Do Crypto Meme Coins Still Have a Chance This Market Cycle? Analysts See XRPL DeFi as The Next Catalyst

Most of the crypto community was very excited about meme tokens earlier this year, but the excitement has cooled, and investors now have questions about what happens for the rest of 2025. Do meme coins still have the power of parabolic upside, or has liquidity started to pivot to other niches?

Now, whereas retail investors are still speculating about the value of highly volatile assets with very low caps, analysts are focusing on the new cycle structure, which is pointing out that now may be the right time to invest in utility-driven ecosystems.

Due to this shift, people are now focusing on the XRP Ledger’s DeFi expansion. This is a sector that is gaining momentum due to developers introducing multiple updates. These include audited protocols, staking systems, and cross-chain infrastructure. Among them, the project that has generated the most buzz is XRP Tundra. And the reason is its multi-chain architecture and transparent security profile, which could lead to XRP’s expansion in a direction that has not been done before.

Why Late-Cycle Markets Don’t See Much Meme Coin Action?

Meme coins typically show massive upside when it is the beginning or the middle of the cycle. These are the times when liquidity is abundant and traders have no problem putting their money into high-risk assets. But as time goes on, two reasons emerge that push the meme coin interest aside.

One is that the community around a specific meme coin starts to get boring, which causes the ecosystem to become fragmented. And the second reason is participants becoming wise and focusing on assets that could offer structural rewards and not lean only on short-lived volatility.

This pattern has already appeared throughout the past two months, with meme coin breakouts becoming shorter and investor inflows flattening across major exchanges.

Analysts who have assessed late-cycle behavior in the past have noticed that retail cycles cannot keep up the multi-month meme performance. Profit-takers always come around, and narratives that only focus on community hype end up competing with projects that could deliver high yields.

As a result, traders find themselves shifting gears and changing directions to platforms that have actual mechanics to back them. And in many cases, such assets are those that offer compounding rewards.

According to a recent video by Crypto League, which touches upon this transition, the host said that when the market matures, the capital goes into utility-driven ecosystems. This strong landscape has given the right ecosystem for the XRPL DeFi to thrive as it is emerging on the radar of many analysts who are guessing the direction the market liquidity may move to next.

XRP Tundra Has Emerged as a Core Part of this Utility-Driven Catalyst

The reason analysts are talking about XRP Tundra so much is because of its technical foundation. The project focuses on two networks. It operates on Solana and on the XRP Ledger. It does so using a unique dual-token system that makes sure that utility and governance have their own separate strong systems.

One is TUNDRA-S, which is currently available at a discount price of $0.183 in Phase 11 and has a 9 percent bonus. This token powers staking and on-chain functions. And the other is TUNDRA-X, which users will get for free and is valued at $0.0915. This token’s job is to govern the ecosystem and be a reserve asset.

Analysts highlight this architecture because it brings a degree of predictability not present in speculative meme-coin trading. Tundra’s contract structure has been fully audited by Cyberscope, Solidproof, and FreshCoins, while KYC verification was completed through Vital Block. These layers address the most common presale concerns: mint authority abuse, blacklist functionality, upgrade risks, and owner-controlled fees.

This evidence is frequently referenced by users searching is XRP Tundra legit, and it’s the same evidence analysts point to when identifying which XRPL projects could sustain capital through the next cycle.

Engineered Rewards Outperform Meme Coin Sentiment

Where meme coins depend almost entirely on market enthusiasm, XRP Tundra relies on engineered participation mechanics. The ecosystem’s Cryo Vault system offers structured staking:

• Liquid Staking with 4–6% APY, no lock period, and instant withdrawal.
• Balanced Staking with 8–12% APY and 30-day commitments.
• Premium Staking offers 15–20% APY every 90 days.

Thanks to this reward structure, users gain from recurring activity and not from the conventional speculative churn that they are used to with meme coins.

Other than staking, Tundra has also integrated a unique system known as DAMM V2. It is a liquidity architecture that features three aspects: dynamic fees, concentrated liquidity, and NFT-based position management.

The innovative element of this is the exponential dynamic fee scheduler that makes the initial fee high but gradually reduces it with time. That is why it is considered a perfect counter to bot attacks and can prevent people from dumping the token to create healthier early-market conditions. This stands in contrast to meme tokens, which often launch into uncontrolled volatility and short-lived pumps.

The presence of verifiable yield and engineered liquidity is why analysts categorize Tundra as part of the “next catalyst cohort” forming on XRPL.

Capital Is Rotating Ahead of 2026: Here is What the Presale Metrics Reveal

Tundra’s presale performance shows that people have started to veer from the speculation-based upsides that meme coins bring to the table. It has raised more than $2.5 million already, and it has already distributed over $32,000 through the Arctic Spinner rewards system.

One can take a look at the scale of this participation and realize that the demand is growing for verified, utility-based ecosystems. The listing prices of the assets have been confirmed as well. For TUNDRA-S, it is $2.5, and TUNDRA-X is valued at $1.25.

Because the market is reportedly moving towards utility-led growth, it looks like XRPL DeFi is in a position to which it can capture the most attention from investors. XRP Tundra’s architecture, audit record, and structured reward mechanisms align closely with the factors analysts believe will drive the next expansion phase. And $1.25 for TUNDRA-X offers a measurable valuation framework that meme-coin markets cannot provide.

As the market transitions toward utility-led growth, XRPL DeFi appears positioned to capture a significant share of attention. XRP Tundra’s architecture, audit record, and structured reward mechanisms align closely with the factors analysts believe will drive the next expansion phase.

Secure your Phase 11 allocation:

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