Roaring Kitty Boosts Unity Stock, Meme Token "Fartcoin" Rallies

The broader market extended its decline from the end of December.

Unity stock soared as much as 15% in the year's first trading session on Thursday after meme-stock influencer Keith Gill, better known as "Roaring Kitty," posted a cryptic gif on the platform.

The gif, which Gill posted without any accompanying text, featured an impersonation of the late musician Rick James from an episode of the comedy series Chappelle's Show.

In the episode, James appears on Chappelle's fictional talk show and discusses his hit song "Super Freak." The title of the song is referenced several times throughout the skit.

Gill's followers quickly speculated that the post was a reference to Unity Software, given the title of James' song and the fact that the video-game software company's stock is a favorite among meme-stock traders.

Unity stock soared as much as 15% in the year's first trading session on Thursday after meme-stock influencer Keith Gill, better known as "Roaring Kitty," posted a cryptic gif on the platform.

The gif, which Gill posted without any accompanying text, featured an impersonation of the late musician Rick James from an episode of the comedy series Chappelle's Show.

In the episode, James appears on Chappelle's fictional talk show and discusses his hit song "Super Freak." The title of the song is referenced several times throughout the skit.

Gill's followers quickly speculated that the post was a reference to Unity Software, given the title of James' song and the fact that the video-game software company's stock is a favorite among meme-stock traders.

Unity stock closed up 11.2% at $36.96 a share.

Meanwhile, cryptocurrencies tied to GameStop — the company Gill helped put at the center of 2021's meme stock mania — also jumped. A token called GmeStop rose 7.2% in the last 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap data.

However, "fartcoin" took the lead among crypto gainers in the last day, rocketing 45% to a $1.34 billion market cap. Meme coins "brett" and "dogwifhat" were also among the top crypto gainers in the last 24 hours.

Apex crypto was also enjoying a strong day of trading, edging back toward the $100,000 level. Bitcoin was up more than 3% to trade around $97,353.

Stocks tied to the cryptocurrency sector also gained, with Coinbase and Marathon Holdings trading up over 2% on Thursday.

While some more speculative trades were in the green, the broader market extended its slide since year-end. Given rising uncertainty about monetary policy and White House plans, investors have been nervous entering 2025.

That could make the market more sensitive to surprises, and some commentators see a correction taking shape on the horizon as the new year kicks off.

Some corners of the tech sector regained momentum on Thursday after getting caught in the recent sell-off. Nvidia was up more than 2.5% at 3:30 p.m., while other chip firms, including Micron Technologies and Marvell Technology, were also up.