The memecoin trenches are showing signs of renewed life this week, led by an unlikely catalyst, a Shiba Inu plush toy that once floated in zero gravity aboard a SpaceX spacecraft.

ASTEROID, an Ethereum-based memecoin named after the toy that flew on SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission in September 2024, surged more than 70,000% in 24 hours to a $28 million market cap on Friday. Trading volume spiked above $43 million, according to DexScreener data, with some early holders recording six-figure gains.

The rally was sparked by a viral post from Glenn Beck on X highlighting the story of Liv Perrotto, the 15-year-old cancer patient who designed the Asteroid plush. Perrotto, who passed away from cancer, had dreamed of meeting Elon Musk and had written a list of questions for him, including whether he would make Asteroid SpaceX’s official mascot. Her mother, Rebecca Perrotto, shared the story through Beck’s platform.

Musk replied to the post with “Will answer shortly,” and that response was all the memecoin market needed. Buying pressure flooded both the Ethereum and Solana versions of the token.

On-chain analyst Lookonchain flagged a wallet that spent 12 ETH (about $31,000) on ASTEROID back in September 2024 and held it for more than 580 days at near-zero value. After Musk’s engagement, that position swelled to roughly $292,000 in unrealized gains.

Arkham highlighted another wallet that is sitting on more than $400,000 in unrealized profits after spending 1 ETH ($2,400) on the token shortly after Musk’s response.

UNC Catches a Bid

ASTEROID is not the only micro-cap drawing attention. On Solana, the UNC memecoin surged above $21 million on Thursday with $15.3 million in trading volume, the highest on the chain that day.

The token, built around Gen Z “cool uncle” internet culture, caught fire after a trader known as fibonacki purchased 37.45% of UNC’s supply when its market cap sat at just $6,000. That trader then airdropped 33.85% of the total supply to over 2,000 on-chain addresses, including several well-known figures.

Broader Memecoin Sector Stirs

The micro-cap action comes as the broader memecoin sector attempts to stabilize after a punishing 2025, during which total memecoin market capitalization fell from $93.1 billion to roughly $36.5 billion.

Data from CoinGecko shows the sector currently sits near $39 billion, up 10% over the past 24 hours.

All of the top-10 memecoins by market cap, including DOGE, SHIB, PEPE, TRUMP, BONK, Pudgy Penguins (PENGU), and FLOKI, are green on the week as activity has picked up alongside the broader risk-on rotation earlier this week.

This article was written with the assistance of AI workflows. All our stories are curated, edited and fact-checked by a human.