The cryptocurrency market saw a notable surge in the prices of two memecoins, GME and KITTY, following a significant boost in GameStop's share price. GME and KITTY, which aim to capitalize on the GameStop phenomenon, experienced remarkable increases of 18.7% and 55%, respectively, as reported by CoinGecko. As of 4:36 p.m. ET (20:36 UTC) on May 28, GME traded at $0.0047 and KITTY was valued at $0.0035.

GameStop's stock itself also saw a substantial rise, trading at $23.78 at 4:19 p.m. ET (20:19 UTC) on May 28, reflecting a 25.16% increase over the previous 24 hours, according to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Despite their names and thematic links, neither GME nor KITTY have any official affiliation with GameStop. GME, sharing its ticker symbol with GameStop, and KITTY, named after "Roaring Kitty"—the online pseudonym of former financial analyst Keith Gill who played a prominent role in the GameStop short squeeze of 2021—have nonetheless ridden the wave of GameStop's renewed market interest.

Rebecca Stevens, Senior Research Analyst at The Block, noted the broader growth of memecoins over the past year. According to the GMCI memecoin index, memecoins have not only risen by 2.26% in the last day but have also shown impressive growth of 41.4% in the past month and 310% year-to-date.

"The MEME index continues to dramatically outperform its peers after its stellar rally in early March," Stevens wrote in The Block's Data & Insight newsletter. "While memecoin hype did slow a bit over the past month, the index was able to hold on to a lot of its gains. It was trading below 100 at the start of the year."

Stevens also highlighted that while other indices, including the Top 30, Layer 1, and DeFi, experienced notable gains in the past week, only the MEME index has approached its previous high from March. In contrast, the Layer 2 and DePIN indices have remained relatively stable.

This recent activity underscores the volatile yet lucrative nature of memecoins and their potential to generate significant returns, often driven by market sentiment and external events such as the resurgence in GameStop's stock price.