Bitcoin-based memecoins are gaining traction among some crypto traders on X as a beta bet on bitcoin (BTC) amid its surge to lifetime peaks, making the sector a hot narrative to watch for everyday traders.
Tokens such as PUPS, DOG•GO•TO•THE•MOON (DOG), BILLION•DOLLAR•CAT (BDC), MEME, among others, have gained as much as 35% in the past 24 hours to lead gains among all tracked categories, CoinGecko data shows. Smaller tokens such as CYPHER•GENESIS (CYPHER) has risen over 77%.
The market capitalization of Runes tokens, the protocol that supports these assets, have flipped BRC-20 (another Bitcoin-based protocol) in the past 24 hours, data shows.
Such moves came as BTC added more than 30% in the past 30 days on the back of Republican Donald Trump’s presidential election, boosting sentiment and growth across the sector for his pro-crypto stance.
Runes were created earlier in 2024 to facilitate the creation and management of fungible tokens on Bitcoin. Runes allow users to create fungible tokens, which are interchangeable digital assets similar to how Bitcoin itself or Ethereum's ERC-20 tokens function.
These utilize Bitcoin's Unspent Transaction Outputs (UTXOs) model. Each UTXO can hold any amount of various Runes, making the management of tokens more aligned with Bitcoin's native structure, potentially reducing network congestion caused by "junk" UTXOs from other token standards like BRC-20.
Data , however, show no uptick in Runes protocol on chain metrics as of Monday. Onchain metrics typically follow social activity and narratives, with prices leading afterward.
Beta bets are a way to gain exposure to a network, ecosystem or asset using related tokens. Since early 2023, memecoins have emerged as the preferred beta asset for various ecosystems, such as Ethereum or Solana, which has contributed to their appeal among investors.
Interest in memecoins generally comes amid low market volatility in more serious crypto sectors, such as layer-2s or storage, and rising negative sentiment around tokens backed by venture capital funds – which are increasingly perceived as overpriced and a bad bet for retail traders.
The focus on meme coins to bet on growth isn't unique to Bitcoin. Several Solana-based meme coin tokens surged from December 2023 to March as the network’s SOL tokens took off – contributing to ecosystem growth and attention — while fuelling the mothership’s prices.
