What Are Meme Coins?

Meme coins? Is this a joke? Well, basically, yes, but not really.

Meme coins are a type of cryptocurrency that has gained popularity in recent years. They are digital assets that are inspired by internet memes and jokes and often have a strong community of supporters who are attracted to the coin's theme or concept.

These coins are often low-priced and highly volatile, making them attractive for speculation.

Meme coins also have a low market capitalization and circulating supply, which can make them more susceptible to price manipulation and pump and dump schemes.

Despite the controversies and risks associated with meme coins, they have generated significant interest among investors and traders. Let's take a look at what is behind meme coins' popularity and which meme coin projects you should be aware of.

The Pros And Cons Of Meme Coins

Like everything, meme coins also have some positive and negative sides to them, which should be carefully considered before throwing large sums of money at the coins in hopes of big returns.

On the positive side, meme coins offer

• Low barrier to entry: Due to their low prices, meme coins can be accessible to a wider range of investors, including those with limited funds.
• High potential for growth: With a low market capitalization, meme coins have the potential for significant growth if they gain mainstream adoption.
• Community engagement: Meme coins often have a strong community of supporters who are attracted to the coin's theme or concept. This sense of community and shared interest can create a strong emotional connection to the coin.
• Novelty and fun factor: Meme coins can be a playful and entertaining way to get involved in the world of cryptocurrency.
• Innovation: Some meme coins may be built on new and innovative technology, which can be exciting to explore.

While all of it sounds rather fun and exciting, here are areas where meme coins should be looked at with a little skepticism.

• Lack of fundamentals: Many meme coins have no real underlying value, and their value is based on speculation and hype rather than any underlying technology or use case.
• Price manipulation: Due to their low market capitalization and circulating supply, meme coins can be more susceptible to price manipulation and pump and dump schemes.
• High volatility: Meme coins are known for their high volatility, which can make it difficult for investors to predict the value of the coin.
• Lack of development: Some meme coins have no active development team, or the team may not have a clear roadmap or plans for the future.
• Scams: as with any emerging market, there's a high potential for scams and fraud, so investors should be extra careful when investing in meme coins.

Overview Of Popular Meme Coins

Behind the popularity of meme coins popularity are naturally some projects that have made a name for themselves. We have selected some meme coin projects that everyone interested in crypto should be aware of.

Dogecoin

Dogecoin (DOGE) is inspired by one of the most popular memes of all time - Doge the Shiba Inu dog, which became popular back in 2013. Year after, just after doge became familiar to pretty much all internet users, software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer decided to launch Dogecoin.

Dogecoin’s goal was to capture mainstream attention with this joke cryptocurrency, and that’s exactly what it did.

After the launch, the word about Dogecoin spread across social media like wildfire, and just after a few months, the market cap was beyond a million, and by 2015 billion Dogcoins were mined.

Shiba Inu

Shiba Inu (SHIB) is in direct rivalry with DOGE - it also represents a Japanese dog breed Shiba Inu. The project was created in August 2020 by an anonymous person or a group that many know as Ryoshi.

So what’s different about DOGE and SHIB? One of the main differences is the supply. SHIB has a limited supply of 1 quadrillion tokens - 50% of those have been burnt and donated to charity.

Moreover, SHIB’s ecosystem also has a decentralized exchange called ShibaSwap, and they have also entered the NFT market with their 10 000 Shiboshis NFT collection, NFT art incubator, and an NFT game.

And in 2022, SHIB also entered the Metaverse.

Dogelon Mars

Can you guess where the name Dogelon Mars (ELON) comes from? You probably guessed right - ELON received its name after Tesla CEO Elon Musk, his company SpaceX and its vision of colonizing Mars.

The project launched in 2021 and has seen a rise in popularity ever since, and it is a great example of what a strong community can do. In Dogelon Mars’ case, the community is actively donating ELON coins to victims of cryptocurrency scams.

One of their future goals is to become an interplanetary currency and to pay for the transport for those moving to Mars.

Bear in mind, though, that Elon Musk himself is not behind Dogelon Mars.

Samoyedcoin

Samoyedcoin (SAMO) is another dog-themed meme coin that launched in 2021 and is built on the Solana blockchain. The team’s goal is to bring more people to the Solana community by educating and onboarding them.

They also have their own SAMO NFTs collection consisting of 5525 charming Samoyed dog with unique attributes and fun personalities.

As the Samo Famo (their community’s name) grows, Samoyedcoin wishes to provide SAMO crypto and NFT holders some special benefits.

While SAMO indeed started out as a meme coin, the team wishes to shift focus more towards Web3 and experiment with coming to a community coin.

In Dog-clusion

Meme coins, such as Dogecoin and its companions, are a relatively new addition to the cryptocurrency market, but they have the potential for strong growth thanks to the enthusiastic reception of the community.

Experienced investors may be able to capitalize on this growth by investing in these coins at a lower price and riding along when the coins shoot toward the moon.

However, it's important to note that meme coins still remain a speculative investment and their value is based first on community attention and meta humor, and then second on financial performance.