Meme Coins Are Dead – But They’ll Be Back: CoinGecko’s Bobby Ong

The market capitalization of meme coins has plunged by 32% since its peak on February 3, while trading volume has dropped even more drastically, down 72%. According to CoinGecko co-founder Bobby Ong, “meme coins are dead now,” but he notes that “they will be back.”

Ong points out that meme coins have historically been cyclical, with a small number managing to survive multiple market cycles.

The launch of TRUMP and MELANIA tokens marked the peak of the meme coin mania. According to Ong, these launches drained liquidity and investor interest from the broader meme coin space and signaled the end of a speculative cycle.

The subsequent collapse of LIBRA, in particular, shattered the illusion that meme coins were “fair launches” and exposed the reality of insider advantages and coordinated profiteering. This led to a sharp decline in key market indicators, with metrics from Pump.fun – one of the most prominent meme coin platforms – falling by over 90% from their February peak.

However, tokens like OG meme coin Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB), and even Bonk (BONK) serve as examples of how strong community-driven memes can persist, particularly those that cultivate dedicated and passionate followings. The increasing ease of launching meme coins has made competition fierce, and only those projects that successfully capture and maintain attention will have a chance to endure.

Shifting the focus to the broader industry, Ong explained that the meme coin frenzy was partly fueled by retail investors’ frustration with venture capital (VC)-backed “low float, high FDV” tokens that launched at inflated valuations in early 2024.

Many of these tokens were structured to benefit early investors while offering little upside for later buyers. This frustration created a demand for alternative opportunities, which led to the rapid rise of meme coins.

The debate over launch mechanisms continues, with some arguing that structured launches like Jupiter’s JUP model – where initial liquidity pools constrained price movements – offer a better approach than volatile airdrop-driven launches. Alternative fundraising models, such as curated angel investing platforms like Echo.xyz, have also gained traction.

However, Ong argued that regulators, particularly in the United States, bear some responsibility for the meme coin boom, as their failure to establish clear token issuance frameworks has driven projects toward speculative, often meaningless tokens.