introduce
Meme coins have become a unique and increasingly influential category in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Unlike traditional cryptocurrencies, which are often driven by technological innovation and financial applications, memecoins are primarily valued by online culture, humor, and community engagement. Often inspired by viral memes, web trends or popular figures, these coins appeal to crypto enthusiasts and novice users alike, offering them a convenient and entertaining way into the world of digital assets. This article will explore the rise of memes, their impact on the cryptocurrency market, and the factors contributing to their popularity. From dog-themed coins like $DOGE to politically charged ones like $PNUT, we'll analyze how memes are reshaping the way people interact with cryptocurrencies, while also examining the challenges and risks that come with investing in these speculative assets.
What is Memecoin
Memecoins are a distinct category of cryptocurrencies that derive their identity from Internet memes - these humorous or viral images that are often accompanied by witty titles. Unlike traditional cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum, which are designed with technical utility and financial goals in mind, the primary focus of memecoins is community engagement, entertainment, and online culture. Their value is driven primarily by the activity and strength of the community, rather than any underlying technological innovation or financial application.
There is a wide range of meme-coin themes, with the most popular including dog-themed coins such as DOGE, WIF, SHIB, and NEIRO. Other common categories include animal-inspired coins (such as cat or penguin themed ones) and coins based on the "Pepe the Frog" meme. In addition, there are coins associated with political figures, celebrities, and online subcultures such as WallStreetBets and The Boy's Club. More recently, the rise of AI and short video content has further boosted the popularity of memecoins inspired by AI agents and viral video culture.
The defining characteristic of memecoins is their community-driven nature. These currencies often use humor and viral content to build brand and identity. As communities engage with memes through social media, creative content, and promotions, the value of these currencies tends to rise. Due to its low barriers to entry and simple and straightforward concept, memecoin is particularly appealing to cryptocurrency novices or those looking for fun, speculation.
To raise awareness and attract new investors, memecoins often employ bold marketing tactics, such as placing prominent billboards or organizing high-profile events, such as lighting up famous landmarks. The popular meme Dogwifhat, for example, is raising money for an ambitious campaign and plans to light up the Las Vegas Dome.
Despite its lighthearted nature, memecoin has become an important segment of the cryptocurrency market, with a combined market cap of more than $121 billion and a market share of 3.62%. In the following sections, we will look at some of the most iconic memecoins.
Animal memes: $DOGE
In December 2013, software engineers Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus created Dogecoin as a satirical response to the speculative frenzy surrounding cryptocurrencies at the time. Taking inspiration from the popular Doge meme, they chose its image as their logo and named the cryptocurrency Dogecoin.
Dogecoin's market cap exploded to $8 million in just two weeks after its launch, briefly positioning it as the seventh largest cryptocurrency in the world. The token quickly gathered a loyal online community and built a solid fan base. During the cryptocurrency bull market of 2017-2018, Dogecoin broke the $1 billion market cap for the first time.
Elon Musk has been a central figure in driving Dogecoin's popularity. Musk first expressed interest in the token in 2018, and his subsequent tweets and public support significantly boosted its price, giving Dogecoin a foothold in the cryptocurrency market. In 2021, Musk called himself the "Dogefather," and Dogecoin's market value reached nearly $100 billion. However, in 2023, Musk faced allegations of insider trading involving Dogecoin and was blamed for its actions leading to significant losses for investors.
The acronym "DOGE" gained renewed attention in 2024, when President-elect Donald Trump used the term to refer to the "Department of Government efficiency" he planned to create and was expected to be headed by Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. This put the word "DOGE" back in the spotlight, and with it came a rebound in Dogecoin's market value, which reached about $60 billion.
Animal memes: $PEPE
Pepe the Frog is a popular Internet meme created by American cartoonist Matt Furie in 2005. The character first appeared in Furie's comic Boy's Club, which follows the challenges of growing up with a group of friends. Pepe, a green humanoid frog, was originally one of several characters in the comic, but quickly developed into a prominent Internet icon.
