Crypto coins
It wasn't Bitcoin, nor Ethereum that survived the weekend crypto market crash -- it was a Shiba Inu-themed meme token. Pixabay

KEY POINTS

  • $SAN was up 104% in the day and other survivors were far from its stellar performance during a weekend bloodbath
  • $GRIFT surged over 25%, $ALPHA added 24%, and $STNK was up by 23.5% overnight
  • Bitcoin is down over 6% in the day, and $ETH and other major altcoins are also in the deep red

The cryptocurrency market is under a devastating red wave following President Donald Trump's tariff announcements Saturday.

However, through the endeavor, one meme coin not only survived the beating, but outperformed the entire crypto market with its massive 100% surge. One AI token and a few meme coins were also making small green waves, even as Bitcoin and other major altcoins couldn't make the survival cut, with the overall crypto market going down by over 10%.

$SAN – The Star of the Night

The weekend has been very damaging to the crypto space, as the market struggled to come to terms with Trump's tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods.

Yet, one token, San Chan (SAN), defied all the odds and seemed to bring forth a miracle at a time when crypto holders were double-thinking their "HODL" status and traders were facing liquidations at every turn.

SAN, a few weeks old meme coin, was based on rising TikTok star San, a Shiba Inu dog whose owner has just pledged he will donate his entire 3% holdings of the SAN tokens to charity over the next decade.

Ahead of his announcement, the dog-themed meme token was already surging, and as per CoinGecko's Top Gainer's list, it was the only crypto coin in the last 24 hours to have logged a spike above 100%.

Crypto gainers Feb 2 2025
CoinGecko's list of Top Gainers on Feb. 2, 2025 CoinGecko

Other meme tokens display resilience

While SAN was the sole shining star in crypto's dark Sunday night, a few AI tokens displayed true strength, logging two-digit gains, while major market-cap altcoins recorded double-digit losses.

ORBIT (GRIFT), the token of the ORBIT AI-driven chat interface, increased by 25% in the day, with trading volume reaching $63.6 million. Among the day's top gainers, GRIFT was the most-traded coin.

The ALPHA coin was also on a roll, climbing by over 24% in the day, and Stonks (STNK) logged a 23.5% surge, while Ox Coin (OX) was up by 16.1%.

Surprisingly, the ELON4AFD meme coin was also a significant survivor, climbing by nearly 17% at a time when most PolitiFi tokens were in the red and barely surviving.

In comparison, Bitcoin bled over 6% in the day, while top altcoins Ethereum (ETH) and XRP plunged by 18.4% and 19.8%, respectively, in the last 24 hours. In terms of market capitalization, the crypto coins that survived the weekend bloodbath were on the meager side.

It was unclear whether SAN and the Top Gainers pack will make it through the day amid retaliatory tariff announcements by Canada and Mexico, but for now, Sunday's top coins were a ray of hope for users, who were starting to question their journey into the volatile world of cryptocurrencies.

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