Cryptocurrency markets often draw in those hoping for quick gains, and for many, meme coins are the first stop. They then move on to failed but speculatively active altcoins like LUNA. As BTC reached its all-time high, the surge in meme coins whetted the appetite of investors. So, what are meme coins, and which ones are on the rise?
What Are Meme Coins?
Meme coins are assets created for entertainment and initially deemed useless. This is changing a bit with examples like Shiba Inu and Floki, which are making efforts to build their own ecosystems. For instance, even Dogecoin has started hiring developers to work on its ecosystem, improving its code library and more.
However, if we look at popular alternatives like PEPE and BONK, it’s clear they are “useless assets that gain value as they become in demand.” But is this unique to meme coins? In fact, many AI, metaverse, NFT tokens also reach billion-dollar valuations simply due to demand, despite being essentially useless. This has become a characteristic of the cryptocurrency investor profile.
Which Are the Meme Coins?
Meme/joke coins typically choose the Shiba Inu dog as their mascot. These dogs have been widely used in internet memes since the early days of the web. Dogecoin, Floki, and the mascot of Shiba Inu are examples of this. Yet, there are projects like PEPE Coin that strive to break the mold.
Until 2022, meme coins were heavily influenced by Elon Musk. For example, we saw Dogelon, Elon Musk’s dog’s namesake Floki, babydoge powered by his baby shark tweet, and many more.
Above, you see the largest meme coins by market value. Four of them haven’t been on the market for long but have already reached a significant number of investors. Recently, Shiba Coin has shown the best performance (if BTC hadn’t dropped $10,000 suddenly, their gains would have remained solid).
The MEME token created a lot of hype in its early days but has since quieted down. WIF is still drawing interest due to its recent Robinhood listing. Besides these, there are other meme coins like BONE, ELON, BABYDOGE.
