Meme tokens overtake DeFi narrative as mindshare shifts on social media

Attention is shifting from DeFi into meme tokens, as mindshare metrics point to the launch of a meme super cycle. After months of narrative turnover and complex new platforms, memes took off again for offering the simplest access to the market. 

Meme tokens are gaining momentum as interest flows out of DeFi. Actual DeFi usage remains high, and meme token activity depends on some forms of crypto finance, especially stablecoin lending. However, the recent shift to meme token activity coincides with an outflow of DeFi hype. 

Meme tokens lead crypto narratives and adoption  

Meme mindshare has turned into the leading narrative, according to the Kaito research platform. Memecoin super cycle mentions are near peak levels, with Murad Mahmudov turning into the top crypto influencer on X.

Meme tokens hold a mindshare of more than 32% , while AI has a share of nearly 22%. Even some of the altcoin narratives behave partially like meme tokens, with no real utility but an expectation of positive price action.

New memes are also surpassing previous batches of tokens and older narratives like Meme 1.0 or Meme 2.0. Dogecoin (DOGE) saw almost no shift in sentiment and did not lead or follow the meme hype.

Some assets have outsized short-term growth of their social media messaging, as in the case of the GOAT token , which gained popularity after being promoted by an X poster that is actually an LLM trained on Internet jargon.

Searches for meme tokens also picked up since the start of October, down from almost no interest on Google’s search engine. 

The meme narrative outgrew several token trends in 2024, including more serious use cases like real-world asset tokenization, SocialFi, Web3 gaming, ZK-rollup L2 chains, and liquid staking. While all of those narratives could lead to mass adoption and the potential to rival existing industries, it was meme tokens that became the most popular path to onboarding new token users. 

The rise of meme tokens also follows a year-long failure in launching an altcoin market, where supposedly funds would flow into other assets besides Bitcoin. The altcoin season index fell once again to 22 points, suggesting Bitcoin (BTC) is the leading narrative, along with just-launched, still cheap meme tokens. 

The meme token market is on another leg of expansion, surpassing $55B in value locked with almost constant growth in the past week. The market reached an all-time high valuation of $89B in early 2022, driven by DOGE. In late 2024, the market has an entirely different composition, with eight token projects holding a market cap above $1B. 

Paradoxically, memes that remain irrational and focus on community are performing better compared to projects that aim to offer utility or various forms of DeFi or products. Early projects like ShibaInu (SHIB) built an entire ecosystem complete with their native network, but attention is still shifting to recent hot tokens that can transform a portfolio in just a few days. 

Pump.fun marks new record in tokens deployed

Pump.fun activity is the strongest indicator for a return to the meme token craze. In September, the new token launch market was more subdued, setting expectations for the end of the meme token craze. Traders focused on more established tokens with already high liquidity. 

However, in only a couple of weeks, the trend reversed and Pump.fun reached more than 25K token deployments as of October 14, an all-time record.

September was the slowest month for Pump.fun since its start, even though it preserved a baseline activity of a few thousand daily launches. Pump.fun is once again making up more than 60% of Solana transactions. The most recent launches are still not guaranteed to win, but they are trying to catch a strong wave of aping investors. 

Meme token influencers are as active as ever, riding the meme mindshare wave. Ansem is focused on DogWifHat (WIF), while Murad Mahmudov shills SPX6900, GIGA, and several other older memes with large communities. Mahmudov also considers Bitcoin to be more aligned with meme tokens than with altcoins and newly built platforms. 

Despite the renewed trend of aping into tokens, Mahmudov advises some due diligence, such as seeking tokens that had 70% drawdowns and returned, tokens with free social media promotions, had a period of less than $10M market capitalization, and did not have their supply sniped by insiders.