Meme Coin Economy Drops $35B in 26 Days, Even as TRUMP Token and AI Agents Enter the Fray

Recent metrics reveal the meme coin sector has shed $35.20 billion in collective valuation across the past 26 days, a downturn unfolding even as novel entrants—the official TRUMP token and a cohort of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven agent tokens—entered the fray.

Meme Coin Market Plummets from $127.91B to $92.71B

A snapshot of market metrics reveals the meme coin arena eclipsed the $100 billion threshold in late Dec. 2024, resting at $107.94 billion by Dec. 28 per archived coingecko.com records—a figure that swelled to $127.91 billion by Jan. 6, 2025, only to plummet $35.20 billion to $92.71 billion as of today.

Though the TRUMP token‘s launch and AI-agent coins’ emergence hinted at forward motion, their entrance paradoxically aligned with a market cooldown. Consider this: Since Jan. 6, dogecoin (DOGE) hemorrhaged $10.59 billion in value, shiba inu (SHIB) bled $3.68 billion, and pepe (PEPE) suffered a $3.47 billion dent.

Meme coin market cap losses out of the $35.2 billion lost since Jan. 6, 2025.

The top three meme coins lost $17.74 billion over 26 days, a triad of downturns representing 50.4% of the sectors total losses since Jan. 6. Pudgy penguins (PENGU) experienced a steep drop, with its market value shrinking from $2.83 billion on Jan. 6 to $869 million as of this weekend. PENGU also fell from fourth to ninth place among leading meme coins by market capitalization.

In its place now stands TRUMP, the 47th U.S. President‘s official meme coin. TRUMP trades for $20.32 per coin and now has a market cap of $4.02 billion with the current coins it has in circulation. Solana’s bonk (BONK) stood tall 26 days ago in the fifth position and it is still in fifth today. However, BONK once had a $2.58 billion market cap and now its down to $1.70 billion.

Meanwhile, the AI agent coin AI16Z had a $2.2 billion market cap on Jan. 6 and it was just below BONK in the sixth spot. Today, its down to $482 million which means AI16Z shed $1.718 billion in value. So if one were to add PENGU, BONK, and AI16Z into the mix with DOGE, SHIB, and PEPE, the collective of six meme coins lost about 63.3% of the aggregate.

The trend tells a relatable story: initial meme coin excitement cooled as adjustments took hold, with even ‘high-profile Presidential’ boosts unable to reverse the momentum. Now, the debate centers on whether meme coins will keep easing back or find fresh energy during the bull run. Still, Trump‘s backing suggests these joke tokens aren’t going anywhere fast.