LUCKNOW (CoinChapter.com) — Bonk memecoin from the Solana ecosystem has flipped the market capitalization of fellow memecoin Pepecoin (PEPE) after a significant price rally on Dec. 8.
Over the last 30 days, Bonk has seen tremendous growth, with its price spiking 370% from $0.0000028 to $0.000012. This parabolic rise has allowed Bonk to rapidly expand its market capitalization to $762 million, according to data from CoinGecko.
By comparison, competing memecoin Pepe currently sits at a $675 million market cap after Bonk surpassed it earlier this week.
Over the past month, Bonk’s meteoric price rise has left even the most prominent dog-themed memecoins behind. While Shiba Inu and Dogecoin posted more modest gains of 20% and 35%, respectively, in that timeframe, Bonk exploded over 370% higher.
This overshadowing performance has propelled the formerly obscure Bonk to become the third-largest memecoin by market capitalization as of Dec. 8. It now stands behind only Shiba Inu at a $6 billion market cap and the long-standing top dog Dogecoin at a towering $14.4 billion valuation.
Memecoins have endured as a mainstay in the crypto sector ever since its early days, acting as bellwethers for investor enthusiasm and speculative fervor. These animal-themed virtual currencies have historically tended to rise amid general crypto market rallies.
2023 witnessed this trend play out again, as excitement over spot Bitcoin ETFs seemingly triggered a tidal wave of money pouring back into digital assets after a long crypto winter. Memecoins were among the foremost beneficiaries of these cash inflows, with established names like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu posting renewed gains alongside upstart newcomers like Bonk.
Why is BONK Memecoin Price Rising So Much?
Let’s discuss the reasons why BONK’s market capitalization has exploded recently, even surpassing Pepe.
Solana’s Family Fortune
Driving Bonk’s breakout is a surge of interest and trading volume across the Solana blockchain network. Solana facilitated over $1 billion worth of on-chain transactions in the past day, outpacing competing chains like Polygon and Avalanche.
According to data from DefiLlama, only Ethereum managed to surpass Solana in 24-hour trading volume among blockchain networks.
As the dominant altcoin platform in crypto, Ethereum facilitated $1.4 billion worth of transactions over the same period that saw Solana handle $1 billion.
As the native meme token of Solana, Bonk has been a beneficiary of the heightened attention. The recent listings of Bonk on major exchanges like Binance and KuCoin have also fueled its adoption.
Booming Bonk OI
Adding further fuel to Bonk’s volatile price swings is a barrage of activity in Bonk futures and derivatives over the past month.
Data shows that open interest in these complex products has exploded recently.
It signals that sophisticated traders are actively buying and selling enormous volumes of Bonk contracts. The frenzy of speculation in the tokens’ derivatives market flows back into the spot price, too, ratcheting up its price volatility.
Launched in late 2022, Bonk laid low through most of 2022’s crypto bear market. Yet it managed to post an epic 3,766% price gain within its first week of trading. However, this surge was short-lived as Bonk crashed hard from its highs starting January 5th.
The formerly high-flying memecoin would languish for most of 2023, with its price hovering around all-time lows for most of the year. But on October 21st, Bonk finally awoke from its slumber and began skyrocketing in value once again. It has tacked on a staggering 6,215% growth in the three months since.
