MeMe Coin: From Internet Joke to Crypto Assets Phenomenon

Foreword

The memes on the internet have surprisingly turned into tradable digital currencies, which sounds both absurd and interesting. These digital assets, originating from online jokes, can sometimes reach a market value of billions of dollars, making them hard to comprehend. Their value is largely driven by internet memes, social media popularity, and online community consensus, almost like a grand joke.

But this is MeMe coin, a peculiar phenomenon born from internet humor that can stir waves in the financial market. These seemingly unserious crypto assets are attracting a massive amount of funds and attention at an astonishing speed. Let's delve into the wonderful and crazy world of MeMe coin, understand its origins and potential future developments.

The Origin of MeMe Coin: Started with "Doge"

MeMe coin, as the name suggests, is a Crypto Asset inspired by internet memes. They are filled with mockery and entertainment, fundamentally different from traditional Crypto Assets that claim to be disruptive technologies. You might see various animal avatars, popular memes, or even celebrities printed on these digital currencies, seemingly just to make people laugh.

It is precisely this "unserious" quality that has become the unique charm of MeMe coin. Unlike Bitcoin, which has a complex mining mechanism, and Ethereum, which attempts to build a vast decentralized application ecosystem, the value of MeMe coin often comes from community consensus and the viral spread on social media. A popular meme, a tweet that resonates, or even just a joke can cause an obscure MeMe coin to suddenly become popular, with its price rising correspondingly.

This phenomenon reflects that in the digital age, the influence of socio-cultural factors on financial markets is becoming more pronounced. People's curiosity about novelty, their desire for community belonging, and their dreams of quick wealth are all embodied to some extent in the MeMe coin world. This may signify that in the future financial realm, entertainment value, community engagement, and viral dissemination will become an undeniable force.

The pioneer of MeMe coin is undoubtedly Dogecoin ( Dogecoin ). This Crypto Assets, created at the end of 2013 by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, started out as a joke. It was inspired by the "Doge" meme that was all the rage at the time. The two founders probably never expected that this joke project would quickly become popular and gain astonishing attention in just a few weeks.

In its early days, Dogecoin was primarily used for "tipping" on social media platforms, allowing users to reward creators of interesting or valuable content with small amounts of Dogecoin. This light-hearted atmosphere attracted a loyal following, forming a vibrant community. Surprisingly, Dogecoin's early community also demonstrated a spirit of charity, such as raising funds for the Jamaican bobsled team, which lacked sufficient funding to participate in the Sochi Winter Olympics.

In 2021, Elon Musk mentioned DOGE multiple times on social media, pushing it into a global craze, with its price soaring over 8000% at one point and its market capitalization surpassing 88 billion dollars. This initial joke project surprisingly accumulated enormous market value and influence in the following years. This fully demonstrates that a seemingly unserious project, if cleverly combined with popular internet culture and forming a strong community consensus, can also achieve unexpected success.

The Wild Evolution History of MeMe Coin

After the unexpected success of Dogecoin, various MeMe coins have emerged like mushrooms after rain, as if the world of Crypto Assets has experienced a "Cambrian Explosion" of life. Numerous digital currencies themed around cute animals, characters, current events, or popular memes are constantly appearing. Among them, the most notable include:

• Shiba Inu coin ( Shiba Inu, SHIB ): Commonly referred to as "Dogecoin Killer", launched in August 2020. Also themed around Shiba Inu, it aims to replicate the success of Dogecoin and build a large community known as the "SHIB Army".

• Bonk coin ( BONK ): A rapidly emerging MeMe coin on the Solana chain, launched at the end of 2022, is the first dog-themed MeMe coin in the Solana ecosystem.

• Pepe coin ( Pepe, PEPE ): In 2023, it reignited people's enthusiasm for MeMe coin, inspired by the famous "Pepe the Frog" meme.

• dogwifhat(WIF): Newcomer MeMe coin, with a logo of a Shiba Inu wearing a pink knit hat.

In addition to these "established" powerhouses, the MeMe coin world continues to see new participants emerging, with inspirations becoming increasingly diverse. For example, cat-themed MeMe coins like "Popcat" and "MEW". Political figures are also entering the MeMe coin space, such as the $TRUMP coin officially announced by Donald Trump, which saw its market value soar to $14.5 billion. Melania Trump also launched her own MeMe coin, $Melania. Other MeMe coins related to political figures include $BODEN, $LIBRA, and $CAR. Additionally, there are MeMe coins inspired by artificial intelligence, such as Dawgz AI.

From only 124 types of MeMe coins circulating in the market in October 2021, to the emergence of millions of types of MeMe coins on some platforms by February 2025, the variety of MeMe coins has exploded. This phenomenon blurs the boundaries between political movements, internet culture, and financial speculation, creating "unique risks" and opportunities.

