The market cap of cat-themed memecoins has surged in the past 24 hours, driven by renewed interest in the wider memecoin ecosystem following the reported return of 'Roaring Kitty' to Reddit earlier this week. Investors have increasingly allocated funds into the cat-themed memecoin category, extending their risk appetite after an early-week rally by GameStop and Roaring Kitty-themed memecoins.

On Monday, GME, ROAR, and KITTY experienced remarkable gains of 315%, 660%, and 476%, respectively. These gains followed a Reddit post by Keith Gill, also known as 'Roaring Kitty,' which indicated that he holds five million shares and 120,000 call options in GameStop stock. However, ROAR and KITTY have since faced significant declines, dropping by 50% and 65%, respectively, in the last 24 hours, while GME traded down by 6.58%.

GME is a Solana-based memecoin that uses the same ticker symbol as GameStop stock but has no official affiliation with the video game retailer. Similarly, ROAR and KITTY are themed after the Roaring Kitty online persona of Keith Gill, who played a key role in the GameStop short squeeze three years ago, but these tokens have no formal connection to the investor.

As of today, the cat-themed memecoin market cap stands at $2.76 billion, marking a 10% increase in the last 24 hours, according to Coingecko data. Notable cat-themed tokens within the Coingecko Cat-themed category market cap top ten, such as POPCAT, MANEKI, and PURR, have seen gains of 11%, 2%, and 22%, respectively, in the past 24 hours.

This memecoin rally contrasts with a slight decrease in the wider cryptocurrency market, which fell by 0.4% to $2.7 trillion in the same period. Bitcoin's price decreased by over 0.4% in the past day, trading at $69,040 at 8:19 a.m. ET, while ether fell by 1.4% to $3,756, according to The Block's Price Pages.

Wintermute analysts noted that the fast money influx due to Roaring Kitty's return has benefited the broader memecoin ecosystem. "The beneficiaries include FLOKI, BONK, WIF, and PEPE, while ONDO and ENA are solidifying their position as the preferred place for traders to bet on the ether narrative," the analysts stated in an email to The Block.