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Narrative-driven tokens are catching bids again as the broader memecoin sector attempts to recover from a bruising 2025.<\/p>\n
The memecoin trenches are showing signs of renewed life this week, led by an unlikely catalyst, a Shiba Inu plush toy that once floated in zero gravity aboard a SpaceX spacecraft.<\/p>\n
ASTEROID, an Ethereum-based memecoin named after the toy that flew on SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission in September 2024, surged more than 70,000% in 24 hours to a $28 million market cap on Friday. Trading volume spiked above $43 million, according to DexScreener data<\/a>, with some early holders recording six-figure gains.<\/p>\n The rally was sparked by a viral post from Glenn Beck<\/a> on X highlighting the story of Liv Perrotto, the 15-year-old cancer patient who designed the Asteroid plush. Perrotto, who passed away from cancer, had dreamed of meeting Elon Musk and had written a list of questions for him, including whether he would make Asteroid SpaceX’s official mascot. Her mother, Rebecca Perrotto, shared the story through Beck’s platform.<\/p>\n Musk replied to the post with “Will answer shortly,” and that response was all the memecoin market needed. Buying pressure flooded both the Ethereum and Solana versions of the token. <\/p>\n On-chain analyst Lookonchain flagged<\/a> a wallet that spent 12 ETH (about $31,000) on ASTEROID back in September 2024 and held it for more than 580 days at near-zero value. After Musk’s engagement, that position swelled to roughly $292,000 in unrealized gains.<\/p>\n Arkham highlighted<\/a> another wallet that is sitting on more than $400,000 in unrealized profits after spending 1 ETH ($2,400) on the token shortly after Musk\u2019s response. <\/p>\n ASTEROID is not the only micro-cap drawing attention. On Solana, the UNC memecoin surged above $21 million on Thursday with $15.3 million in trading volume, the highest on the chain that day.<\/p>\n The token, built around Gen Z “cool uncle” internet culture, caught fire after a trader known as fibonacki purchased 37.45% of UNC’s supply when its market cap sat at just $6,000. That trader then airdropped<\/a> 33.85% of the total supply to over 2,000 on-chain addresses, including several well-known figures.<\/p>\n The micro-cap action comes as the broader memecoin sector attempts to stabilize after a punishing 2025, during which total memecoin market capitalization fell from $93.1 billion to roughly $36.5 billion<\/a>. <\/p>\n Data from CoinGecko shows the sector currently sits near $39 billion, up 10% over the past 24 hours.<\/p>\nUNC Catches a Bid<\/h2>\n
Broader Memecoin Sector Stirs<\/h2>\n