Memecoins Steal Spotlight as Bitcoin Rallies Above $66,000

Bitcoin ETFs have pulled in more than $600 million this week.

By: Mehab Qureshi • September 27, 2024

Cryptocurrency markets soared on Friday, with memecoins leading the charge.

Bitcoin (BTC) rallied 1% to $66,100, while Ethereum (ETH) gained 2% to $2,700. Solana (SOL) and Polkadot (DOT) climbed 1%.

Bitcoin, Bonk and Floki emerged as the top gainers among the top 100 cryptocurrencies. Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB), the OG meme tokens, jumped 4% and 7%, respectively.

The total memecoin market cap has surged 8% in the past 24 hours to $52 billion.

Floki's rally was fueled by the launch of GraFun, a new memecoin launchpad on the BNB Chain. GraFun, similar to other popular platforms like Solana-based PumpFun and Tron-based SunPump, is tailored specifically for the BNB Chain and aims to make memecoin launches easier and fairer for users.

The partnership gives Floki a 40% ownership stake in GraFun and 40% of the revenue generated from the platform, potentially unlocking new revenue streams for both FLOKI and its sister project, TokenFi.

"As Bitcoin rallies and the market's risk appetite increases, we often see a cascading effect that drives memecoin hype,” said CryptoQuant contributor Sarah Mitchell.

The market sentiment has shifted to bullish, with Bitcoin's Fear & Greed Index climbing to 61 from Thursday's neutral 50, signaling greed. The index ranges from 0, indicating "extreme fear," to 100, representing "extreme greed."

In the past 24 hours, 72,298 traders were liquidated for $153 million, according to CoinGlass. BTC shorts accounted for $29 million of these liquidations, while ETH shorts amounted to $13 million.

Bitcoin ETFs Enjoy Inflows

Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the U.S. also had a strong day on Thursday, recording inflows of $365 million and bringing the week's total to over $600 million, according to data from Farside Investors.

On Sept. 26, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), the largest Bitcoin ETF, led with $93.4 million in inflows, followed by Fidelity Bitcoin Trust (FBTC) with $74 million, Bitwise Bitcoin Fund (BITB) with $50 million, and VanEck’s Bitcoin Strategy ETF (HODL) with $22 million in net inflows.

Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) was the only Bitcoin ETF to suffer outflows, with $7.7 million exiting the fund, bringing its total outflows since launch to over $20 billion.