Fartcoin briefly taps $1B market cap despite altcoin bloodbath

Solana-based memecoin Fartcoin gained 113% over the past 30 days to briefly surpass a market capitalization of $1 billion on Dec. 18 — despite most of the altcoin market suffering a double-digit slump over the day.

Fartcoin — a memecoin without any utility — stood out as the broader crypto market faltered after the Fed announced a 25-basis-point rate cut, along with signals that 2025 could see fewer cuts than previously expected.

Between 8:20 pm and 9:00 pm UTC on Dec. 18, Fartcoin’s price was an outlier in the altcoin market, spiking approximately 21% to $1.02, pushing its market cap to $1.02 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data. 

The rally didn’t last long. Hours after surpassing $1 billion, Fartcoin retraced by approximately 16%, now trading at a price of $0.83 with a market cap of $838.4 million.

‘Funniest possible outcome,’ says investor

The biggest altcoin losers over the past 24 hours were Dogwifhat (WIF), with a 16.92% decline, Bonk (BONK), down 15.24%, and Theta Network (THETA), falling 14.84%.

Some took a lighthearted view of Fartcoin’s rise to a $1 billion market cap.

“The funniest possible outcome is usually the most likely,” investor Brandon Beylo said in a Dec. 18 X post, saying investors are “fleeing to safety in Fartcoin.”

Investment research firm Hedgeye said in a Dec. 18 X post, “Fartcoin briefly hits $1 billion in market cap as investors flee risk assets, seek safety.”

“Hedge fund managers will raise billions and hire teams of Ivy League grads just to underperform degen 14-year-olds trading Fartcoin in their mom’s basements,” Liquidity Capital founder said in a Dec. 18 X post.

Fartcoin has been trading for 2 months

Fartcoin launched on Oct. 24 and, in nearly two months trading, has had significant volatility, from reaching a market cap of $423 million on Nov. 22, before retracing all the way down to $160 million market cap by Dec. 5. 

Unlimited Funds co-founder Bob Elliot said in a Dec. 18 X post, “If Fartcoin is going parabolic, maybe monetary policy is far from “very restrictive.”

Related: 2025 ‘demand shocks’ will spike Bitcoin’s price — Sygnum

Meanwhile, Bone Fide Wealth president Douglas A. Bentforth said in an X post, “the Fed cannot own Bitcoin, but they said nothing about Fartcoin.”

On Dec. 9, Syncracy Capital co-founder Daniel Cheung said there will probably be more time for traders to take advantage of buying opportunities this cycle.

“There will be intra-month volatility, but the pullbacks likely will be a “buy the dip” scenario for much longer than everyone expects,” Syncracy Capital co-founder Daniel Cheung said.

Magazine: 5 real use cases for useless memecoins

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.