Pepe's rise as a meme began in 2008, when it began gaining traction on various Online platforms, including Myspace, Gaia Online, and 4chan. By 2015, Pepe had become one of the most common memes, especially on platforms like 4chan and Tumblr. Over time, a variety of different versions of Pepe have emerged, including "Sad Frog" and others. In addition, starting in 2014, the concept of "rare Pepe" emerged, and digitized Pepe images began to be traded as part of an online "meme marketplace," similar to trading cards.
Initially, Pepe was a neutral, apolitical character. However, from 2015 to 2016, it was borrowed by certain extremist groups, particularly far-right movements, and associated with controversial political messages. Despite this, Pepe has maintained its diversity and widespread use on social media platforms such as 4chan, Twitch, Reddit, and Discord, and users often customize the character into various emoji and meme formats. This enduring popularity has made Pepe an important and growing symbol in Internet culture.
$PEPE, launched in mid-April 2023, is a meme coin based on the Ethereum blockchain. Created as a tribute to the popular "PEPE the Frog" meme, the token has no formal team or roadmap, and the creators remain anonymous. The coin did not follow typical issuance methods such as an ICO or airdrop, instead relying on the popularity of the meme to attract investors. $PEPE uses a deflationary mechanism in which a small number of tokens are destroyed for each transaction by burning LPS and giving up ownership of contracts. This process reduces the total supply over time, thus promoting scarcity, and may increase the value of the remaining tokens as the supply decreases.
In 2024, the price of $PEPE skyrocketed 20-fold, and the current market cap is about $8.5 billion, and it ranks 19th in the market.
Political meme: $PNUT
$PNUT is a meme coin inspired by the online red squirrel Peanut. Peanut, an Oriental gray squirrel, was found and rescued by Mark Longo in New York City in 2017 after his mother was killed in a car crash. Longo breastfed Peanut for eight months and tried to release him into the wild. However, Peanut returns with half of his tail bitten off and lives with Longo. Longo created an Instagram account for Peanut, and the account gained a lot of attention, with more than 910,000 followers by November 2024.
Unfortunately, on October 30, 2024, Peanut was seized by the New York State Department of Environmental Protection (NYSDEC) after an investigation revealed that he had bitten a worker. Peanut was put to sleep after being tested for rabies. His death sparked widespread outrage on social media, drew condemnation from lawmakers and prompted the introduction of a bill aimed at preventing similar incidents.
With the 2024 U.S. election in high focus, Peanut has unexpectedly become the focus of political debate. Supporters of figures like Donald Trump and Elon Musk have thrown their support behind the Peanut Justice campaign and criticized the government's action as an abuse of power. A petition titled "Justice for Peanut Squirrels and NYSDEC Reform" quickly gained significant support and had raised about $200,000 by November 13, 2024.
the emotional response to the Peanut story gave birth to a meme-coin based on the Solana chain, Peanut the Squirrel ($PNUT). After Binance went public and gained the attention of figures such as Elon Musk, $PNUT skyrocketed, reaching a peak market cap of $2.5 billion within just two weeks of going public. Currently, $PNUT has a market capitalization of about $1.1 billion.
AI memes: $GOAT
Truth Terminal is a semi-automated AI robot developed by Andy Ayrey as part of an experimental project called MemeEngineering. Originally designed to interact with online culture and generate independent content, the bot was fine-tuned by OPUS's Large Language Model (LLM) and trained on data from platforms such as Reddit and 4chan. The aim is to promote discussion about AI-generated belief systems, incorporating content from online subcultures that are often described as "depraved" or "delusional."
As the Truth Terminal continued to interact with the community, it began to generate what it called the "Gospel of Goatse," a mix of religious concepts such as Buddhism and Gnosticism, presented ina memeized and irreverent tone. The sometimes erratic and vulgar exchanges have drawn widespread attention from niche online communities, especially on platforms like Twitter. After an anonymous developer observed Truth Terminal's activity on social media, the $GOAT token was launched on Pump.fun and named "Goatseus Maximus" in homage to the Goatse meme-related legend. The Truth Terminal Twitter account was also tagged, prompting the bot to comment and promote the coin. Although Truth Terminal did not create the token, its endorsement through the tweet significantly increased $GOAT's visibility, sparking more interest and trading activity. These interactions also sparked a rumor that $GOAT was automatically created by AI, further fueling market speculation and fueling an investment boom.
