Will Altcoin Season See These New Meme Coins Hit $1 Billion Market Cap?
As Bitcoin approaches $100,000, traders are on edge, eagerly awaiting a breakout expected to attract a new wave of media hype and retail investment.
But it doesn’t end with Bitcoin. Altcoin season is upon us, and traders are looking for the next billion-dollar meme coin.
Altcoin season expected in Q1 2025
Looking at historical data, Bitcoin had the largest gains in the fourth quarter, while Ethereum led the way in the first quarter.
This is due to the downward shift of liquidity from Bitcoin to Ethereum and then to smaller cryptocurrencies, triggering the altcoin season.
For the uninitiated, altcoin season is a period when altcoins outperform Bitcoin, and they often deliver huge gains.
Analyst Crypto Rover highlighted this recently on X, noting that once Ethereum explodes, all altcoins will go “parabolic.”
However, bullish periods continue to bring the greatest gains to those holding meme coins. For example, Dogecoin has outperformed all other top 10 cryptocurrencies this month, rising by 217%.
This was also evident in the first quarter of 2024, when meme coins saw an average gain of 1,312%, according to CoinGecko data.
But even if meme coins are expected to soar, it’s hard to know which coins offer the best return potential.
The sleeping giant is a practical meme coin
Traders must not underestimate the utility of retail for cryptocurrencies. However, many crypto utilities are too complex and beyond the understanding of new crypto investors.
Therefore, meme coins also have utility and are ideal cross-products. Their meme-based artwork makes them engaging and fun, while utility provides value beyond pure speculation, giving investors the confidence to invest more money.
One of the best examples is Pepe is liberateda memecoin with its own blockchain. Top analysts such as Jacob Bury have forecast it at 100x.
The project is building Ethereum Layer 2, which is 100 times faster and significantly cheaper than the Ethereum network.
The entire blockchain will be geared toward memecoin transactions. Notably, they are launching a meme coin generator that will allow anyone to create a “joke” token in seconds, with no coding required.
Other features include staking, a decentralized exchange, a block explorer, and a dedicated Ethereum bridge.
The project is on pre-sale and has raised over $40 million, showing huge demand.
Crypto All-Stars is another utility-focused meme coin with strong demand. The project is also undergoing pre-sales and has raised nearly $6 million to date.
They are building a memecoin staking app that will allow users to lock up their Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, PepeCoin, Buncoin, and more in exchange for passive rewards.
During bullish periods when meme coins perform well, crypto all-stars may see widespread adoption. Users can maximize their rewards by holding $STARS, meaning its demand will keep pace with the growth of the platform.
Trend-based meme coins can also perform well
Recently, multiple trend-based meme tokens have reached the coveted $1 billion market capitalization milestone. Two that come to mind are Squirrel Peanut and Big Goat.
But going forward, expect the prices of similar meme coins to continue to explode. This week, Chill Guy showed his best potential. Based on a viral meme popular on TikTok, the Chill Guy token made an instant splash after launching on Pump.fun last week.
Today, it has a market capitalization of $442 million, which means it will take more than twice as long to reach $1 billion. It’s up 47% today, indicating investors continue to pour in.
As mentioned earlier, Goatseus Maximum is one of the $1 billion trend-based meme coins. GOAT pioneers a new memecoin category specifically for artificial intelligence agents that handle community management.
This has opened the floodgates for new AI-driven antics within the memecoin space, but the project with the most momentum is Act One: AI Prophecies.
It is a community-taken-over AI meme coin that has been listed on Binance. This provides great advantages, especially when new retail users enter the industry.
Additionally, $ACT offers a unique prospect unlike other AI meme coins, as it aims to become a complete AI ecosystem rather than just a single AI agent.
Its price has retreated since its November highs but has since found support, suggesting the next leg of gains may be around the corner.
