Meme Coin Thought to Be Finished? ‘The Black Bull’ Soars 1,000-Fold in a Week, Tops $70 Million

Influencer-led meme coin ‘The Black Bull’

Fee rebate promise sparks buying frenzy

Token posts a 1,000-fold jump in one week

A meme coin that surged more than 1,000-fold in a week has emerged in the cryptocurrency market. The token’s market capitalization quickly topped $70 million, defying views that enthusiasm for narrative-driven meme coins had faded. A distinctive structure built around a prominent influencer, combined with a promise to return trading fees, fueled explosive short-term buying.

As of July 3, The Black Bull (ANSEM), a token traded on Solana-based meme coin issuance platform Pump.fun, had climbed from about $0.0000020 in late June to an intraday high of $0.19 on July 2. It was recently changing hands at about $0.177 on MEXC.

The coin is modeled on Ansem, widely regarded as one of the most influential crypto traders on social media. He rose to prominence after accurately calling moves in Solana and the meme-coin market. His influence is strong enough that market participants often treat a single comment or reaction as a direct trading signal.

That visibility led to a flood of meme coins tied to Ansem’s name. Although Ansem has drawn a line between himself and those projects, saying he did not directly create any coin, a version called The Black Bull that launched on Pump.fun in mid-June built the strongest narrative and seized market attention, effectively becoming his de facto meme coin. The token has a maximum supply of 1 billion, with about 999.96 million now in circulation. The project began when an anonymous developer sent about 65% of the total supply to Ansem’s public wallet and set trading fees to flow directly to that wallet in an apparent attempt to force his involvement.

Investors then moved to a CTO, or Community Takeover, model and began running the project themselves. They launched an official website and described Ansem as “the last bull standing when everyone else leaves,” helping build momentum. Another catalyst followed when Ansem posted “RTM,” short for “Return to believing in something,” on social media as a message about a revival in the crypto market. Investors embraced it as a signal that the meme-coin boom could return.

Ansem’s pledge to airdrop part of the fees became the decisive trigger for The Black Bull’s price surge. He criticized Pump.fun’s reward structure and promised to return part of the fees sent to his wallet to retail investors. As trading volume rose, more fees accumulated in Ansem’s wallet, and the amount available for redistribution also increased, creating a feedback loop that drove even more buying. Ansem is understood to have collected about $516,000 in fees alone after the token’s jump.

Ansem’s popularity also spilled over into Solana, the token’s underlying network. A surge in meme-coin trading sharply increased transaction activity on Solana. The token had fallen to around $60 during the recent crypto downturn, but rebounded about 13% over the past week and recovered to the $80 range.

Still, the token’s record-setting rally over such a short period has raised investment risks. Like other meme coins, it has no intrinsic value, and its price can swing sharply on a single comment or a change in stance from a specific influencer. An industry official said the biggest problem is that 65% of the total supply is concentrated in a single wallet. If those holdings were dumped into the market at once, or if the wallet were compromised, the token could collapse almost instantly, the person added.