How MeMe coin Works

Although MeMe coins may seem like a joke, they still rely on the solid foundation of blockchain technology. Simply put, blockchain is like a shared digital ledger that securely and transparently records every transaction. Most MeMe coins operate as tokens on existing blockchains, such as Ethereum ( following the ERC-20 standard ) and Solana ( following the SPL token standard ). This enables their development to be faster and allows them to leverage the infrastructure of existing blockchains.

Although some MeMe coins may claim to have certain unique technological features, their value and popularity are primarily driven by social and cultural factors rather than technological innovation or practical application. Unlike those crypto projects that are dedicated to developing new technologies or solving real-world problems, MeMe coins are more like a social phenomenon, with their value stemming from community consensus and market sentiment. Therefore, when evaluating MeMe coins, technical analysis is often less important, while focusing on the community power and network enthusiasm behind them is more critical.

"Tokenomics" is also key to understanding the operation of MeMe coin. It mainly includes the supply of tokens ( which is usually large or even has no upper limit ), distribution methods ( such as airdrops distributed for free to community members, or through presales, etc. ), as well as any unique mechanisms, such as token burning ( to increase scarcity by reducing circulation ). For MeMe coins like Dogecoin, mining is still the way to generate new coins. A variety of token economic models demonstrate different approaches to managing inflation and perceived value.

It is worth noting that the threshold for creating MeMe coins is very low, with many tools and platforms allowing anyone to easily issue their own MeMe coin by simply entering a name, symbol, and image. This extremely low barrier explains the vast number of MeMe coins in the market. Although this ease of creation fosters innovation and allows for rapid experimentation with new ideas, it also makes the market susceptible to a large number of low-quality tokens and potential scams, as there is usually almost no review process.

The Growth and Explosion of MeMe Coin: The Rise of Solana

The rise of MeMe coin is attributed to social media hype, community-driven support, and its appeal as a low-barrier investment for new encryption enthusiasts. Platforms like Solana or Ethereum have played a key role in this growth by providing the technological infrastructure necessary for the large-scale creation and trading of these tokens.

Although Ethereum is the birthplace of many early meme coins like Shiba Inu, the network's high gas fees and congestion often pose significant challenges for developers and investors. Solana, as a high-performance blockchain, has become a game changer for meme coin projects. The most striking advantage of Solana is its lightning-fast transaction speed, reaching up to 65,000 transactions per second, with transaction fees that are extremely low, usually less than a cent. This efficiency has attracted a wave of developers and investors, leading to a surge in meme coin activities based on Solana. As a result, Solana is dominating the meme coin market, making it the preferred choice for new and old crypto projects aiming to capitalize on this growth trend.

You can compare Solana to a low-cost airline in the crypto world – fast, low-cost, and very suitable for those quick, impulsive decisions. This makes Solana very suitable for the high trading volume and high-risk trading characteristics of MeMe coins. Additionally, a certain degree of credit goes to the token launch platform Pump.fun, which has facilitated the deployment of over 8 million tokens since its launch in early 2024.

However, in February of this year, the LIBRA token scandal triggered by Argentine President Javier Milei affected other core protocols on the fast and cost-effective blockchain, leading to a sharp decline in the status of other Solana meme leaders in recent months, with their token prices dropping from a peak of 298 to 123 dollars.

Nevertheless, some traders believe that MeMe's end has come, but the trading and token release platform Pump.fun still maintains over 150,000 daily active addresses.

In addition to Solana, BSC is also actively embracing MeMe. Recently, under the resonance of a sovereign fund in Abu Dhabi injecting $2 billion into a trading platform and the influence of a certain well-known figure, combined with the integration of the Alpha section on the main site of a trading platform, the Meme ecosystem of BSC has exploded.

Community is King: Social Media and the MeMe Coin Craze

In the world of MeMe coin, the power of online communities is incredibly strong. The active communities on social media platforms are crucial to the success of MeMe coin. Shiba Inu coin has millions of fans on social media, Pepe coin has over 766,000, Bonk coin has rapidly accumulated over 500,000 fans, and Floki Inu has over 475,000. It is these vibrant communities that, by constantly creating and sharing memes and viral content related to MeMe coin, drive the popularity and value of MeMe coin.

The value of MeMe coin largely depends on the collective beliefs and enthusiasm of its online community. Social media platforms are hotbeds for hype, and viral memes and collaborative efforts can quickly drive up prices. This community-driven valuation stands in stark contrast to traditional financial assets, whose values are typically associated with fundamentals and actual utility. Additionally, the "fear of missing out" ( FOMO ) sentiment is also a significant factor driving people to invest in MeMe coin.

When the price of a MeMe coin rises rapidly, many people worry about missing the opportunity and blindly follow the trend to buy in, even if they do not have an in-depth understanding of the project itself. Influencers and opinion leaders on social media often become boosters of the MeMe coin craze. A single tweet, a video, or even just an emoticon from them can quickly generate a lot of attention and purchases, significantly impacting M.