Memecoins: A Guide to the Fun and Risky Side of Crypto

The whole ordeal of cryptocurrency can seem pretty complicated and stressful at times, but this doesn’t mean that crypto doesn’t also have a fun side

Cryptocurrency can be a stressful ordeal at times, but there’s also a fun side to it: memecoins. They provide a more casual and accessible entry point into the crypto market, making them a welcome addition to the industry. However, they have also become associated with scams and fraudulent actors over the years. So let’s dig into what memecoins are, how they differ from crypto, and how you can stay safe buying them.

What Is a Memecoin?

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency that is often based on characters from internet memes or pop culture. For example, Dogecoin (DOGE) features the Shiba Inu dog meme as its logo and mascot. Unlike traditional cryptos like Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH), memecoins usually aren’t designed with long-thought-out ideologies or goals in mind during their development. Instead, they are more like casual social experiments, primarily based around community building and getting away from the stresses of trading high-risk tokens on the market. Despite this, memecoins still shouldn’t be written off as one-time fads since there have been several throughout the years that have proven to be successful through community support.

History of Memecoins

In 2013, software engineers Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus created Dogecoin (DOGE), a token with the Shiba Inu dog meme as its logo. The intent behind the creation was to parody the feverish level of hype that Bitcoin had begun generating at the time, with DOGE being a lighthearted form of satire. Much to the developers’ surprise, though, DOGE exploded in popularity thanks to its mainstream appeal, seeing its value rise by almost 300% in just two weeks.

DOGE would keep riding this wave of momentum until its first major copycat, Shiba Inu (SHIB), arrived in 2020 which garnered a large audience thanks to social media promotions and celebrity endorsements. By 2021, memecoins had flooded the market. While some others aside from DOGE and SHIB also saw success, like Akita INU (AKITA) and Kishu INU (KISHU), this is also when many scamcoins began to appear. Thankfully, the Pepe coin (PEPE), based on the Pepe the Frog meme, restored a lot of confidence in memecoins when it dropped in 2023, dedicating itself to community building and participation. However, memecoins today are still viewed with moderate skepticism since there are so many, but only a few will survive in the long term.

How Are Memecoins Different From Other Crypto?

In crypto, cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin usually gets lumped into the ‘altcoin’ category. Yet, memecoins will always be defined as separate entities, but why is that? The truth is that they have a few key differences that make them inherently different in their purpose and design.

Use Cases

When a cryptocurrency is developed, the developers usually have a particular use case in mind. For example, Ripple (XRP) is primarily designed for making overseas payments cheap and fast, while stablecoin Tether (USDC) is pegged to the US dollar and can be used for paying customers in a company.

Memecoins, however, lack a use case. They don’t harbor the lofty ambitions or long-term goals as other crypto assets because they are simply not given as much thought, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. This has made memecoins not only easy to create but also, from an investor standpoint, an accessible alternative where they don’t need to worry too much about complex investment strategies. Instead, it’s all about seeing where the project can go through support and interacting with the community that surrounds it.

Uncapped Token Supply Limit

Another reason memecoins are so accessible is that, unlike most cryptocurrencies, most memecoins don’t come with a maximum supply limit. This results in individual coin prices being lower than their crypto counterparts since there’s an abundance. Think about it: If there’s a collection of only 10 limited edition sports cards, then their rarity will fetch them a lot of value, but if anyone can get one at any time, the price for each card would be much lower. If anything, the more tokens, the better, since memecoins are all about getting as many people involved in their projects as possible to evolve and gain recognition.

Reliance on Hype

By this point, you might wonder, if memecoins have a max token supply and no specific use case, how do they generate value? Memecoins will rise and fall in value depending on the amount of ‘hype’ surrounding them to facilitate supply and demand. ‘Hype can be anything from celebrity endorsements to news headlines or even a meme suddenly reemerging in internet culture. These external influences can also affect other cryptocurrencies, but memecoins entirely rely on them, meaning their prices harbor even more volatility than your average crypto. For example,