Bitcoin Falls Below $99K; Memecoins Lose $35B Within 26 Days

February 2, 2025 - 3 min. read

By Yagyesh Jaiswal

The entire cryptocurrency market has gone wild this week. Bitcoin slid down from over $99,000 in a breathtaking $900 million wipeout in just one day alone. It is also massively tanking within the memecoin sector; in the past 26 days, it lost a market capitalization value of $35.2 billion as newly rolled-out tokens include TRUMP token and those themed around artificial intelligence.

Bitcoin hits $99,537.14 amid market dip
Bitcoin down 2.3% today

Bitcoin Takes a Wild Tumble

The Bitcoin slide was broadly pinned on the emerging DeepSeek, an AI app that was able to take the number one free app position in the Apple App Store. The move saw the global crypto market cap lose 5% of its value to $3.39 trillion. The fear and greed index is at a neutral 47. 

Putting this into perspective in terms of holdings, MicroStrategy continued its aggressive accumulation strategy and recently purchased 10,107 BTC for approximately $1.1 billion, taking the total holding to 461,000 BTC, amounting to approximately $29.3 billion.

Memecoin Market Plummets

A lot of value destruction has been witnessed in the meme economy. Its market capitalization went down from $127.91 billion on January 6, 2025, to the $92.71 billion it stands today

Distribution of $35.2B Market Losses
Breakdown of Meme Coin Losses

Major memecoin losses are huge. Dogecoin lost $10.59 billion, Shiba Inu lost $3.68 billion, and Pepe lost $3.47 billion. Combined, the trio lost almost 50.4% of the total losses registered by the memecoin sector. 

The top three memecoins collectively shed $17.74 billion within the 26 days. Pudgy Penguins (PENGU) also bled, with its market cap falling from $2.83 billion to $869 million, sliding all the way down ninth from fourth position in the top memecoins list.

New Tokens Emerge

Slump notwithstanding, the TRUMP token, featuring the 47th U.S. President, was launched at a trading price of $20.32 and with a market cap of $4.02 billion. Its arrival, however, came when the market was cooling. Also, AI16Z, an AI-powered coin, went down in market capitalization from $2.2 billion to $482 million, shedding $1.718 billion. 

Taken altogether, the bigger memecoins in the pack, including DOGE, SHIB, PEPE, PENGU, BONK, now at $1.70 billion, and AI16Z, have shed around 63.3% of their cumulative market cap during this period.

Market Outlook and Expert Predictions

The current trend shows a strong cooling of interest in memecoins; neither the new TRUMP token nor AI-driven coins have shown strong enough rallies. Some are wondering whether these assets have the possibility of regaining their momentum or continuing to decline further. 

Notably, financial guru Robert Kiyosaki said that Bitcoin will get hit further by the possible new tariffs to be implemented by the Trump administration. In addition, analyst Arthur Hayes expects a short-term fall, which could bring Bitcoin down to $70,000.

The whole cryptocurrency market is undergoing huge changes, which can be realized by the large drop in Bitcoin and the severe decline in the memecoin economy with the introduction of new tokens like TRUMP and AI agents, showing its volatility. With the changes now happening in the market, investors have become wary and are just waiting for any sign of revival with continuous fluctuation.

Yagyesh Jaiswal

Yagyesh is a crypto geek and a blockchain educator. Started his crypto journey in 2018...

Yagyesh Jaiswal