Memecoin: From Internet Culture to Digital Asset Transformation, The Complete Investor's Guide

Core Concepts: What Makes Memecoin an Outlier in the Crypto Market

Memecoin is not a traditional digital asset. These tokens originate from internet culture, online humor, or social trends, and unlike Bitcoin and Ethereum—whose focus is on solving technical problems—memecoin’s value comes from community recognition, viral spread, and speculative enthusiasm.

In simple terms, memecoin has the following characteristics:

Culture-Driven, Not Tech-Driven: They embody internet memes, transforming social media hype into digital assets. From the birth of Dogecoin in 2013 to political figures’ involvement in issuance in 2024-2025, memecoin has become a bridge connecting online culture and financial markets.

Community Equals Value: Without technical breakthroughs or complex business models—memecoin relies entirely on community enthusiasm. Strong community engagement, shared identity, and collective belief support the market capitalization of these assets.

Liquidity and Tradability: Although practical applications are limited, memecoin exists as tradable assets on major exchanges, allowing quick buying, selling, and price discovery.

Extreme Volatility: Since they are entirely based on speculative expectations, memecoin prices often fluctuate more than other cryptocurrencies, with daily surges and crashes being common.

It’s worth noting that “memecoin” is sometimes used interchangeably with “shitcoin,” but they are not exactly the same. Some memecoins have accumulated significant social currency and market recognition, demonstrating their influence within the crypto ecosystem.

From Joke to Asset: The Evolution of Memecoin

Founding Father: The Unexpected Success of Dogecoin (2013-2021)

Dogecoin started as a developer’s joke—based on the internet meme “Doge.” But unexpectedly, it gained a loyal following. By 2021, frequent mentions by Elon Musk propelled Dogecoin into mainstream attention. His tweets—“Dogecoin is the people’s crypto,” “Only Doge,” “No high, no low, only Doge”—sparked trading frenzy, pushing Dogecoin’s market cap to $62 billion, ranking among the top ten cryptocurrencies worldwide.

First Wave of Regulatory Impact (2021)

The rapid growth of memecoin did not escape regulatory scrutiny. Thailand’s SEC took the lead, banning digital assets deemed “unclear targets and insufficient substance.” The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority also launched an investigation into Floki Inu’s advertising, classifying it as an unregulated financial product. This marked a shift from observation to intervention by regulators.

Political Figures Involvement (2024-2025): From Margins to Focus

The real turning point for memecoin came after the 2024 US elections. Trump launched $Trump memecoin three days before inauguration; its market cap surpassed $27 billion on the second day, with associated company assets reaching $20 billion. But subsequent crashes caused some investors to lose $2 billion.

This event shattered the assumption that “politicians don’t involve in memecoin.” Melania Trump later launched $Melania, which had fallen 90% by early February. Central African Republic’s President Faustin-Archange Touadéra announced $CAR as the national memecoin, which plummeted 95% within a day of trading start. Argentine President Javier Milei promoted $LIBRA in February, claiming it would serve national economic development.

These incidents show that memecoin has evolved from a fringe cultural phenomenon into an asset class with geopolitical significance.

Memecoin Mechanisms: Simple but Critical Underlying Logic

Blockchain Infrastructure

Memecoin relies on existing blockchain networks. Creators choose a mature public chain (like Solana, Ethereum, or Base), deploy token contracts on it, and then begin circulation. This is entirely different from building an independent network from scratch like Bitcoin.

In 2024, Solana and Base became the platforms with the most memecoin creations. Solana’s low transaction fees (usually under $0.01) and fast block confirmation times make it especially suitable for quick trades and community participation. Base is popular due to its tight integration with the Coinbase ecosystem.

Democratization of Token Creation

Using automation tools like Pump.fun, anyone can create a memecoin in minutes without coding knowledge. Data from CoinGecko shows that from January 2024 to January 2025, Pump.fun launched 5.3 million memecoins, averaging about 15,229 new tokens daily. This has created a highly saturated market.

Trading and Liquidity

Although memecoin trading volume is concentrated, its overall scale is not negligible. Early 2025, daily trading volume exceeded $6 billion. This indicates that despite most new tokens eventually becoming worthless, overall market enthusiasm remains high.

