What are Meme Coins?
Meme coins can be described as cryptos that are built around jokes. Meme coins most often feature dogs, but some are named after celebrities or politicians and food items. Meme coins, unlike ‘blue chips’ projects, are not about technology or solutions. They are more about humor, community engagement, and fun. They are friendly, funny, and full of humor. Like they said “Crypto is fun, but meme coins are even more fun”
Meme coins have a low entry barrier, both on the investment and technology sides. To create a meme coin, you will need to know a little bit about blockchain and smart contract technology. These characteristics may suggest that meme coins have some value or utility, but they almost all lack unique uses or fundamental value.
Crypto investors will often purchase meme coins as part of a group or for entertainment. Meme coins are purely speculation.
Learn more about other types of crypto: What Is The Crypto? How It Works?
First Meme Coin
Dogecoin is the first known proper meme coin. Jackson Palmer, an ex-Adobe software engineer, was the one who came up with the idea for Dogecoin. He also authored its humorous orientation. Palmer and Billy Markus, an ex-IBM software engineer, developed unique blockchain technology that powers the Dogecoin cryptocurrency. Dogecoin, also known as the original meme coin, was launched in 2013.
Jackson and Billy created dogecoin for fun and friendship. To simplify participation, the technology, mining system, as well as tokenomics, were created to lower the barrier. Dogecoin, unlike other cryptocurrencies, could be mined with very little computing power.
Dogecoin was a significant departure from all other cryptocurrencies in the early days. Its main approach doesn’t differ from decentralized payment systems in general.
Dogecoin gained popularity quickly due to its simple technology and low mining requirements. The Dogecoin community quickly spread throughout the crypto space. It funded many charitable events, including the Jamaican Olympic team’s 2014 Russian winter Olympics campaign. Its steady growth was noticed by mainstream celebrities, who became part of the Dogecoin community and Dogecoin evangelists. Tesla founder Elon Musk is widely believed to have significantly contributed to the growth and heroics of Dogecoin’s 2021 bull run.
Dogecoin began as a joke currency, a fork of Bitcoin, and has since grown to be one of the most popular cryptocurrencies. Its popularity has surpassed the humorous and contextual images and videos found on the internet.
Yeap, Dogecoin’s success led to a flood of attention for meme coins, and their subsequent proliferation.
The crypto space has seen the rise of meme coins. There are over 100 listed mem coins with a market capitalization exceeding $17 billion. Dogecoin is the market leader with a market capitalization exceeding $7.8 billion at the time of writing. It is closely followed by Shiba Inu, the popular meme coin and 2021’s highest-gainer.
Although the meme coin market is vast, there are some notable ones. We take a look at some other meme coins that have gained popularity over the years, including Shiba Inu and Dogecoin.
Most popular meme coins
Dogecoin
Dogecoin (DOGE), is undoubtedly the most well-known meme coin. It is a pioneer in the meme coin industry. Elon Musk has been a constant admirer of the meme coin market. He prefers its economy and technology to bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Dogecoin’s all-time high market capitalization was $80 billion. And now with a market capitalization of over $7 billion, there are more than 132 billion Dogecoins in circulation.
Shiba Inu
Ryoshi founded Shiba Inu in 2020 to compete with Dogecoin. In what appears to have been a marketing stunt, Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, received 50% of Shiba Inu’s supply in July 2020. The founder gave 10% of the Shiba Inu supply he had been allocated to him to India COVID-crypto relief funds and burned the rest.
Although Ryoshi is still an obscure figure, Satoshi Nakamoto has been a popular Shiba Inu breeder since its inception. Shiba Inu token owners are likely to be more than Shiba Inu dog owners. This is due to the Shiba Inu being a popular breed, especially in Japan.
The Shiba Inu token has seen a rise in demand for Shiba Inu puppies. The number of people who want to adopt this beloved pet has increased at pet shops and rescue centers in the United States as well as in other countries.
In October 2021, Shiba Inu reached a $36 billion market capitalization. It was soon listed on the top cryptocurrency trading platforms, despite widespread criticism. This made it a formidable competitor to Dogecoin. It is just like Dogecoin and boasts a vibrant, generous community.
Baby DogeCoin
Baby DogeCoin (BABYDOGE), boasts a deflationary token system and passive income for its holders. It is based on Binance Smart Chain (BSC). Holders are rewarded with a 5% tax for each transfer transaction that involves a BABYDOGE token.
BabyDoge NFT is also a transition to the NFT space for the BabyDoge coin. Project team members have shared plans for mobile payments in development. Mobile payments using
BabyDoge will be possible with the BabyDoge card mobile app. BabyDoge donated funds to animal welfare programs through the community charity program
How do Meme Coins Work?
Meme coins function just like any other cryptocurrency and take full advantage of blockchain technology. They’re most commonly found on blockchains that use smart contract technology like Ethereum or Solana. These blockchains currently have over 200 meme currencies.
It took technical skills to create a meme coin in the past. Nowadays, some apps and websites can do the heavy lifting for you. This is great for accessibility but it also allows scammers to profit from less-savvy investors.
Meme coins can be traded, bought, and sold just like any other cryptocurrency. You can simply visit any crypto exchange and place your order. Buying meme coins is as easy as buying Bitcoin or Ethereum.
Learn more about how to buy crypto currency: A Comprehensive Guide With Examples About How To Buy Crypto Currency
Why are Meme Coins so popular?
Meme-concept coin popularity is increasing, as well as their token count. In the past two years, more than 80% of all the existing meme coins were created. Meme coins are often modified copies of existing ones and are typically formed by a small fraction of the community. More than 70 meme coins are dog-themed. This is a result of Dogecoin’s divergent evolution.
Hype Marketing
A number of cryptocurrency projects have seen hype marketing work well.
A group of people can create excitement and attract potential investors to invest in a project by creating shills. Some of these shills are often associated with prominent cryptocurrency influencers or mainstream celebrities.
Hype marketing can be a powerful tool to push projects to tangible price levels, regardless of their true utility. This organic growth is based on unverified beliefs and excessive utility. Meme coins use this strategy better than most other cryptocurrency projects. A successful shill operation sends the token’s value to “the moon”.
Fear of Missing out (FOMO)
Investors with ambition jump into exciting projects in hopes of making gains, or at the very least not losing out on potential profits. This is why there are constant price jerks in the crypto space. Fear of missing more profits.
Meme coins’ price growth is enhanced by FOMO. As long as the trend continues, price growth will continue. Meme coins have gained many thousands of followers due to the meme culture. They were developed long before any utility was available.
Future of Meme Coins
Many meme coins may not be able to transcend the “pump and dump” reputation they have been given. They are rooted in one thing, ‘communalism. It is interesting, but group marketing can create a lot of hype and put a lot of buy pressure on the project. However, this alone will not be able to sustain value over the long term.
Modern meme coins have a different orientation and are now based on meme culture.
Dogecoin, a flexible, decentralized payment system that is becoming more popular in mainstream retail outlets, is being accepted by many. GameStop and Nordstrom already accept meme coins such as Shiba Inu. And Newegg. AMC and other businesses have also announced plans to accept Dogecoin. Dogecoin developers are working to create a greener mining process that will be more sustainable and reduce carbon emissions.
Meme coin projects go beyond meme boundaries and leverage other lucrative concepts. These interrelated concepts, such as NFTs, GameFi, and Metaverse are being used by meme coin projects. This trend could become even more popular in the future.
It is not clear how these changes will impact the price growth. Meme coins are constantly evolving. The concept has seen many changes over the years, and there will be more.