A key moment in $GOAT's story occurred when Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), noticed Truth Terminal's unique activity. He saw the potential of the project and gave the AI a Bitcoin sponsorship worth $50,000 to support its development. The investment has contributed significantly to $GOAT's rapid growth. At one point, $GOAT's market cap reached $1.2 billion, making it the first AI meme token to surpass $1 billion in market cap.
Truth Terminal's involvement in the $GOAT story sets a precedent for the role of AI in the future of digital assets and the speculative financial ecosystem. Currently, $GOAT has a market capitalization of about $838 million.
AI memes: $ACT
Act I: The AI Prophecy Project (Act I) is an open source, decentralized platform designed to facilitate innovative interactions between AI systems and human users. The project aims to create an "ecosystem" where various AI technologies powered by the native token $ACT can collaborate to generate new forms of AI-driven interaction. Act I wants to push the boundaries of AI in the field, especially in the field of AI chatbots, by facilitating collaboration between different AI modes, such as text and image generation, to advance algorithms.
Originally co-founded by AmplifiedAmp (Amp), Act I's purpose is to promote a decentralized, community-driven ecosystem. The $ACT token was introduced as a funding mechanism, with 6% of the total supply allocated to Amp. However, as the project grew, Amp began selling $ACT tokens and eventually liquidated the entire quota. Amp's abrupt exit left many community members feeling disillusioned and betrayed.
Nevertheless, Amp's exit served as a catalyst for the community to take control of the $ACT project. Act I's focus shifted to rebuilding the platform as a truly decentralized AI community with a mission to spread AI knowledge and make AI accessible and understandable to more people. Through community-driven initiatives, resources, and educational content, $ACT works to lower the barriers to understanding AI, promote ethical discussion about AI, and support research and development in the field.
The $ACT token experienced significant growth following its listing on Binance on November 11, 2024. Within an hour of the listing announcement, the market value jumped tenfold, quickly reaching $300m, and has since peaked at $950m. Currently, $ACT has a market capitalization of about $490 million.
Art meme: $BAN
In 2019, Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan's installation Comedian garnered a lot of attention in the art world. The piece, which showed a banana taped to a wall, sparked widespread controversy over its artistic value. Despite the seeming simplicity of the work on the surface, it has sparked intense discussion among artists, critics, and the public, questioning whether this can really be considered art or merely a humorous visual presentation. The controversy ended with the work being sold at Sotheby's for a whopping $120,000.
Comedian made headlines again in October 2024, when Sotheby's announced that the work would be offered at its upcoming New York landmark auction. The news quickly caught the attention of the art world and the cryptocurrency community. Sotheby's Vice president Michael Bouhanna anonymously released a meme inspired by the artwork called $BAN. In just two days, the market value of $BAN exploded to $60 million.
As Bouhanna's identity as the founder of $BAN became public, rumors of insider trading and market manipulation began to swirl. In response, Bouhanna denied the allegations on X (formerly Twitter) and assuage public concerns by destroying 3.7 percent of the total supply of $BAN. The action sparked a brief rally, with the price of the $BAN rising more than 80 percent.
The $BAN continues to gain momentum, especially on November 18, 2024, when Binance Futures announced the launch of the $BANUSDT perpetual contract, offering up to 75x leverage trading. After the announcement, the speculative focus of the market intensified, pushing the price of $BAN to a record high of $0.5361, and the market value reached $536 million.
On November 21, 2024, TRON founder and HTX owner Justin Sun made headlines when he bought Maurizio Cattelan's controversial Comedian for $6.2 million and ate it. However, the speculative excitement surrounding the $BAN meme soon began to fade. By November 29, 2024, the market cap of $BAN had dropped significantly to $134 million, indicating a change in investor sentiment and a possible saturation of the narrative surrounding the coin.