Market Landscape: The Most Noteworthy Memecoins Today

Dogecoin (DOGE): The pioneer and peak. As the first memecoin, Dogecoin’s market cap once hit $62 billion and remains among the top ten cryptocurrencies globally. Its vitality stems from ongoing community support and intermittent boosts from Elon Musk.

Shiba Inu (SHIB): Launched in 2020, claiming to be “Dogecoin killer.” Built on Ethereum, supporting smart contracts and DeFi, giving it more technical flexibility than DOGE.

Pepe (PEPE): Reintroduced in 2023, referencing the classic internet meme “Pepe the Frog.” PEPE quickly gained recognition, with a circulating market cap of $8.2 billion, becoming a “new star” in memecoin.

Political Memecoin Cluster: $Trump peaked at $27 billion, $Melania’s peak is unknown, $CAR crashed 95%, $LIBRA’s future is uncertain—these memecoins issued by political figures demonstrate extreme market speculation and risk.

Bonk (BONK): A memecoin within the Solana ecosystem, with a market cap of $3 billion. Its relative success is attributed to support from the Solana community and ecosystem integrations.

Other Notable Coins: $HAWK (founder faces fraud allegations), $CHILLGUY (based on “Just a chill guy” meme), and many new projects emerge, but most eventually disappear.

Investing in Memecoin: Opportunities and Risks

Reasons Attracting Investors

Potential for exponential returns: A few memecoins have achieved 100x or even 1000x growth in a very short period—something traditional assets cannot offer. But this also entails higher risks.

Low entry barrier: Compared to Bitcoin or Ethereum’s high prices, memecoin often costs very little per token, allowing small capital participation.

Community belonging: Joining memecoin communities offers identity, knowledge exchange, and network building—something traditional investments lack.

Learning platform: Beginners can familiarize themselves with blockchain basics, market mechanisms, and risk management through memecoin trading, with relatively low costs.

Short-term trading opportunities: For active traders, memecoin’s high volatility provides arbitrage opportunities.

Risks Not to Be Ignored

Extreme volatility: $CAR dropped 95% in one day, $Melania fell 90% in two weeks—these are not anomalies but normal for memecoin. Such volatility can shatter long-term plans.

Fraud and exit scams: Rug pulls, pump-and-dump schemes, false advertising flood the memecoin market. $HAWK’s founder faces charges related to such activities. Many projects vanish after hype, leaving investors with losses.

Lack of utility: Most memecoins lack real use cases. They cannot pay bills, participate in DeFi, or govern protocols—purely speculative tools.

Liquidity traps: Small memecoins often suffer from low trading volume, making it hard to sell large holdings without significant price impact.

Regulatory uncertainty: Although in February 2025 the US SEC stated typical memecoin does not constitute a security, this does not apply to projects disguising as memecoin to evade regulation. Regulatory attitudes worldwide are still evolving (Thailand has banned outright).

Conclusion: If you enjoy frequent small trades and can tolerate total loss of assets, memecoin might be worth allocating. But it should never be the core of your long-term financial plan.

Creating Your Own Memecoin: The Technical Barriers Are Much Lower Than You Think

Five-Minute Quick Start Guide

No need to learn Solidity or Rust—creating memecoin has become fully democratized:

1. Choose a blockchain platform (Solana costs the least, Ethereum is most well-known)
2. Prepare a wallet and a small amount of crypto for deployment fees
3. Access memecoin generation tools (like Pump.fun)
4. Enter token name, symbol, total supply, decimal places
5. Upload logo image and project description
6. Pay deployment fee (usually under $1-2)
7. Token is generated instantly, ready for community promotion

Keys to Success in Practice

Easy to create, hard to succeed. Some projects gain attention because of:

• Core idea based on creativity/meme: Pepe’s success due to deep internet culture, $CHILLGUY’s due to simple visual aesthetics and emotional resonance
• Initial community building: Enthusiasm of the first 100-1000 holders determines whether the token can break initial inertia
• Ongoing marketing: Active channels like Discord, Twitter, TikTok sustain project hype
• Transparency: Avoid rug pulls, publish roadmaps, update communities regularly—these basics are surprisingly rare

