The second half of August has generally been characterized by flat crypto markets, but some coins have suffered significant price declines during the past week. In a dramatic plummet on Monday (Aug. 28), Ben Coin (BEN) lost half of its value.
Meanwhile, Pepe coin (PEPE) has suffered one of its worst weeks on record as fear and uncertainly plague the frog-themed meme coin after rogue developers stole $15m worth of tokens.
However, some new meme coins are bucking the trend, one being Sonik Coin. Barely a week since its launch, SONIK is already smashing through its pre-sales targets at a rate that would make its namesake proud.
Ben and Pepe Among the Week’s Biggest Losers
Ben Coin is a relatively new cryptocurrency associated with Ben Armstrong, otherwise known as the face of the YouTube channel BitBoy Crypto.
The token caught the media’s attention when it pumped over 200% in a week during May. Since then, the community-focused crypto has seen its price level out somewhat. And until recently, BEN had followed a fairly standard pattern, roughly tracking the wider crypto market.
However, starting on Monday evening (UST), the price of Ben Coin plummeted as much as 50%, in 24 hours. And after a mild rebound failed to gain any momentum on Tuesday morning, BEN is currently trading at less than half of its pre-crash value.
But what’s behind the crypto’s remarkable collapse?
Ben Coin’s fall from grace coincides with an announcement that Ben Armstrong would no longer host the BitBoy Crypto Youtube channel.
A post on the BitBoy Crypto X (formerly Twitter) account, stated that: “BJ Investment Holdings, the parent company of Hit network, took decisive legal action in removing Ben Armstrong from the company, and specifically the Bitboy Crypto brand.”
Armstrong’s exact relationship with Ben Coin remains shrouded in speculation. Although claims to have no direct involvement with its creation, he has admitted to being given tokens by the project. And when the price of BEN soared and subsequently crashed following Armstrong’s endorsement in May, the YouTuber was accused of orchestrating a pump and dump scheme.
Compared to BEN’s price slump, PEPE’s losses in the last week have been less pronounced. But the meme coin is still down over 20% in the past week as a result of its own spell of investor FUD.
In the case of PEPE, major losses were sustained between Thursday and Friday, when Pepe Coin’s value fell 30% overnight.
The price crash was triggered by activity stemming from a multi-signature wallet controlled by PEPE’s development team. When the wallet transferred 16 trillion tokens to exchanges and lowered the threshold for initiating transactions from five to two out of eight signatures, it triggered a run on Pepe Coin as investors feared the worst.
According to messages in the official PEPE telegram channel, three out of the project’s four founding developers were behind the token dump. And although the remaining founder has attempted to control the damage caused by their one-time colleagues, markets have punished Pepe Coin brutally for their actions.
With the likes of Ben and Pepe struggling, traders are looking for new alternative meme coins, with Sonik Coin being one that is showing high potential.
Stake-to-Earn Sonik Coin Turns Heads After Raising Nearly $700,000 Already
Sonik Coin is has emerged as one of the hottest new presale opportunities and has been making waves among meme coin investors.
Since it was launched less than two weeks ago, the SONIK presale is on course to meet its fundraising goal much faster than originally anticipated. The new meme coin has raised nearly $700,000 out of a target of around $2 million.
According to the project’s website, strong investment momentum on Monday and Tuesday have brought the estimated end date for the SONIK presale forward.
For now, investors can still snap up Sonik Coins for just $0.000014 per token. But since the event will close once the $2 million target is reached, presale tokens are on track to sell out in the next seven days
Once the initial coin offering (ICO) closes, SONIK will be listed on exchanges, where it will trade on the open market. Post-ICO, the team behind the new cryptocurrency have set the target a $100 million market capitalization.
For early investors that participated in the limited presale, such a figure would represent nearly 50x return on investment.
Moreover, because it has a built in staking mechanism, SONIK rewards holders too. Over the next four years, 40% of the token’s total supply will be distributed to stakers. According to the project’s website, the Annual Percentage Yield (APY) for stakers is estimated to be as much as 99%.
With numerous traders backing it to pump, Sonik is one to watch in the coming weeks.