead. It’s late maybe even fashionably late. We’re seeing strong performance from projects like Solana, steady (if slow) accumulation of ETH, and ongoing signs that institutional capital is preparing for a broader rotation. Meme coins haven’t replaced altcoins. They’ve just taken the wheel for a bit maybe driving too fast, maybe swerving a little too hard but they’re still on the same road.
Final Thoughts: The Party’s Still On Just in Another Room
So no, meme coins didn’t kill the altcoin bull run. But they did hijack the playlist.
And if you’re trying to figure out where we go from here, don’t write off the madness learn from it. Understand the flows. Watch the narratives. Because when capital shifts back toward utility, toward infrastructure, toward real adoption plays and it will you’ll want to be positioned.
Until then, the market’s alive. It’s just louder in the meme room.
Hopefully, you have enjoyed today’s article. Thanks for reading! Have a fantastic day! Live from the Platinum Crypto Trading Floor.
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