Dogecoin and other meme cryptos surge as bitcoin breaks out above $30,000

• Bitcoin pushed past $30,000 this week, causing meme crypto tokens to surge.
• The value of the top meme tokens rose 8% to $15.7 billion in the last 24 hours.

Dogecoin, Pepecoin, and other meme cryptocurrencies surged over the last week as bitcoin broke out above $30,000 — a sign that crypto investors are growing more bullish on the sector despite the recent retreat in prices.

Bitcoin rose 21% over the past week, and was trading at $30,110.16 on Thursday. The move upward coincided with big seven-day rallies in popular meme cryptocurrencies like Dogecoin (up 9%), Shiba Inu (up 22%), and Pepecoin (up 88%).

The total market value of the top meme cryptos rose 8% to $15.7 billion in the last 24 hours alone, according to data from CoinGecko – more than double the increase seen across the wider crypto industry, which rose just 4.2%.

Those gains signal investors' growing optimism for crypto, despite a recent pullback stemming from tighter monetary policy and stricter regulation over the sector.

Crypto investors grew wary over the past month after the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Binance and Coinbase for violating various US securities laws. Those suits pose an existential threat for two of the largest crypto exchanges by market value, experts say, which pushed crypto prices lower.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve held interest rates stable at its June policy meeting, keeping monetary policy tight, but signaled more increases may be on the way later this year.

Central bankers have aggressively raised interest rates to tame inflation, a move that's weighed heavily on risk assets and sent bitcoin plunging from its all-time-high of $64,400 in late 2021.

Rates are now at their highest level since 2007. Investors are pricing in a 74% chance the Fed could hike rates another 25 basis points at its next policy meeting in August, a move that could put more pressure on the crypto industry.