Meme coins like Doge and Pepe are skyrocketing alongside Bitcoin—the latest sign the crypto

Meme coins are back. Beata Zawrzel—NurPhoto/Getty Images

Meme coins are once again making noise, indicating a ripple effect from Bitcoin’s push toward a new all-time high.

A few of the biggest gainers include:

—Dogwifhat (WIF), up over 235% this week, and 17% over the past 24 hours.

—Pepe (PEPE), the frog-themed token, which has reached its highest price since May 2021, surging by over 38% in the past 24 hours and 163% over the past week.

—Bonk (BONK), which is up over 116% in the past week, and 3% in the past 24 hours.

—Dogecoin (DOGE), the dog-themed token favored by Elon Musk, which saw a 53% increase this week, with signs of settling over the past 24 hours.

—Shiba Inu (SHIB), up 50% this week and 4.4% over the past 24 hours.

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And saving best for last, our Meme Winners:$PEPE Up 231%$BONK up 128% (Overtook FLOKI today) $FLOKI Up 112%

…But those who are closely following memeland might already recognize this list isn’t totally correct … 🐶🎩 pic.twitter.com/sesRcru7VN

— Jeff Park (@dgt10011) March 1, 2024

The coins’ gains reflect the broader market rally led by Bitcoin, up over 20% this week. This has been driven by the Securities and Exchange Commission approving the first 10 spot Bitcoin ETFs, and adoption of the new investment vehicle driving Bitcoin’s price toward its record high of about $69,000 in November 2021.

On Thursday, BlackRock received a record $612 million flowing into its industry-leading Bitcoin ETF and crossed $10 billion in assets under management, a day after the asset class hit a high of $7.7 billion in trading volume. (Volumes reached $4.7 billion yesterday.)

Traditionally, meme coins are considered by most to be inherently worthless, but some risk-tolerant retail investors view them as a potentially lucrative way to earn a quick profit from Bitcoin’s tailwinds.

Classic retail-traded assets have been underperforming compared with Bitcoin over the past couple of weeks, Matt Ballensweig, managing director and head of the Go Network at BitGo, told Fortune. Meme coins rallying indicates that retail investors might be “joining the parade,” and “as we get into the later stages of this bull run, expect to see a wave of retail participation pile on.”

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The world is changing rapidly#Bitcoin went from being associated with drug money to having an ad on the Wall Street building, the heart of world finance, with the BTC ETF doing more daily volume than any other ETF

Bitcoin is probably the first-ever meme coin that people memed… pic.twitter.com/DLNuqjBsqv

— Kibshi — AI Meme Coin — meme/acc (@KiboShib) March 1, 2024

Additionally, the meme coins are seen as a way to bet on the growth of their underlying blockchains: Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) rallied by over 15% and 29%, respectively, in the past week, and some meme coins within their ecosystems mirrored those upward trajectories.