TL;DR

Cat-themed meme coins surged, leading a meme coin rally that pushed the sectors market cap above $40 billion. Dogecoin (DOGE) also headed north, potentially boosted by Elon Musks recent Dogecoin-related post.

Cat-Themed Memes Lead the Pack

After a prolonged period of underperforming the meme coin sector has once again headed north. Its market capitalization surpassed $40 billion several hours ago, with many assets charting impressive gains.

Some of the top performers include cat-themed meme coins such as Popcat (POPCAT), Mog Coin (MOG), and Cat in a Dogs World (MEW). POPCAT is up nearly 30% on a daily scale, reaching $0.50, while the others experienced increases of around 14%.

POPCAT Price, Source: CoinGecko Dog-themed memes have also performed quite well, albeit trailing behind the cat-themed rivals. The biggest Solana-based meme coin and the fourth-largest in the entire niche dogwifhat (WIF) has pumped by 15% in the past 24 hours, nearing $1.60. Floki Inu (FLOKI) has risen by 7%, whereas Bonk Inu (BONK) has spiked by 6%.

The leading meme coins in terms of total market capitalization Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) have also recorded some resurgence. The formers price is up 5%, while its market cap exceeded $15 billion.

The self-proclaimed Dogecoin killer SHIB witnessed similar gains. Its market cap crossed $8 billion, positioning the asset as the 16th biggest in the entire crypto sector. The 15th spot belongs to Avalanche (AVAX), whose capitalization currently stands at around $8.8 billion.

It is worth noting that the revival in the meme coin cohort coincides with a broader uptrend of the entire cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin (BTC) surpassed $61,000, Ethereum (ETH) is inching toward $2,700, whereas Binance Coin (BNB) has jumped by 7% daily.

Musks Potential Influence

Numerous industry participants speculated that the resurgence of the meme coin sector, particularly Dogecoin (DOGE), could have some connection to one of Elon Musks latest interactions on X. 

Earlier today (August 20), Teslas CEO posted a picture depicting him as the head of an imaginary US entity called Department of Government Efficiency, or D.O.G.E. (quite similar to the abbreviation of the largest meme coin).

Musk is known as a firm supporter of Dogecoin, praising its merits and endorsing it on the social media platform multiple times. The price of the asset often heads north after such actions.

In mid-March, DOGEs valuation spiked by almost 15% after Musk said Tesla may accept the token as a payment method. 

Two months later, the EV giant officially integrated it as a settlement option on its website, which was followed by another price uptick.