Neiro community lead S called memecoins “the most attractive segment” in crypto, while Xion CEO Anthony Anzalone claimed they destroy crypto’s reputation.
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.
Memecoin
Memecoin market capitalization surged to $79 billion on July 18. Source: CoinMarketCap
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.
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
$117,828
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.”
Joseph Lubin-backed SharpLink Gaming has drastically increased the equity it intends to sell to scoop up more Ether — and has added $515 million of Ether
ETH
$3,560
to its treasury in just the last nine days.
In a prospectus supplement filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, SharpLink said it has increased the amount of common stock it can sell by an extra $5 billion, up from $1 billion under its initial May 30 filing.
Similar to its prior prospectus, SharpLink said it will use the majority of the proceeds to acquire Ether.
“We intend to contribute substantially all of the cash proceeds that we receive to acquire Ether […] We also intend to use the proceeds from this offering for working capital needs, general corporate purposes, operating expenses and core affiliate marketing operations.”
If SharpLink were to use $6 billion to buy ETH for its treasury today, it would hold nearly 1.38% of ETH’s circulating supply.
ETH acquisition continues
On Monday, SharpLink became the largest corporate holder of ETH, and in a more recent X post, SharpLink hinted that it intends to hold 1 million ETH for its treasury.
As of Tuesday, the company held more than 280,000 ETH in its reserve, with approximately 99.7% of the asset being staked.
SharpLink has generated 415 ETH, worth $1.49 million, as a staking reward between June 2 and July 15.
Following the regulatory filing of its increased share offering, SharpLink bought another 32,892 ETH, worth $115 million.
The company has now purchased $515 million worth of ETH in the past nine days, according to Lookonchain.
Source: Lookonchain
Galaxy Research noted that SharpLink surpassing the Ethereum Foundation’s total ETH holding acts as a positive catalyst for the ecosystem.
Stock dips
Sharplink Gaming (SBET) stock ended Thursday’s trading session at $36.40, a decrease of 2.62%. The stock further fell after the bell and ended the after-hours trading session with a cut of 4.95% at $34.60, according to Google Finance.
SBET is up 350% year-to-date; however, the stock is down 54% from its May 29 high of $79.21.
In the March quarter, SharpLink saw its revenue decline 24% year-on-year, while its net profit margin decreased by 110% during the quarter.
The company is expected to announce its next quarterly results on Aug. 13, according to Nasdaq.
