Meme coins including PEPE, Floki Inu (FLOKI), and Dogwifhat (WIF) suffered sharp losses on June 17, 2025, as the broader crypto market fell about 3.5%. This drop came amid rising geopolitical tensions between Iran and Israel, which sparked a selloff in riskier assets.
PEPE fell 8.2% to $0.00001044, FLOKI dropped 5.8% to $0.00007608, and WIF declined 8.5% to $0.8151. Other popular meme coins also fell, with Dogecoin (DOGE) down 3.2%, Shiba Inu (SHIB) down 3.7%, and Official Trump (TRUMP) down 5.7%.
The overall meme coin market cap dropped 3% to $59.2 billion, reflecting investors’ caution toward highly speculative tokens during uncertain times. Analysts say meme coins often react first and hardest to global shocks because of their speculative nature.
Even positive news, like FLOKI’s recent burn of 15 billion tokens, failed to boost prices. Instead, traders used the event as a chance to exit positions amid the market retreat.
Major altcoins also fell, with Solana (SOL) down 3.7% and HyperLiquid (HYPE) dropping 9.2%. The crypto selloff follows a week of escalating conflict in the Middle East, including Israel’s Operation Rising Lion and retaliatory missile strikes by Iran.
Experts note meme coins’ extreme volatility. Min Jung from Presto Research said, “Memecoins are the biggest losers when sentiment turns. With tensions rising, risk appetite fell sharply.” Ray Youssef, CEO of NoOnes crypto app, added that whale activity shows large holders are selling, with PEPE’s whale netflow dropping 97%.
The market remains cautious as geopolitical uncertainty and upcoming economic decisions, like the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, could further affect sentiment. Despite losses, analysts say the pullback is still within typical volatility for this cycle.
