Meme Coins Dominated the 2024 Crypto Narrative

This year was filled with wins and woes for meme coin investors and enthusiasts alike. From shocking rug pulls to the rise of AI-driven meme coins

This year was filled with wins and woes for meme coin investors and enthusiasts alike. From shocking rug pulls to the rise of AI-driven meme coins, these tokens did not disappoint in fulfilling this volatile crypto market’s high-risk, high-reward profile. 

Meme coins dominated the 2024 crypto narrative, capturing significant global investor interest. This surge reflects a shift towards these more speculative opportunities.

The SLERF Pre-Sale Debacle

As always, the meme coin market saw slip-ups that reaped incredible consequences for token holders and investors.

In March, building on the momentum of its pre-sale, the Solana-based meme coin Slerf (SLERF) witnessed a remarkable surge in trading volume, reaching $1.74 billion shortly after its launch. The hype attracted thousands of unique holders.

Slerf’s price surged nearly 50% in just 24 hours, pushing its market capitalization above $550 million. This impressive growth led to listings on major centralized exchanges like Gate.io, HTX, MEXC, and Bitget.

The token soon faced a significant setback when its founder burnt all the liquidity and airdrop tokens during a technical operation. This incident occurred shortly after a successful $10.8 million pre-sale.

Slerf’s founder and developer mistakenly sent these coins to an inaccessible wallet while attempting to remove scam tokens. This action resulted in the loss of investor funds and significantly reduced the total supply of Slerf tokens.

The incident served as a reminder of the frenetic speculation surrounding meme coin pre-sales. Even so, shortly after this loss, crypto enthusiasts invested around $100 million in new Solana meme coins in two days.

Despite the initial financial setback, the price of SLERF tokens has surged 745% since its launch. This volatility presented an opportunity for one trader to profit substantially, earning over $3 million in just 12 minutes through a strategic trading plan, according to Lookonchain.

BOME’s Success

Meme coin Book of Meme (BOME) also led this speculative surge in 2024, attracting significant capital through the contentious fundraising model. At one point, BOME was even among the top 10 meme coins by market cap.

The listing of BOME on Binance following its pre-sale triggered a meteoric rise in its market capitalization, exceeding $1 billion within three days. While generating substantial profits for early investors, this rapid growth has also fueled debate regarding the ethical and financial stability of meme coin pre-sales.

Critics have raised concerns about the meme coin pre-sale model, arguing that it entices investors with the promise of quick, substantial returns while potentially overshadowing the significant risks, including the possibility of rug pulls.

A Series of Rug Pulls

On the topic of rug pulls, the most notorious one of 2024 happened in November. A 13-year-old kid launched a meme coin called Gen Z Quanto (QUANT) on Pump. Fun and live-streamed the entire experience. 

As the token’s value surged, the young creator sold a significant portion of his investment, resulting in a sharp decline in the meme coin’s value. After offloading 51 million Quant tokens, he pocketed $30,000 in gains. Before ending the broadcast, he took the time to flip his viewers the bird. 

“I think it just shows how nihilistic people are where finance has become synonymous with just pure gambling and like being dumb is actually celebrated,” said YouTube scam investigator Coffeezilla.

But in this case, the meme coin community got its revenge by pumping more money into Quant. After the boy sold his tokens, they skyrocketed in value, reaching a market capitalization of $85 million. This price surge would have resulted in the creator’s potential profit of $4 million if he had held onto his initial investment.

Yet the young creator took advantage of the opportunity to carry out two more rug pulls. He followed up by launching two more memecoins, SORRY and LUCY, which were also pump-and-dumps.

The Rise of Celebrity Meme Coins

The past year also witnessed the entrance of high-profile individuals into the crypto space. From rappers to influencers, 2024 saw a surge in celebrity crypto tokens.

Australian rapper Iggy Azalea made headlines when she launched her Mother (MOTHER) token on the Solana blockchain in May. By September, her token reached a market cap of $132.83 million. Its price has significantly dropped since then, currently standing at $0.03. 

Azalea’s project faced many challenges, including reports from blockchain analytics firm Bubblemaps that revealed significant insider activity at the launch. These reports indicated that insiders acquired 20% of the supply before the public announcement and sold tokens worth $2 million. 

These findings have