Efe Nail Saltık 
Institutional investors at crypto exchange Bybit increased their memecoin allocations from $63 million at the beginning of the year to $300 million in April.
Institutional investments in memecoins have increased by more than 300% this year, reaching nearly $300 million in April. This increase shows the increasing interest of professional investors in the sector, Bybit stated in its report on Wednesday. Popular among institutional investors, dogecoin (DOGE) and shiba inu (SHIB) were preferred due to their liquidity, especially in the spot market. Investments only cover assets on Bybit and do not include assets on other exchanges.
Among the new meme coins that stood out this year, Solana meme token BONK became one of the most preferred among institutional investors and attracted more than $75 million in investments.
In May, institutional investors took profit and reduced their investments in meme coins by nearly half, to $125 million. During the same period, stablecoin investments fell from $1.7 billion to $1.4 billion, but exposure to bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), and meme coins increased.
As of May 1, DOGE had the largest meme coin holdings for both retail and institutional investors. Institutions allocated 36% more funds to DOGE compared to 24.5% of retail investors. This shows that both groups view DOGE as a fundamental asset in the meme coin space, but institutions favor it more due to its higher liquidity and relatively more stability. Both groups are interested in Ethereum-based meme coins (PEPE) and (SHIB), with retail users holding 20.95% and 14.61%, and institutions holding 22.23% and 10.39%, respectively.
In recent months, meme tokens from the Ethereum and Solana ecosystems have emerged as a way to invest in blockchain growth.
You can also freely share your thoughts and comments about the topic in the comment section. Additionally, don’t forget to follow us on our Telegram, YouTube, and Twitter channels for the latest news and updates.