Over 86% of X Influencer-backed Memecoins Are Dead: Survey

The memecoin sector is growing rapidly, but many worthless tokens are released into the market daily. Notwithstanding the lack of utility among cryptocurrencies, many influencers across social media, particularly X (formerly Twitter), are promoting the tokens as get-rich-quick investment opportunities, resulting in investors accruing significant losses.

According to a survey by news media CoinWire and digital public relations agency Storible, roughly 86% of memecoins backed by X influencers are dead and worthless, losing over 90% of their value within three months after the promotions.

CoinWire and Storible analyzed the performance of 1,567 memecoins promoted by 377 X influencers with at least 10,000 followers over the past three months. The companies used the blockchain analytics platform Dune to collect pricing data on the memecoins, targeting one week, one month, and three months after promotion.

Crypto Influencers Are Promoting Dead Memecoins

For context, dead memecoins are those whose value has declined by 90% or more since their initial promotion. CoinWire and Storible found that at least 76% of X influencers have promoted memecoins that are now considered dead. They also discovered that two out of every three promoted memecoins currently have no value.

Most memecoins are promoted on the notion that they have the potential for massive gains; however, the survey found that the reality is far from the picture painted by these influencers. In fact, only 1% of influencers have promoted memecoins that rallied 10x, and only 3% of influencer-backed tokens have surged 10x.

Around 80% of the promoted tokens often follow a similar pattern, losing 70% of their value after one week of initial promotion. Within a month, the value of 90% of these assets plunged by 80%, and in three months, they became worthless after dropping 100%.

Financial Incentives Over Token Quality

Interestingly, the survey revealed that the higher an influencer’s followers, the lower the performance of the memecoins they promote. The memecoin promotions of influencers with more than 200,000 followers recorded about 89% negative returns after three months. After three months, X users with less than 50,000 followers saw the promotions bring 141% positive returns.

The report suggested that larger influencers prioritize financial incentives over the quality of tokens they endorse, while smaller influencers are likely to apply more genuine promotion measures.

Meanwhile, this survey echoes Binance co-founder’s recent tweet about memecoins becoming a little “weird.”