Meme Coins Strongly Correlated to Network Growth: Franklin Templeton

• Meme coins exhibit a strong correlation between their price surges and the growth of user wallets on underlying blockchains despite lacking inherent value propositions, according to Franklin Templeton’s Digital Assets team.
• Active addresses on various blockchain networks have increased alongside the rise in meme coin trading activity, with notable examples including BONK on Solana and the recognition of memetic value by organizations like the Avalanche Foundation.

Meme coins display a “strong relationship” between their price surges and the growth of user wallets on underlying blockchains despite having no inherent value proposition, Franklin Templeton’s Digital Assets team said in a report this week.

Such tokens may provide “investors with opportunities to make quick profits” and have gained virality in the past year “due to their unique nature,” the traditional finance giant added.

The report found active addresses on various blockchain networks grew in tandem with a surge in meme coin trading activity on those specific chains.

“In the last year, crypto markets have seen multiple meme coins parabolically surge, most notably, Solana-based BONK during Q4 2023. Solana daily active user addresses were up 75% quarter over quarter,” the firm said.

The surge in meme coins is seen as a way to bet on the growth of a blockchain among some traders, with prominent meme tokens of the Ethereum and Solana ecosystems rallying since late February amid a bitcoin surge.

Some, like the Avalanche Foundation, a non-profit that maintains the Avalanche blockchain, have even started to invest in meme tokens built on the network in recognition of the online culture and memetic value that such tokens can drive among investors.