On Thursday, Solana-based meme coin BONK became the 69th most valuable cryptocurrency on CoinGecko as its market capitalization surged above the $1 billion mark for the first time since launch.
The event led to the token continuing its weeks-long surge. As of press time, BONK has risen over 100% from the previous day’s value to record another all-time high price. The meme token was also listed on Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the US, leading to it hitting $0.00001755 on December 14.
Meme Token BONK Becomes 69th Largest Crypto After Crossing $1 Billion in Market Cap
However, meme tokens are known to be highly volatile, a fact that did not exclude BONK. The token issued on the Solana (SOL) network lost about 6% of its value, but later climbed back up to close in on its all-time high. BONK currently has a market cap of $1.74 billion.
According to data provided by CoinGecko, the price of BONK has jumped over 821% in the last 30 days. The token has been consistently setting new all-time highs.
Over the past week, BONK marked a sizeable 75% rise. The meme token’s surge can be attributed to the similarly rapid rise of the native token of its layer-1 blockchain.
BONK now joins two of the largest meme coins in the market, Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB), by crossing the $1 billion mark in market capitalization.
Moreover, the Solana-based token has been the biggest gainer among the top 100 ranked cryptocurrencies over the past 24 hours. Ethereum-based WOO token (33%) and Bitcoin-powered ORDI (32%) came in second and third, respectively.
However, DOGE and SHIB did not make much gains in the same period, with each rising around 5% in value. But BONK still has a lot of ground to cover to catch up to the highest-ranking meme tokens in the market.
Dogecoin is the 11th largest crypto with a market cap of about $13.9 billion, while Shiba Inu is the 18th most valuable cryptocurrency with a market cap of about $5.9 billion.
Get more info: Solana Bonk Token (BONK) Defies Bear Market With Record Price Surge
25 Billion BONK Airdropped to Solana Devs Now Valued at $500,000
While many investors would stay away from meme tokens like BONK or DOGE, there are a few cunning traders among us who will use the time to ride the popularity wave to make massive gains off of the tokens.
Last Christmas, shortly after BONK was launched, Solana developers who filled out a form in the LamportDAO received 25 billion BONK as a holiday gift in their Solana wallets. At the time, the drop was worth about $300.
Despite the token being released at a time when the market was suffering from the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange, it helped bring a positive vibe to the Solana community who were also ruing the significant loss experienced by SOL, which came crashing down to nearly $8 from its November 2021 all-time high of around $260.
Many Solana developers who were struggling to get through one of the most devastating bear markets in crypto history were able to pay off their essential bills using the tokens.
However, anyone who held on to the 25 billion BONK will now be sitting on more than $500,000, based on its current market price. It has been reported that approximately 173 developers received the airdrop last year. LamportDAO devs collectively got their hands on 5% of BONK’s total supply.
At the time of writing, BONK is trading at $0.00003031 – up 104.5% in the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, Solana (SOL) is trading at $75.27 – up 5.3% from its previous day’s price.
Get more info: Bitcoin Cedes Rally To “Bull Trap” As Ether and Solana Hit 19-Month Highs