Legal Considerations

According to the latest SEC statements, typical memecoin trading does not constitute securities transactions. But creators should remain cautious:

• Fraudulent activities may trigger federal enforcement
• Certain jurisdictions impose specific restrictions on digital assets
• Insider trading, market manipulation, and similar behaviors remain illegal

How to Buy Memecoin: Practical Guide

Choosing the Right Platform

Major exchanges like [Exchange A], [Exchange B], support popular memecoins. Smaller or newly launched tokens may only be available on decentralized exchanges (Uniswap, PancakeSwap).

Purchase Methods Comparison

Credit Card Purchase: Most direct but highest fees, suitable for beginners
Fiat on-ramp + Crypto Trading: Lower costs, slightly more complex, for experienced traders
P2P Trading: Flexible prices but requires caution regarding counterpart trustworthiness
Bank Transfer: Longest time but lowest cost

Order Types

• Market Order: Executes immediately but price is uncertain
• Limit Order: Price-controlled but may not fill
• Stop-Loss Order: Defensive tool, triggers at set price
• OCO (One Cancels Other): Set stop-loss and take-profit simultaneously; one executes, the other cancels

Safety Tips

Before and after purchase, beware of:

• Using strong passwords + two-factor authentication
• Moving large holdings to cold wallets (offline storage)
• Research project background thoroughly, assess founders and community quality
• Only invest what you can afford to lose entirely

The Future of Memecoin: Towards Institutionalization or Bubble Burst

Three Main Directions

Celebrity Effect Continues: Cases like Trump, Melania, Hailey Welch show politicians and influencers issuing memecoin may persist, attracting more speculative capital but increasing crash risks.

Government Experiments: Central African Republic and Argentina’s official memecoin attempts suggest governments might explore digital economy via memecoin. This could boost perceived legitimacy but no successful cases so far.

Institutional Investment Entry: Early 2025, US asset managers plan to launch memecoin ETFs, mocked by the Financial Times as “casino-style speculation.” Institutional involvement could bring liquidity but also more retail investors.

Regulatory Outlook

USA: SEC states typical memecoin is not a security but continues monitoring false advertising and manipulation.

Global: Thailand bans, UK investigates, indicating diverse national attitudes. Future may see more regional restrictions.

New Framework Possibility: As markets mature, regulators might introduce lightweight frameworks specifically for memecoin, balancing innovation and fraud prevention.

Technology and Application Outlook

Some projects have attempted to give memecoin real utility—Bonk’s NFT integration in Solana ecosystem, certain tokens’ DeFi lending features. But most still lack genuine use cases. Future winners are likely those that preserve cultural identity while finding practical applications.

FAQs

What is the difference between memecoin and cryptocurrency? Memecoin is a subset of crypto, but more reliant on social factors than technology.

Is Solana a memecoin? No, Solana is a blockchain platform that hosts memecoin, with different nature.

Why do people buy memecoin? Due to high return expectations, community sense, low entry barrier, learning opportunities, and trading excitement.

Which memecoin will surge in 2025? Impossible to predict. History shows prediction accuracy is nearly zero.

Do I need programming skills to create memecoin? Not at all; automation tools have eliminated all technical barriers.

What are Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, Pepe? They are respectively the pioneer memecoin, Ethereum-based representative, and internet meme avatar, each with market caps of $200-$600 billion.

Summary: Participate or Wait and See

Memecoin has evolved from an internet joke to a asset class worth hundreds of billions—an internet-era miracle. But miracles are often fragile.

For investors, clarity is essential before participation: Are you in for speculative gains or long-term holding? If the former, risk management and small positions are necessary. If the latter, most current memecoins lack sufficient fundamentals.

Memecoin proves two things: first, internet culture profoundly influences finance; second, humans’ eternal desire for collective participation and identity. No matter how memecoin evolves, these truths remain.

Are you ready? Start small, do your homework, and always be prepared for the worst—that’s the basic principle of engaging in the memecoin market.