Meme coins are back in the spotlight after spending much of the year struggling to keep pace with the broader crypto market.

The sector rallied sharply this week as Bitcoin (BTC) moved above $82,000, oil prices fell, and global risk assets bounced on signs of progress toward a U.S.-Iran peace agreement.

The total meme coin market capitalization rose roughly 15% week-over-week (WoW) according to CoinMarketCap data, outpacing core crypto assets such as BTC and Ethereum (ETH) as traders moved back into higher-risk tokens.

Gainers ranged from large-cap meme coins such as Dogecoin (DOGE) to meme-adjacent artificial intelligence and platform tokens, including SkyAI (SKYAI) and Toncoin (TON).

Still, industry insiders, including a…