For the Love of the Game (Market Commentary) |
Another milestone week just passed in Web3--one with a few headlines that we’ll look back in time as
moments that changed crypto. Gary Gensler, easily the biggest obstacle this industry has faced, announced that he will be stepping down as Chairman of the SEC on Jan 20, 2025. It’s a moment we’ve been looking forward to for years, and it was as sweet as we had been expecting. The news sent Bitcoin soaring to an extraordinary new all-time high,
reaching as high as $99,600. While we couldn’t crack the 6 figure mark, it’s all but given that we’ll be there before long. We also saw the return of retail investors in a way few were expecting--through memecoins. Crypto traders have expected retail to come back to trading once Bitcoin reached a new high, and we weren’t wrong. What we weren’t expecting was for them to come back through TikTok and actually outtrade us.
A new generation of traders found a meme called Chill Guy on TikTok, and before anyone in crypto even knew of the trend, they sent this coin soaring faster and higher than any other memecoin before it.
Memecoins were supposed to be where traders would see their biggest win as they sold their bags to returning or returning market participants. We wrongly assumed these tokens would be too hard for non-crypto natives to understand. We’ve come to expect the unexpected, so in a way, what happened should be no surprise. Chill Guy currently has over 133k holders and climbed there faster than any memecoin before it, all while hitting an all-time high market cap of over $560m. Just like that, retail is back, and there is a fresh conversation about what will keep them here. Will it be the innovation in AI, and all of the agents that will soon be making waves across the world, or is it possible that NFTs might
see a resurgence thanks to them? AI is a safe bet as it mixes viral memes with cutting-edge tech. Betting on AI tokens might be looked at as investing in tech, and with some tokens like Goat projected to hit as high as a $10b market cap, and the broader AI memecoin ecosystem climbing to $50b, it’s a pretty appealing investment for a new generation.
NFTs could actually perform better than many are expecting to. Think about the type of person who found memecoins from TikTok. It’s the same generation who grew up playing Fortnite and
Roblox--a generation who understands owning digital items probably as well or better than anyone else in the world. Even with experts predicting that we’ll see millions of agents trading crypto within this cycle, we certainly all win when more people understand just how important digital ownership is. The NFT
market would probably like to see real people here asap because after a monster week of NFT sales just two weeks ago, we saw a decent pullback over the last weekly period. Almost across the board we saw the NFT market decline, though it was still a solid performance for the later half of the year. NFT sales fell -15.92% while sellers were down -11.40%, buyers down -12.32%, and transactions down -10.22%. The most noteworthy change this week is trade profits heading in the right direction,
and while still in the negative at -$1.25m, they still hit a 23-week high, up over +44% on the week. Thanksgiving should be an interesting time for crypto and NFTs as families gather around to give thanks for the good things in our lives at a time when there has never been more optimism for crypto. With new
participants finding crypto through viral memes and cutting-edge tech, we’re all hoping for just one more thing to be thankful for this week-- $100k BTC.
Eat up, and maybe enjoy some dip? - CryptoPunks sales fell -53.28% this week but they’re still the king of NFTs with over $9.82m in sales. Sellers are down -40.96% and buyers down -55.21%, but just a few big sales can really add
up. The week’s biggest sale was CryptoPunk #7098 which sold for 118 ETH ($368k).
- Pudgy Penguins just announced their 3rd Season of Pudgy Toys at Walmart stores, coming in 2025. We’ll see another round of their award-winning toys as the Pudgy Penguins bring a new audience to crypto. Pudgy Penguins NFTs sales are down -9.56% over the past 7d with a cool $3.18m in sales.
- Airhead is the latest hot NFT mint over on Bitcoin, but it may have arrived at the wrong time. Their mint price of over $700, and a collection supply of 10k are hitting at a time
when few people are willing to part with their funds. Still, the collection has seen over $2.12m in primary and secondary action as they move into their public mint today.
- Zereborn NFTs are pretty darn hot even with memecoins having a rough past few days. The Zerebro token is holding strong at a $439m market cap, and the NFTs as a different way to support the ecosystem
are doing just as strong with $2.23m in sales.
- Ethereum sits on top as usual, with $44.96m in sales (-29.33%). Sales are down on the week for ETH, but
the market’s most recognizable collections continue to dominate.
- Bitcoin is close behind with $42.71m in sales (-27.20%), but it’s the +54.85% increase in buyers that’s the real story here as traders get ready for bitcoin
season.
- Solana continues its climb, with $19.77m in sales (-25.35%). Memecoin NFTs are pushing Solana into the spotlight, with collections like Zereborn, Chill Guy, and other new collections
bringing in serious heat.
- Mythos Chain holds steady at $10.82m (+0.38%). Gaming continues to drive demand here, led by DMarket and its consistent user base.
- Ai16z has had a rollercoaster of a few weeks. From taking the world of crypto by storm with their memecoin fund, and Eliza
AI agent, to now unrelenting FUD when any developers’ project fails, there’s nothing more main character (and volatile) than these guys. The ai16z token fell from over $500m down to $165m after the dev of the $Matl token launched a new agent and coin. Now just a few days
removed ai16z is back up to $255m as predictions roll in about the ai memecoin ecosystem hitting as high as $50b this cycle.
- Chill Guy is a heck of a story of the past week with a viral meme that a non-crypto audience found first, blowing up before crypto bros had the chance to ape in. There’s now an unofficial NFT
collection on Solana that’s cooking with over $1.49m in sales, and there’s hope that new crypto traders might find their way to NFTs with this collection.
- Azuki announced a new partnership with Aniplex to release their latest sticker collection on anime.com. The new stickers are from the Fate/strange Fake anime and are free to claim for everyone. The
Azuki NFT collection saw $1.02m in sales in the past week, falling -19.19% from the prior week.
- Magic Eden keeps shipping. Last week they delivered their highly anticipated Runes swap tool right on their marketplace, and traders are
expecting a solid injection of liquidity from this alone. It’s their ME token drop that’s expected to move the needle in a big way, and we just got the news that the big TGE is coming in just 2 weeks on Dec 10. Get ready for a big-time cook.
The CryptoSlam 500 NFT Index is down -0.32% in the past week, showing resilience as crypto prices remain volatile. Bitcoin hit as high as $99,600 this past week, but in recent days tumbled all the way down to $91k. In the past 7d, Ethereum is up +6.4%, while Solana is down -5%, but NFT prices in top collections are moving
along with it to keep the index nearly even. Crypto should find stability over the next few weeks with Bitcoin likely finally crossing $100k before a rotation cycle to alts and then NFTs. With new people finally entering the ecosystem, it’s hard to not be excited about this upcoming NFT season. Be smart and keep your finger on the pulse of this market, by keeping your eyes on CryptoSlam and the indexes. You can stay plugged in by fixing your vision on our new daily Web3 live show called Chain Reactor.
Have a MEGA GM and a Happy Thanksgiving! — Yehudah Petscher |
A memecoin is a cryptocurrency that is created based on an internet meme, joke, or pop culture trend. Unlike more traditional cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum, memecoins often rely on community-driven hype, humor, and viral attention
rather than technological innovations or utility. Received this from a friend? Sign up for this CryptoSlam VIP newsletter. |
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