According to Keith A. Grossman, president of payment infrastructure company MoonPay, memecoins are not finished despite the downturn in the market and waning interest. He believes they will return, albeit in a different iteration.
Grossman stated that the true innovation of memecoins lies in the ability to easily and cost-effectively tokenize attention through blockchain technology, thus democratizing access to the attention economy. He further elaborated:
“Before crypto, platforms, brands, and a select group of influencers were the only ones able to monetize attention. Others generated value but gave it away for free. Likes, trends, inside jokes, and communities created vast economic worth.”
However, this value largely did not benefit participants and remained captive within large, centralized platforms, he noted.
Grossman drew parallels between the pessimistic forecasts for memecoins and the predictions of social media’s downfall after the collapse of early platforms in the early 2000s, before the emergence of a new wave of companies that transformed the sector into a cultural phenomenon.
In 2024, memecoins were among the top-performing sectors in crypto assets and the leading narrative among crypto investors, as reported by crypto market data platform CoinGecko.
Despite this, sharp criticisms claiming that memecoins and other social tokens lacked value, along with several notable token collapses, ultimately led to a market decline and a shift in investor attention away from the narrative.
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Presidential antics and the downfall of the memecoin sector
The memecoin market experienced a collapse in Q1 2025 following several significant token failures and declines described as “rug pulls.”
U.S. President Donald Trump launched a memecoin ahead of the January 2025 inauguration, which peaked at $75 before plummeting over 90% to about $5.42 currently, according to CoinMarketCap.
In February, Javier Milei, the president of Argentina, backed a social token named Libra, which also experienced a crash, resulting in 86% of LIBRA holders realizing losses of $1,000 or more.
The token had a market cap of $107 million before its downfall and was labeled a rug pull by the crypto community.
Although Milei sought to separate himself from the token launch, an investigation was initiated regarding his involvement, leading to lawsuits from retail investors and calls for impeachment from Argentine lawmakers.
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