Pop culture meme: $CHILLGUY
"Chill Guy", also known as "My New Character", is a digital artwork and Internet meme created by artist Phillip Banks. The image shows an anthropomorphic dog wearing a grey sweater, blue jeans and red sneakers, with a relaxed expression and hands in his pockets. The artwork was originally posted on Twitter on October 4, 2023, and garnered some attention at the time, but it quickly went viral in August 2024 when a TikTok user clipped it with other popular memes. Its widespread popularity stems from its close to the heart of the "relaxed" attitude, advocating a stress-free, casual lifestyle.
The meme quickly gained traction on social media and attracted the favor of major brands, including AMC movie Theaters and the Atlanta Hawks, who included it in their promotional campaigns. The character, often paired with "Unchill Gal," has inspired a fan-driven movement that has spawned widespread Cosplay, fan art, and memes on platforms like TikTok.
In November 2024, the meme hit another high point with the creation of $CHILLGUY, a Solana blockchain-based meme coin. By November 29, 2024, $CHILLGUY had a market capitalization of about $700 million, thanks in part to viral tweets from high-profile figures like El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele. Despite the commercial success of the meme, Banks did not endorse the coin or its commercial use and initiated legal action against the unauthorized goods and tokens to be taken down in order to protect their intellectual property rights. However, $CHILLGUY remains one of the most popular and widely known memes in the current digital space.
The rise of the meme supercycle
According to Artemis' index benchmark, the meme sector has seen a growth rate of 273.8% since the beginning of 2024, making it one of the fastest growing asset classes in this market cycle. The meme trend has also attracted a large number of new entrants to the cryptocurrency market. According to Google Trends, meme-related searches surged nearly a hundredfold in 2024. In addition, the Solana wallet Phantom is ranked 48th in the Apple App Store, surpassing Coinbase at 55th. There is no doubting the popularity of meme.
The popularity of memes can be well explained by cryptocurrency analyst Murad Mahmudov's "meme supercycle" theory. He believes the memecoin market is in its early stages and has the potential to surpass a $1 trillion market cap. The so-called "meme supercycle" is a significant and ongoing trend in the cryptocurrency market, driven by a combination of internal and external factors that highlight the unique appeal of memoins and their growing dominance.
In terms of internal factors, one of the main driving forces is lack of innovation and overproduction of tokens. Unlike previous cycles, this rally was not triggered by explicit innovation, but rather by Bitcoin ETFs and institutional adoption. There is no single disruptive development, only signs of optimism and a maturing infrastructure.
At the same time, the number of assets in the cryptocurrency space is growing, making it more difficult for the overall industry to grow. In 2024 alone, more than 600,000 new tokens will be listed before April, with more than 5,000 new tokens entering the market every day. Centralized exchanges often list these altcoins at high valuations, resulting in exit liquidity for retail investors who are already profited private round participants. Compounding this problem is the lack of real value behind most altcoins, with 99% of tokens relying more on speculation than actual revenue generation. Binance's research shows that $155 billion of tokens will be unlocked in the next five years, which poses a significant challenge for these tokens. Memes, however, are different in that they are usually fully negotiable and do not face the burden of unlocking in the future. Their potential is proving to be another internal factor driving supercycles.
In terms of external factors, global challenges such as inflation, rising costs, AI-driven job threats, and wealth inequality have made alternative investments like memecoins even more attractive. Social factors such as loneliness, mental health issues, and declining trust in traditional institutions have further driven interest in memes. The success stories of large gains have also inspired strong market momentum, attracting investors' continued attention to memecoins.
In addition, meme infrastructure like Pump.fun and Telegram trading bots lower the barrier to entry for memes. Pump.fun is a Solana-based marketplace that allows users to easily create and trade memes. It uses a combined curve pricing model to ensure a level trading environment. The platform has already gained widespread traction, with more than 3.85 million memes created and deployed as of November 2024 (about 70% of daily token offerings on Solana) and generating more than $227 million in revenue. The platform has a simple meme-coin creation feature (low fee around 0.02 SOL), low fees, and includes safeguards against market manipulation. Many famous memes, such as $ACT, $PNUT, and $MOODENG, were created by Pump.fun.
