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Elon Musk’s potential revival of Vine has triggered a surge in the Solana-based meme coin $VINE, which jumped 122% in three days. The speculation began after xAI employee Dane Jacobson announced that the company now owns Vine and asked for suggestions on what to do with it. Musk responded, “Feel free to take that on,” prompting many to assume he approved the app’s comeback. Vine’s co-founder, Rus Yusupov, reposted the exchange, adding to the speculation.
Musk previously mentioned in January that he was “looking into” bringing back Vine, especially as discussions about a TikTok ban in the U.S. gained traction. Shortly after, Yusupov launched the $VINE token, causing it to briefly reach a market cap of $498 million before crashing 89% to $55 million. Following Musk’s recent comments, the token spiked 110% from Friday to Saturday, reaching $52 million before dropping 41% to $30.55 million. It then climbed another 80% to $55 million. Yusupov has also launched a Vine Coin website with a waitlist, fueling speculation that the token could be integrated into a potential relaunch of the app.
Musk has previously dabbled in cryptocurrency, allowing Dogecoin payments for Tesla purchases and exploring blockchain use in government projects. However, there is no confirmation that $VINE will have a role in Vine’s possible return.
The hype around $VINE has also drawn attention to other meme coins. A similar pattern was seen with a token linked to JellyJelly, a podcasting app created by Venmo co-founder Iqram Magdon-Ismail. That token initially surged to a market cap of $248.5 million before dropping 94% to $14.88 million. Meanwhile, another meme coin, Flockerz, has been gaining traction as it prepares to launch, with some investors hoping it could replicate $VINE’s early surge.
Vine, which was originally acquired by Twitter and shut down in 2017, was among the first major short-video platforms. Musk had previously run a poll on X, formerly Twitter, asking users if Vine should be revived, with the majority voting in favor. After acquiring Twitter in 2023, he reportedly had engineers explore a Vine reboot, but no concrete action was taken.
With uncertainty around TikTok’s future in the U.S., speculation about Vine’s comeback continues. Some see it as a potential alternative to the Chinese-owned platform. While betting platform Polymarket initially placed a 58% probability on X relaunching Vine before July, that figure has now dropped to 24%. Investors remain cautious, as the hype surrounding $VINE could fade just as quickly as it surged.