Memecoins Struggle Amid AI Mania

The memecoin super cycle believers face headwinds after legacy memes experienced a rocky December while AI agent tokens stole the spotlight.

Memecoins have been struggling since a market-wide price spike on December 7, with established memecoins such as PEPE down 27% to $8.5 billion, WIF falling 50% to $2, and MOG dropping 47% to an $800 million valuation.

The move likely represents a capital rotation from the memecoin sector to the AI agent sector. In the same period, VIRTUAL is up 181% to a $4.5 billion valuation, and AI16z is up 250% to a $2.5 billion valuation.

The main exception to memecoin underperformance is FARTCOIN, the AI-adjacent memecoin inspired by the AI agent Truth Terminal. FARTCOIN is up 46% in the last 24 hours to a $1.3 billion valuation, and is up 765% in the last 30 days.

Coinciding with the liquidity rotation, attention on memecoins has also fallen significantly. According to Kaito data, the AI sector now commands 57% mindshare compared to the meme sector’s 8%.

The data paints an entirely different picture from October, when memes briefly held the top spot in terms of mindshare with 20.5%, although at that time, AI trailed shortly behind at 19%.