With President-elect Donald Trump announcing his new meme coin, there has been a flurry of attention on the volatile asset class. The Trump meme coin is currently trading at more than $52 per token, according to data from CoinMarketCap — owned by Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange — with a market capitalization exceeding $10 billion. Similarly, First Lady Melania Trump's launch of a meme coin on the eve of her husband's return to the White House has also raised eyebrows. Her coin is currently trading at over $8 per token and boasts a market cap of more than $1.6 billion.
Below, TheStreet Crypto spoke to Viktoriya Hying, co-founder of NPC Labs, about why meme coins are gaining so much traction as a cultural phenomenon.
TheStreet Crypto: Why are meme coins skyrocketing in popularity in 2025?
Viktoriya Hying, co-founder of NPC Labs: Crypto is cyclical and driven by culture. We saw this very clearly with DeFi (decentralized finance) summer in 2020, then NFTs (non-fungible tokens) in 2021. This 2024-2025 bull run is fueled by meme coins which interestingly coincide with Gen Z aging into crypto. Enough ink’s been spilled on the financial nihilism supposedly on display in this generation’s adoption of this asset class, but if we put the psychoanalysis aside for a minute, the fact is: Memes are Gen-Z’s native way of connecting, having fun and exploring the limitless financial landscape of crypto.
At the end of the day, any investment, whether that be in crypto or in traditional financial markets, bears risk, and it’s up to the individual to figure out how risk-tolerant they are.
That said, the emerging trend in 2025 is “meme coin rotation” — or rotating out of meme coins into consumer-driven, blue-chip projects like Solana. Funds are beginning to shift out of the meme coin market and are being placed in projects with proven teams and more stability – that are able to nurture their communities, and have long-term growth prospects. Gaming — especially casual games — has emerged as a reliable and engaging way to build excitement within these meme coin communities.
What is the likelihood of Trump's crypto policies impacting meme coins?
Hying: No one can be certain about the specifics of what the Trump administration has planned for crypto, but one thing is certain: The crypto industry’s response to Trump’s election is, and will be, risk-on, full-on.
The apps that investors use to interface with the industry will likely feel more comfortable exposing investors to risk, both in the tokens they offer and the products they provide. If you’ve been watching Robinhood (who’s historically taken one of the most conservative approaches to token listing in the industry), since the election, they’ve launched support for two new dog coins and a third depicting an anthropomorphic frog. During this period, they’ve introduced more new meme coins than they did during their first seven years of crypto support.