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Meme coins ended the week little changed as persistent tensions in the Middle East sapped market momentum and a high-profile exploit unleashed tens of millions of dollars in selling.Even so, on-chain activity stayed strong. New meme coin launches rebounded from a late-March lull, while Pump.fun, Solana’s top coin launchpad, rolled out fresh trading features and continued buying back its native token.<h2 id="stalled-performance">Stalled Performance</h2><img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/3217677247d840df9245e02d235ba9f0.png">Markets are cautious, but not panicked. Source: <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/charts/fear-and-greed-index/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CoinMarketCap</a>Total meme coin market capitalization slipped modestly to under $28.5 billion from about $29.9 billion a week earlier, according to CoinMarketCap <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/view/memes/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">data</a>.Traders stayed cautious as escalating tensions in the Middle East pushed oil prices higher and triggered a broader retreat from risk assets.Bitcoin (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">BTC</a>) and Ether (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ethereum/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">ETH</a>) fell roughly 4.5% and 2%, respectively, while futures data <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/04/02/crypto-markets-tumble-as-oil-surges-and-traders-pile-into-bearish-bets-crypto-markets-today" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">reportedly</a> showed traders leaning harder into bearish bets.Even so, traders seem to be more cautious than panicked. As of April 2, CoinMarketCap’s Fear and Greed Index sat at 25, <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/charts/fear-and-greed-index/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">up sharply</a> from a February low of 5 and no longer indicative of Extreme Fear.Among large-cap meme coins, the biggest losers included Official Trump (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/official-trump/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">TRUMP</a>), Pudgy Penguins (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/pudgy-penguins/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">PENGU</a>), and Fartcoin (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/fartcoin/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">FARTCOIN</a>), all of which fell more than 10% week-over-week (WoW), the data shows.Those losses were partly offset by a roughly 28% gain in MemeCore (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/memecore/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">M</a>), which now trades at a market capitalization of roughly $3.2 billion.<h2 id="drift-hackers-offload-millions">Drift Hackers Offload Millions</h2><img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/d3ebfe999d7242dc9049041104a1471b.png">Hackers reportedly dumped millions of dollars worth of stolen crypto on Wednesday. Source: <a href="https://x.com/PeckShieldAlert/status/2039416872722964741" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">X/PeckShieldAlert</a>Market weakness was compounded by an April 1 exploit of Drift Protocol, one of Solana’s biggest decentralized finance platforms.Attackers <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2026/04/01/solana-defi-platform-drift-investigates-suspicious-activity-tells-users-to-halt-deposits" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">reportedly</a> seized administrative control of the platform and drained roughly $280 million. They then dumped much of the stolen crypto onto the open market, <a href="https://x.com/PeckShieldAlert/status/2039416872722964741" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">reportedly</a> including more than $4 million worth of FARTCOIN, adding to pressure on the token.In a <a href="https://x.com/DriftProtocol/status/2039564437795836039?s=20" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">post</a> on X, Drift described the breach as a “highly sophisticated operation” that appears to have been prepared over several weeks.The incident hit deposits across Drift’s borrow-lend, vault, and trading products. The platform has since frozen remaining protocol functions and disabled the compromised wallet.<h2 id="pump-fun-expands">Pump.fun Expands</h2><img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/4d24652f6c764a17b54985dadc948f0f.png">Pump.fun recently bought back nearly $7 million worth of PUMP. Source: <a href="https://x.com/PumpfunEco/status/2038626869432455424?s=20" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">X/PumpfunEco</a>The volatility did little to slow activity in the trenches.<a href="https://dune.com/adam_tehc/memecoin-wars" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">According</a> to Dune Analytics, daily new token launches approached 30,000 on April 1, nearly 50% above late-March lows.Meanwhile, Pump.fun <a href="https://x.com/TradingTerminal/status/2039417907709383123?s=20" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">rolled out</a> a new “Dexscreener Crowdfund” feature this week, letting users create, manage, and fund Dex updates for newly launched coins directly through Pump.fun’s Terminal product.The launch adds another layer to Pump.fun’s push to aggregate token launches, discovery, and trading into a single on-chain interface.It follows the platform’s recent acquisitions of trading infrastructure firms Vyper and Padre, as well as changes to its fee-sharing model.Pump.fun is also continuing to funnel most of its daily protocol revenue into PUMP buybacks, with total purchases now <a href="https://x.com/PumpfunEco/status/2038626869432455424" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">topping</a> $343 million.Meanwhile, Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 network, continues to challenge Solana in on-chain trading. On Tuesday, Base <a href="https://blog.base.org/2026-mission-vision-and-strategy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">published</a> its 2026 strategy, centered on tokenized asset markets, scaled stablecoin payments, and agent-native infrastructure for builders.<h2 id="by-the-numbers">By the Numbers</h2>Total Meme Coin Market Cap: $28.27B<img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/a7796fea315d4a2c8109b0e070c1393b.png">Source: <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/view/memes/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CoinMarketCap</a>Top 5 Meme Coins by Market Cap:<ul><li>Dogecoin (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/dogecoin/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">DOGE</a>): $13.79B</li><li>Shiba Inu (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/shiba-inu/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">SHIB</a>): $3.42B</li><li>MemeCore (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/memecore/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">M</a>): $3.20B</li><li>Pepe (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/pepe/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">PEPE</a>): $1.36B</li><li>Official Trump (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/official-trump/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">TRUMP</a>): $654M</li></ul><img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/0aa3949d2b07491494c5aa7401989b66.png">Source: <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/view/memes/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CoinMarketCap</a>Most Visited Memes:<ul><li>Baby Doge Coin (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/baby-doge-coin/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">BabyDoge</a>)</li><li>FLOKI (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/floki-inu/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">FLOKI</a>)</li><li>Giggle Fund (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/giggle-fund/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">GIGGLE</a>)</li><li>BUILDon (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/buildon/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">B</a>)</li><li>Cheems (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/cheems-pet/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CHEEMS</a>)</li></ul><img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/b8f976bfd5b44624affc7d2e2df8a00d.png">Source: <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/view/memes/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CoinMarketCap</a>

Meme Coin News: Middle East Tensions Stall Market as Drift Exploit Adds Selling Pressure

Meme Coin News: Middle East Tensions Stall Market as Drift Exploit Adds Selling Pressure

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