3 Meme Coins to Avoid to Protect Your Money

With the increasing popularity from Bitcoin (BTC USD) is currently stabilizing its trading price around the $70,000 mark, many crypto investors

As Bitcoin (BTC-USD) continues to trade around the $70,000 mark, many crypto investors are considering meme coins once again. While they can be a fun and engaging way to get into crypto, they present some of the riskiest opportunities. That’s because meme coins, as the name suggests, are a product of a larger social media trend or running joke designed to quickly extract value from popularity. When the hype eventually dies down, here are some meme coins to avoid to protect your money while getting in late on a dying trend.

Also, many investors who are new to the crypto industry hear the popular phrase “do your own research” and then fall victim to a meme trend. This article aims to warn against trends that seek to exploit a popular internet moment and investor naivety. As a general disclaimer, I do not endorse any of these coins or investing in meme coins in general.

Made popular by its use in the semi-controversial web cartoon “Pepe the Frog,” PEPE Coin (PEPE-USD) is a classic pump-and-dump scheme. Aside from its signature funny symbol, the coin offers no real value to its owners. In fact, from my research, most of the coin's price movement comes from a dedicated group of followers who constantly communicate on 4chan and other social media platforms to generate hype and interest around the coin during upswings in popularity.

Such behavior is not only disingenuous but also dangerous for those who trust what they hear from others in forums and comment threads. I would also personally stay away from PEPE Coin simply because it is just another attempt to recapture the magic that Dogecoin originally brought to the crypto market.

When discussing it, you may hear popular expressions like “the coin of the people” or “a coin of charity.” Floki Inu (FLOKI-USD) is getting attention from mainstream publications like Forbes Advisor, but the reality is that this coin still has no real backing or basis for its value other than the conversations people are having about it. Also, its original formulation as an offshoot of Shiba Inu (SHIB-USD) means that it is a third-generation copy of Dogecoin (DOGE-USD), as Shiba Inu itself is an iteration of the Dogecoin project.

No matter what others say about the coin's potential, its market cap is so small that it doesn't even rank among the top-50 coins available on crypto trading platforms today. The coin had its moment immediately after the Shiba Inu hype as essentially a second wave of a pump-and-dump scheme. Therefore, this is one of the meme coins to avoid no matter what fear of missing out or what an influencer posts online.

It is a pure scam through and through. There is very little information online about its actual purpose or use Jeo Boden (FLOOR USD) coin. Similar to Trump coin (MAGA USD), BODEN simply aims to capitalize on the discussion surrounding the President of the United States.

Moreover, the coin’s stock ticker, BODEN, relies on people searching for the president's last name and accidentally misspelling it by hitting the “O” key instead of the neighboring “I” key. Just from the name alone, we can tell that this coin aims to trick and confuse those who might not be aware of the purpose of meme coins.

The only reason I even mention this coin is because of its popularity in being listed among the top-10 most traded meme coins, which could give crypto investors false hope and a misconception about the coin's value.

On small capitalization and low volume cryptocurrencies: InvestorPlace does not regularly publish commentary on cryptocurrencies whose market capitalization is less than $100 million or whose trading volume is less than $100,000. Because these “penny cryptos” are often a playground for fraudsters and market manipulators. If we publish a comment on a low-volume crypto that may be affected by our comment, we ask InvestorPlace.com writers to disclose this fact and warn readers of the risks.

Read more: How to avoid popular cryptocurrency scams

At the time of publication, Viktor Zarev did not hold, directly or indirectly, any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, subject to those of InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.

Viktor Zarev is a scientist, researcher and author who specializes in explaining the complex world of technology stocks through accuracy and understanding.