Meme coin market set for maturation by 2030, says CryptoQuant CEO

Ki Young Ju, CEO of CryptoQuant, projected that the meme coin market will reach a point of maturation by 2030.

In a recent post on X, Ki Young Ju, CEO of CryptoQuant, said that the meme coin hype will fade, but the market will not fizzle out completely.

Instead, he says it will go through a gradual phase of maturation over the next five years. He adds that the value in the meme coin sector is legitimized through narrative, similar to the art market, and suggested that it will evolve into a more sustainable market by 2030.

Furthermore, Ju explained that the meme coin market is currently in a “peak of inflated expectations,” and that it will eventually enter a “trough of disillusionment” before reaching a phase of gradual maturation.

Memecoins shine in 2024, but correction looms

According to a DWF Labs report, the meme coin market outperformed all other crypto asset classes, rising from $20 billion in Jan. to $120 billion by Dec., which represents a staggering 500% increase. Furthermore, the Dec. 2024 report by CoinGecko revealed that the “main memecoin narrative” accounted for almost 15% of investor interest in 2024, a 6% hike from 2023. 

However, Ju’s statement suggests that the meme coin market will undergo a necessary correction, transitioning from speculative hype to a more established and regulated market. This perspective echoes the broader industry consensus that the meme coin craze may be nearing its peak, giving way to the rising popularity of AI-agent tokens. On Jan. 1, Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly Capital, remarked in a post on X, “Memecoins will continue to lose market share to ‘AI agent’ coins.”