Telegram trading bots have also facilitated the trading of memes. These bots significantly increase the speed of transactions, allowing users to perform exchanges much faster than manual DEX connections, which is especially important in the highly volatile memecoin market, where quick action can bring substantial gains. Telegram's popular and community-driven environment supports these bots, making them easy to use and widely adopted. In addition, various features, such as BONKbot's "buy and destroy" mechanism, Trojan's copy trading, Shuriken's multi-chain support, and Sonic Sniper BOT's real coin data, satisfy a variety of trading needs, enhancing their appeal to a broad user base.
The significance of memecoins goes beyond market performance. They are seen as a backlash against overvalued crypto tokens and embody the spirit of the 2017 ICO wave. Retail investors are particularly attracted to memes because of their ability to combine financial opportunities with entertainment, identity, and community elements. Memes are more than just tokens, they represent a tokenized community symbolized by memes, emphasizing people and culture over technology.
Choose your memecoin
Centralized exchange currency effect
on September 16, Binance officially announced that it "will be launching First Neiro on Ethereum ($NEIRO), Turbo ($TURBO) and Baby Doge Coin ($1MBABYDOGE) with new seed tags." The market value of $NEIRO rose rapidly in just a few hours, from $20 million to more than $120 million. After Binance's announcement, $NEIRO's market value reached $1.25 billion, an increase of about 80 times.
Coincidentally, on November 11, Binance announced the launch of spot trading of $ACT and $PNUT, which was followed by a 250% increase in $PNUT in one day and a 2,000% increase in $ACT ina matter of hours, with the market cap soaring from $20 million to $300 million.
In fact, Binance accounts for about 50% of CEX trading volume. When a Meme coin is listed on Binance, it means that the secondary market will have enormous liquidity. From a statistical point of view, the market value of Meme coins on Binance is usually greater than $500 million. Those memes that have announced that they will be listed on Binance and have a market cap of less than $500 million are worth watching. Binance meme time and market cap growth in 2024:
In fact, the coin effect also exists on CEX such as Upbit and Bybit. Memes with good token distribution, reasonable market capitalization, strong community consensus, and unique narratives are more likely to be added.
Integer psychological disorder effect
Since most memes lack actual underlying value, the integer psychological barrier effect exists for most memes. For example, Pump.fun has 1 billion tokens in circulation, so reaching a market cap of $1 billion is the upper limit for the vast majority of Meme coins. Doge had reached a $0.74 price in 2021, with a market cap of $98.47 billion at the time, but was capped by a $100 billion market cap. Investors can refer to this effect to judge the upside potential of the Meme coin.
Public chain capital multiplier effect
Choose public chains with high TVL (total lock-up value) and high popularity. A rise in the price of tokens in a public chain will attract funds into the chain. Memes with higher market capitalization can only be created when TVL grows. Token price growth and ecological activity in public chains such as Solana, Base, and Sui have led to the creation of many memes, and their value has increased hundreds of times. Since August 2024, the price of Sui's token has tripled and TVL has more than tripled. Various water-related memes are popping up, including $SUDENG, which has a market capitalization of more than $200 million.
Take meme market cap/public chain TVL as a reference. Solana, Sui and Base had rates of 181.4%, 25.5% and 93.2%, respectively. The higher the ratio, the higher the meme popularity of the corresponding blockchain, and the greater the probability of the emergence of a high-market meme coin.
Based on this theory, Messari proposed a high-return meme-investing approach: when the token of the public chain rises, buy the corresponding meme; When the meme goes down, convert it into cash. This investment strategy, which started in January 2021, achieved a return of 13,000% over a three-year period.
Analyze the origin and purpose of the project
It is crucial to understand the basic purpose of launching the memecoin. Some projects are intended as satire or as a reflection of contemporary social or political phenomena, with the aim of building a community of positive interaction. Projects that have a clear and easily understood purpose tend to have a more promising foundation, as their appeal often resonates at a deeper level with the audience.
