Meme Coin

A meme coin (also spelled memecoin) is a cryptocurrency that originated from an internet meme or has some other humorous characteristic.

The term is sometimes used interchangeably with the term shitcoin, which typically refers to a cryptocurrency with little to no value, authenticity, or utility. It may be used in the broadest sense as a critique of the cryptocurrency market in its entirety — those based on particular memes such as Dogecoin, celebrities like Coinye, and pump-and-dump schemes such as BitConnect — or it may be used to make cryptocurrency more accessible.

Unlike traditional cryptocurrencies with defined use cases or technological foundations, meme coins often lack intrinsic value and derive their price primarily from community hype, social media momentum, and celebrity association. Their prices can skyrocket rapidly as new investors, drawn by viral attention or fear of missing out (FOMO), pour in funds. However, this growth is typically unsustainable, as the price depends heavily on a continuous influx of new buyers. When interest wanes or new investment slows, meme coins frequently experience sharp collapses, as there is little fundamental value to support their market capitalization, much like how Ponzi schemes rely on new capital to pay returns to earlier investors.

The term is often used dismissively, comparing the value or performance of those cryptocurrencies to that of mainstream digital assets. Supporters, on the other hand, observe that some memecoins have acquired social currency and high market capitalizations.

History

In late 2013, Dogecoin was released after being created as a joke on the Doge meme by software engineers. This sparked the creation of more meme coins. In October 2021, there were 124 meme coins circulating. Notable examples include Dogecoin and Shiba Inu.

In early 2021, Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission banned meme coins as part of a crackdown on digital goods with "no clear objective or substance". In late 2021, advertisements promoting the meme coin Floki Inu in London led to investigations around promoting the meme coin, considered to be an unregulated financial product by the United Kingdom Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

Meme coins increased in popularity in 2021 and 2022 when Elon Musk endorsed Dogecoin, one of the first meme coins. He posted several tweets about the coin, including saying that Tesla-branded merchandise could be purchased with Dogecoin. Musk was sued by investors who accused him of using Dogecoin as an unregistered security to operate a pyramid scheme.

Meme coins have seen a resurgence following Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 United States presidential election. One such example is Fartcoin, whose valuation briefly surpassed $2 billion. Trump himself launched the meme coin $Trump three days before his second inauguration.

During the memecoin frenzy of early 2025, hackers hijacked verified government X accounts, including those of the Cuban government, former Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad, and Bihar’s Water Resource Department, to promote fraudulent memecoins like "CUBA" and "MALAYSIA" on platforms like Pump.fun. These tokens surged before crashing, with CUBA’s volume dropping from $158.7M to $4.3M and MALAYSIA’s rug pull draining $1.7M. The Catholic News Agency and German President’s Frank-Walter Steinmeier's accounts were also compromised to push similar scams by repurposing them to impersonate various figures promoting tokens.

In February 2025, the President of the Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, announced a national memecoin, $CAR, on his official X account. Soon after its launch, the project's X account was suspended amid questions about its legitimacy and because the announcement video had previously been flagged as a deepfake. Despite continued promotion from Touadéra via his verified X account, the value of $CAR dropped by 95% on February 11—just one day after trading began.

On 15 April 2025 hackers compromised UK Government Minister Lucy Powell's verified X account to promote a fraudulent "House of Commons" cryptocurrency ($HCC), using deleted posts with the House of Commons logo to tout it as a "community-driven digital currency."

Reception

Commentators have compared meme coins with the speculative frenzy and collapse of the NFT market in 2022. American investor David Einhorn stated that, "We have reached the ‘Fartcoin’ stage of the market cycle ... Other than trading and speculation, it serves no other obvious purpose and fulfills no need that is not served elsewhere."

In January 2025, three US asset managers set out to launch exchange-traded funds investing in meme coins linked to Trump and Musk, which the ''Financial Times'' describes as "casino-like speculation". In February, more than 700 different copycat and spam coins were sent to Trump's digital wallet by people apparently seeking to falsely suggest they had his endorsement.

Notable meme coins

This list includes meme coins that have received significant amounts of media coverage:

* Dogecoin – A cryptocurrency created in 2014 that has been touted by Elon Musk since 2021. It has reached a market cap of $62 billion and become one of the top 10 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. Musk's tweets include "Dogecoin is the people's crypto", "No highs, no low, only Doge", and "One Word: Doge", and were associated with an increase in trading volume and value of the coin. In November 2024, Trump announced that Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy would lead a new Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE for short.
* PNUT – refers to Peanut, an orphaned squirrel that was put down by New York authorities. Reached a circulating value of $1.2bn.
* PEPE, referencing a comic frog character Pepe the Frog ($8.2bn).
* BONK, a cartoon dog made after the collapse of exchange FTX ($3bn).
* $HAWK – Released by Haliey Welch in December 2024, an American woman who became viral online for the " hawk tuah" meme, and reached a peak of $490 million before plummeting to $25 million. She was accused of promoting a pump-and-dump, and engaging in a rug pull scheme and insider trading.
* $Fartcoin ($2.5bn).
* $Trump – Publicly announced on Trump's X and Truth Social accounts three days before his second presidential inauguration. A day later, the market cap reached $27 billion, with Trump companies' holdings at $20 billion. While some very early traders in the memecoin had large gains, as of early February 2025, other investors cumulatively lost $2 billion after the token's price crashed.
* $Melania – On January 19, 2025, Trump's wife Melania launched her own meme coin, $Melania. By February 6, the coin had lost 90% of its value.
* $CAR – Announced on February 10, 2025 by the Central African Republic's president, Faustin-Archange Touadera, as the country's official meme coin and an "experiment" in national development.
* $LIBRA – Promoted by the president of Argentina Javier Milei on February 14, 2025, $LIBRA is considered by specialists a meme coin. Milei stated in a tweet that its purpose was to "incentivize the growth of the Argentine economy, funding small companies and Argentine ventures". The coin's value increased significantly after his endorsement but subsequently declined sharply. This post generated political controversy and led to an investigation into potential legal violations.

See also

* Meme stock
* Rug-pull scheme
*Pump and dump scheme
* Pump.fun - Popular Solana token creation platform where many memecoins originate

References

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Cryptocurrencies