Over $100M raised in 3 days as Memecoin presales reach the epitome of degeneracy

The crypto community is sounding the alarm on a phenomenon known as “peak degeneracy,” as founders of memecoins on the Solana network have raked in millions of dollars through token presales in the past 72 hours alone.
According to aggregated data viewed by Cointelegraph and cited by crypto researcher 0xGumshoe, traders have sent approximately $100 million worth of SOL in an attempt to invest in new Solana memecoins during this time period.
These presales have been raising funds for upcoming coins using a controversial crowdfunding model. Some notable examples include Book of Meme (BOME), Nap (NAP), Nostalgia (NOS), and others.
In a March 18 post on X, pseudonymous crypto investor Nick expressed his disbelief, saying, “This is legit peak degeneracy. Aping $180k and $90k into memecoins,” along with a screenshot of large purchases of an undisclosed memecoin.


Source: @NCashOfficial on X
The frenzy around memecoin presales began with the launch of Book of Meme on March 14. Created by pseudonymous artist Darkfarms1 with an initial value of around $4 million, BOME experienced a staggering rally of over 36,000%, reaching a peak market capitalization of $1.45 billion in less than 56 hours.
One early investor, Sundayfunday.sol, a personal friend of BOME’s creator, turned an initial investment of 420.69 SOL (worth $72,000 at the time) into a staggering $32 million in less than three days, according to blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain.


Source: @lookonchain on X
A presale involves investors sending cryptocurrency to a specific wallet address and receiving a proportional distribution of tokens when the token becomes available. However, there is no guarantee that investors will receive tokens in return, making presales a popular breeding ground for fraud and scams.
Ethereum educator Anthony Sassano criticized the presale model, calling anyone who sent money to a random wallet address in hopes of receiving a token “dumb as hell.” He added, “2 years later and everyone is right back to bidding ponzis. People can do what they want with their money but sending money to a ‘memecoin presale’ that has a 99.9% chance of being a scam is actually just dumb as hell.”


Source: @sassal0x on X
The memecoin mania has transcended the crypto community and caught the attention of entrepreneur David Sacks, known for co-hosting the All In podcast. The drama surrounding his memecoin led to one fortunate user reportedly making a profit of approximately $39,000.


Source: @DavidSacks on X
Pseudonymous X user DeFiRabbitHole revealed that they expected another memecoin affiliated with the All In podcast to appreciate when Sacks first started promoting his memecoin on X. When Elon Musk tweeted, “Ok fine, I will buy ur coin,” to fellow All In podcast host Jason Calacanis, the associated JASON coin skyrocketed, turning their initial investment of 1 SOL into 200 SOL.
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