Memecoin Market Cap Hits $79B as Crypto Leaders Clash Over Industry Impact

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Members of the crypto community expressed conflicting views of the memecoin surge, with some celebrating the market’s rise and others calling it a regression.

The memecoin sector surged to $72 billion in July, up 29% from a $55 billion market cap on June 30. Behind the rally was a mix of memecoin presale hype, community momentum and a new memecoin launchpad gaining traction on Solana.

On Friday, the memecoin market cap surged further, peaking at $79 billion. This represented a 43% surge from its valuation at the end of June. At the time of writing, the memecoin market cap had dropped slightly to $78.81 billion.

While retail investors are eager to ride the wave and the numbers are eye-catching, industry leaders are divided over what the memecoin resurgence means for the broader crypto ecosystem.

Exec says memecoins destroy crypto’s reputation

For builders like Anthony Anzalone, the founder and CEO of the layer-1 blockchain network Xion, the memecoin mania is less a celebration and more a symptom of deeper issues in crypto.

Anzalone told Cointelegraph that memecoins do a “phenomenal job at destroying the reputational work many builders have put in toward legitimizing this industry.”

He said the market cap surge does not correlate with crypto use cases for regular people coming into fruition.

Anzalone sees an inverse correlation between the industry’s success and the memecoin sector’s market cap.

“If anything, I see an inverse correlation between the success of this industry and the memecoin market cap because it reads that capital doesn’t have anywhere better to flow,” Anzalone told Cointelegraph.

Memecoins, “the most attractive” segment

On the other hand, S, the pseudonymous community lead of the Neiro memecoin, argued for memecoins, saying that the sector remains the most attractive part of the crypto space.

S told Cointelegraph that memecoin projects have shown signs of maturity across the space. S pointed to projects like Pudgy Penguins, Floki and Neiro, saying they are “building new technology.”

S also told Cointelegraph, “Definitely, memecoins are a very crypto-native category, so as soon as there are signs of positivity in the market, the warriors in the trenches and memecoin aficionados rush to deploy capital.”

S described memecoins as “hot, marketable and easy to understand.” The memecoin proponent said the asset class was an antithesis to the “convoluted, VC-driven tokenomics projects” that dominate crypto.

Related: 60% of PUMP presale participants sold or transferred to CEXs

Memecoin mood “undoubtedly” flipped bullish

Mercuryo co-founder and CEO Petr Kozyakov told Cointelegraph that sentiment remains a key driver in crypto markets.

He said the surge could be attributed to the recent PUMP initial coin offering that sold $500 million in minutes, memecoin accessibility to retail markets and Bitcoin (BTC) reaching a new all-time high.

He said that despite people’s opinions of memecoins, the asset class has become ingrained into crypto culture.

“Whatever your view on these tokens, they have succeeded in gaining an army of loyal followers who greatly value participating in their journey,” Kozyakov told Cointelegraph.

While Kozyakov refrained from making any predictions about the memecoin market cap, he said the mood surrounding memecoins has “undoubtedly flipped to the bullish side.”