Assess community engagement and ecosystems
Assessing the activity and engagement of the project community on major social media platforms such as Twitter, Reddit, and Telegram is a must. This includes looking at metrics such as the number of active members, frequency of discussions, and overall engagement. A strong and active community not only drives the exposure of a project, but also promotes its growth and sustainability. It is also important to track whether the community is partnering with prestigious projects, brands or influencers, as such partnerships can enhance the project's credibility and market positioning.
Monitor price performance and technical analysis
Analyzing the historical price trends of memes can provide insight into their market acceptance and investor sentiment. A token that shows steady volatility and resists sharp declines may indicate growing market acceptance and stability. In contrast, a token with a volatile price may indicate speculation. In addition, tracking the popularity of the coin, through search volume trends and market rankings, helps gauge broader market interest and the long-term potential of the project.
Use intelligent monitoring and trading robots
There are many bots that can help investors invest in Meme coins. GMGN.ai, for example, is a platform designed for traders to analyze and track Meme tokens with greater speed and efficiency. It provides real-time transaction signals by observing fund flows and token activity at smart wallet addresses, covering multiple blockchain networks like Ethereum, Solana, and Blast. It also offers on-chain sniping tools, cross-chain exchange, smart money tracking, and technical analysis integration.
Indirect investment
In addition, investing in decentralized exchanges (DEX) with active Meme trading, such as Solana's Raydium and Base's Aerodrome, is also a good choice.
The risks of investing memes
Despite the significant appeal of memecoin, it also comes with considerable risks:
High volatility and low liquidity: Prices can spike or crash quickly, leading to significant losses. Most memes have low trading volumes and poor liquidity.
Pull-out risk: Developer withdrawal liquidity remains an issue, highlighting the need for adequate research on projects.
Money laundering transactions Risk: Money laundering transactions occur when investors (usually the same person or group of people) buy and sell the same assets at the same time to create the illusion of active trading. Here are the key points to recognize the signs of money laundering transactions:
The transaction volume of Meme coins suddenly increased dramatically, but without the impetus of major news, technical updates, or community events, and there was no reasonable continuity thereafter.
Prices move rapidly and irregularly over a short period of time (e.g., within minutes or hours) and are not based on normal supply and demand in the market.
If the size and frequency of the orders are similar and alternate, as if it is a stylized operation, this may be a sign of money laundering transactions.
If multiple wallet addresses are found to be highly correlated, such as transferring funds frequently in a short period of time, or their transaction behavior is highly similar (such as buying and selling the same amount of Meme coins at the same time), a money laundering transaction may occur.
Content and Platform Abuse: Pump.fun's live streaming feature has been used to post objective content, leading to the deactivation of the feature and raising ethical concerns about NSFW (unsuitable for work environments) and exploitation issues.
Regulatory challenges: Lack of age verification and speculation can violate regulatory norms and encourage unhealthy gambling behavior.
Memes have an extremely low survival rate; according to Pump.fun, the probability of a meme reaching a $10 million market cap is only 1 in 100,000, and only 3% of users make more than $1,000. Be sure to do your own research (DYOR) before investing in memecoins.
conclusion
Memes have proven that they are more than just a passing fad in the cryptocurrency market. They represent a unique intersection of Internet culture, financial speculation, and community-driven engagement, providing entertainment and investment opportunities. As the meme space continues to grow, driven by AI's popularity, social media virality, and bold marketing strategies, memecoin has attracted the attention of retail investors, the media, and even large financial institutions. However, their success is not without risks, including high volatility, speculation and regulatory uncertainty. Investors must carefully consider market sentiment, project context, and community engagement before investing in memecoin. As the meme supercycle continues to develop, it will be worth watching to see if memecoin can maintain its momentum or if the market shifts to something more fundamentally supported. Whatever their future, memes have undeniably taken their place in the cryptocurrency space and reshaped the way digital assets are perceived and traded.