Ark Invest’s Cathie Wood says most meme coins are headed to zero

The $2.6 trillion crypto market is drowning in meme coins, and Cathie Wood says most of them will crash. The Ark Invest CEO said on Bloomberg Television that the flood of new tokens created by AI and blockchain technology is nothing but a hype cycle that will end with investors holding worthless coins.

“There are millions of meme coins being created, and they are not going to be worth very much,” Cathie said. She made it clear: her private funds are not investing in them.

She warned that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has no plans to regulate meme coins, meaning buyers are on their own. “If I have one message for those listening who are buying meme coins: buyer beware. There’s nothing like losing money for people to learn, and they’ll learn that the SEC and regulators are not taking responsibility for these meme coins.”

Trump’s meme coin explodes, then collapses

Days before taking office, Donald Trump launched his own meme coin. It attracted billions in trading volume almost instantly. But the hype didn’t last. The price crashed, proving Cathie’s point about how quickly these tokens can lose value.

Some investors still see meme coins as a form of digital collectibles rather than serious investments. “Some will withstand the judgment of time,” Cathie said, adding that Trump’s token could be one of the few that survive.

The biggest meme coin remains Dogecoin, which has a market cap of over $50 billion. Others like Shiba Inu, Pepe, and Bonk have also gained massive followings. For retail traders, the appeal is clear: meme coins are cheap, and if they skyrocket, early buyers can make massive returns. But Cathie is not convinced. Unlike Bitcoin and Ethereum, most meme coins have no real use case, and their prices can rise or fall within minutes.

Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana keep growing

While Cathie dismissed meme coins, she reinforced her optimism about Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. She pointed to their growing adoption, saying the number of use cases is only increasing. Bitcoin remains the strongest player, and she has repeatedly predicted it will surpass $1 million by 2030.

For now, Bitcoin sits below $82,000, down about 13% this year. But unlike meme coins, it has institutional backing and a fixed supply, which helps drive long-term demand. Ethereum and Solana also continue to grow, with more projects being built on their networks.

Meanwhile, the meme coin market continues to operate in the Wild West. Prices swing wildly, mostly because a handful of people control the supply. Many meme coins are concentrated in the hands of developers and insiders, meaning they can dump their holdings at any time, leaving others with worthless tokens.

Scams are another issue. Rug pulls, where developers abandon a project and take the money, are common. Few meme coins are audited, making them easy targets for hacks. Buyers rarely know what they are investing in, and Cathie sees this as a major red flag.

Trump’s token and the controversy

Unlike most meme coins, Trump’s token has direct ties to the former president. The $Trump token features an image of him with his fist raised, a reference to a photo taken after the assassination attempt at one of his campaign rallies.

The token launched on the Solana blockchain and was quickly listed on Binance, OKX, Bybit, and Robinhood. A second token, $Melania, became available on Kraken, KuCoin, and Bitget. In the first few days, $Trump surged more than tenfold, hitting $73.4 before losing steam when $Melania was introduced.

The most controversial part? 80% of the $Trump token supply is owned by CIC Digital LLC and Fight Fight Fight LLC—companies linked to Trump’s business interests. That gives them control over liquidity and price movements, something that has worried critics.

Reactions to Trump’s token have been mixed. Some crypto traders saw it as a sign that Trump supports crypto and could bring more legitimacy to the space. Others were less enthusiastic. Some investors were hoping for a serious push toward crypto regulation, not another meme coin.

Financial regulators were not amused. Government watchdogs immediately criticized the token, calling it another ethics violation by Trump. Critics argued that it was just another way for him to profit off his political image.

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