The Solana blockchain has emerged as a center for the creation of new memecoins as the new bull market begins, resulting in several memecoins reaching market capitalizations in the billions of dollars within days of their launch.
This memecoin frenzy has drawn comparisons to the bubble of the Ethereum initial coin offering (ICO) era in 2017, where numerous crypto projects raised millions of dollars but ultimately failed to deliver on their promises.
Memecoins are cryptocurrencies that originate from internet memes or possess some other humorous characteristic, but they lack any practical use beyond being a reference to popular culture. These cryptocurrencies are highly speculative and are supported by enthusiastic online communities.
Dogecoin (DOGE) is considered the original memecoin and garnered support from Elon Musk during the bull market of 2021. In 2024, multiple memecoins, some of which are only a week old, have achieved billion-dollar market capitalizations, resulting in new crypto millionaires being created every hour.
The recent comparison to the ICO presale era of 2017 arises from influencers successfully raising millions of dollars in presales to launch new memecoins.
Users on platform X have compared the current memecoin offerings (MCOs) to the Ethereum ICO bubble in 2017, where several crypto projects made promises they could not fulfill and disappeared after raising funds. A report from 2018 revealed that over 90% of ICO projects failed.
Similarly, there have been instances where influencers have either disappeared with the presale funds or dumped them on the market immediately after launch. In one such case, a developer who raised 535,000 Solana (SOL) tokens to launch a memecoin, which was valued at around $10.4 million at the time, accidentally burned all the tokens.
A developer accidentally burns $10 million worth of SOL tokens. Source: Slerf on X
One user on platform X stated that the memecoin mania is a more transparent version of the 2017 ICO craze and the 2021 non-fungible token/crypto-art bubble, as projects no longer need to pretend to fulfill promises outlined in a fictitious white paper, and investors no longer have to pretend to be interested in the art.
Scammer defrauding people during the memecoin frenzy. Source: ZachXBT on X
Stories of a few traders making millions of dollars in just a few days often entice others to try their luck. However, in most cases, these investors end up losing a significant portion of their investment.
A trader’s memecoin portfolio. Source: Elja on X
Crypto enthusiasts argue that the memecoin bubble will eventually result in the loss of funds for millions of new users who blindly invest in technologies that lack practical utility.
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