A Fading Meme Coin Frenzy Fueled By PEPE Triggers Declines In Ethereum Staking and Gas Fees

Crypto investors have over the last few weeks witnessed explosive price rallies accompanied by significant spikes in the trading volume of Ethereum-based meme coins like Pepe Coin (PEPE).

The meme coin frenzy also drove up the rates of staking and gas fees, but recent on-chain data reveals a slump in the two elements which analysts believe could be as a result of a shift to BRC-20 tokens on the Bitcoin (BTC) network.

Ethereum Staking Rates Drop After Hitting 9-Month High

On-chain data from beaconcha.in shows a sharp drop in Ethereum’s staking rates from a nine-month high of 8.6% reached on May 5 following a spike in on-chain gas fees.

According to the chart below, the staking rate pulled back to 6.72% on May 8 but recovered to 8.01% per annum on Thursday.

The meme coin hype on the Ethereum network started with the launch of PEPE, which saw a dramatic surge in trading activity initially on decentralized exchanges like Uniswap and later on centralized exchanges like Binance.

By April 30, Pepe Coin users has surpassed 54,000, according to data from Nansen – shared via a tweet. The token’s listing on the Binance Innovation Zone on May 5 bolstered the meme coin further as it surpassed the $1 billion mark in its market share.

54,000+ $PEPE holders in just 2 weeks? 🤯

Impressive, but let's not forget the 1.3 million $SHIB holders out there!

And did you know that over 3,350 wallets hold both memecoins?

Let's dive into the top holders of these two 👇 pic.twitter.com/VmJPdJZQEY

— Nansen 🧭 (@nansen_ai) April 30, 2023

As the rally raged on, it attracted new investors, but profit-booking has intensified in the last few days leading to a declining trading volume. At the time of writing, PEPE’s market capitalization had dropped to $614 million with a 24-hour trading volume of $514 million.

The token trades at $0.00000157 in the wake of a 16.65% drop on the day in addition to a 16.72% drop from the all-time high of $0.00000431 only five days ago.

ETH Gas Fees Roll Back

A spike in on-chain activity on the Ethereum network over the last few weeks can be attributed to Pepe, consequently leading to a colossal jump (the highest since May 2022) in the network gas fees – the cost of sending transactions on the blockchain.

The drop in trading volume is hurting the Ethereum gas fees which are now trending downward. Although still holding at a one-year high, with the daily median gas fees at 87 gwei at the time of writing, the fees are significantly lower than 143 gwei, as recorded on May 5.

Ethereum Price Holding Support at $1,800

Ethereum price has shed nearly almost 4% of its value in 24 hours to trade at $1,810 at press time. The previous month’s VAL at $1,804 on the four-hour chart serves as the immediate support, which if defended could see Ether climb to the daily point of control (PoC) at 1,823.

The viability of the immediate support remains questionable, considering the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator dons a sell signal.

Furthermore, Ethereum price is now holding below all the major applied moving averages including the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA), the 100-day EMA, and the 200-day EMA.

Some key price levels for bulls to consider watching in the coming session or a few days are the monthly POC at $1,849 and the weekly open at $1,873.

On the downside, if support at $1,800 fails to hold, we could see Ethereum drop to $1,780, $1,740, and $1,700, respectively, as it sweeps through fresh liquidity for a much bigger rebound.

AiDoge – Meme Coin Generation Meets Crypto Rewards

The popularity of dog-themed cryptocurrencies is on the rise with the emergence of AiDoge – a unique crypto token that combines artificial intelligence and meme creation capabilities. Investors intrigued by AiDoge are particularly drawn to the platform’s “meme-to-earn” concept.

According to experts at InsideBitcoins.com, the token powering the ecosystem, $AI, has a positive rating due to its optimal risk-to-reward ratio.

In addition, creators of the best memes will be rewarded with financial incentives in the form of AiDoge’s native $AI token.

In just a few weeks since its debut, the AiDoge presale has surpassed $5.7 million, with one $AI token being sold for $0.0000292.

However, early supporters should act quickly as the token’s price is expected to rise to $0.00000296 in the upcoming round. Investors have the option to purchase $AI using ETH, BNB USDT and by card.

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