The development history and value logic of MEME coins

This article systematically sorts out the development process of memes, analyzes typical cases, and reveals its unique value logic: unlike traditional financial assets, the core value of memes is expressed as “cultural dissemination power × community consensus,” rather than solely relying on technology or practical value. Based on its evolutionary characteristics, it can be divided into three key development stages:

1. Breaking Ground/Foundation (2013-2016) - Barbaric Growth, The Great Wave Washes Away the Sand

This period witnessed the original innovative journey of memes from zero to one, presenting a unique ecology of simultaneous wild growth and natural selection. Marked by the birth of DOGE in December 2013 and ending with the maturity of Ethereum smart contract technology in 2016, it constitutes the purest and most authentic “Genesis Era” in the development history of memes.

1.1 Short-lived: short-term popularity, lack of cultural precipitation, and rapid extinction

Mooncoin - An unfinished dream of “going to the moon”.

As an entertainment-type meme coin with the slogan “登月(To the Moon)”, the lifecycle of Mooncoin is somewhat short and has failed to carry the ambition of this grand narrative. Its development trajectory can be summarized as:

• 2014: The first year saw a record daily increase of over 300%; Reddit community discussions exceeded 5,000 posts in a month.
• 2015: Mainstream exchanges delisted, causing market cap to drop by over 90%
• 2016: Anonymous developer team members announced “indefinite hibernation”
• 2018: A brief resurgence, but failed to seize the opportunity, ultimately faded from the stage.

Fedoracoin(TIPS) - A niche “gentleman” recognition

FedoraCoin(TIPS) was born on December 22, 2013, and its core is not to target the mass market, but to target the “Fedora-wearing neckbeard” subculture on Reddit. This highly vertical positioning made it quickly popular in a specific community in the early days, but it also buried the hidden danger of limited subsequent development.

• Technology: Uses Scrypt algorithm, supports GPU mining
• Community: After two months of launch, the daily discussion volume of the Reddit subforum surpassed 2000 posts.
• Decline: Since 2015, the delisting by mainstream exchanges has led to a cliff-like drop in liquidity.
• Conclusion: In 2019, it was officially listed in the “Dead Coins List” by Deadcoins.

Nyancoin - A brief “rainbow” light and shadow

As the second meme coin after DOGE, Nyancoin was released on January 6, 2014, and within a month gained the unique identity of “the first officially licensed cryptocurrency in history,” but it significantly lags behind DOGE in market influence.

• Cultural genes: Based on the “rainbow cat” emoji, the “Shiba Inu” is not as popular as DOGE
• Application scenario: Mainly used for trading, relatively simple
• Community: r/nyancoins has only 1.5k subscribers, with the last active post dating back two years ago.
• Conclusion: After 2019, mainstream data platforms stopped updating real-time data and were gradually delisted by exchanges.

1.2 The Ever-Victorious General Type: Cultural Symbol + Community Driven, Long-term Survival

Dogecoin(DOGE) - An Unexpected “Grassroots”

Launched on December 6, 2013, Dogecoin was initially just a parody of the Bitcoin craze culture created by programmers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, but it unexpectedly evolved into one of the most enduring phenomenon memes in the history of cryptocurrency.

• Logo: The Shiba Inu image is derived from the “Doge” meme that became popular on the internet in 2013.
• Market Cap Peak:
  • Early 2021: Retail investor frenzy drives breakthrough of 10 billion USD
  • May 2021: Reached $80 billion under Musk's continuous promotion and the SNL effect.
• Performance in 2025:
  • Daily trading volume remains above $1 billion
  • Market capitalization ranks steadily in the top ten
  • The community's activity level still possesses astonishing vitality.

2. Hibernation/Outbreak (2017-2021) - In the era of smart contracts, MEME coins have ushered in qualitative changes

These five years have witnessed the transformation of memes from a fringe subculture to a mainstream financial asset. Marked by the popularization of the ERC-20 standard in 2017 as a technological turning point, and culminating in 2021 when SHIB set a historical market value, memes have completed a qualitative change from “internet joke” to “phenomenal investment standard.”

2.1 Meteor Shine: Speculatively driven, the bubble bursts quickly

Useless Ethereum Token(UET,2017) - The most honest scam in crypto history

UET was launched on June 17, 2017, during the craziest period of the ICO bubble, publicly stating: “This is a worthless token, buying it is a waste of money.”

• Fundraising: Raised 310 ETH in 48 hours, approximately $93,000
• Mechanism: Total supply fixed at 1 billion, no issuance, no destruction.
• Market reaction: Initial launch price briefly surged by 800%
• Conclusion: In early 2018, exploited due to contract vulnerabilities, resulting in a price crash; in 2020, marked as “failed project”.

(# Hoge Finance)HOGE,2021### - A community-driven deflationary experiment

Launched in 2021, HOGE's core positioning is to build a unique token economy through a deflationary model and community governance. Each transaction automatically destroys 1% of the tokens while allocating 1% to the token holders, attempting to drive value growth through scarcity.

• Features: Emphasizes decentralization and communitarianism, dedicated to charitable causes.
• Market Performance: The unit price rose from $0.0000002 to $0.000004(2000% increase ) in January 2023.
• Challenge: Lack of practical application scenarios, long-term reliance on speculative sentiment
• Conclusion: During the market winter of 2022, prices fell by over 90% from their peak, and liquidity gradually shrank.

( 2.2 Stellar Everbright Type: Ecological Expansion, Breaking Boundaries

)# Shiba Inu###SHIB,2020### - The transformation from meme frenzy to ecological ambition

Shiba Inu, which was born in August 2020, was originally just a meme coin imitating DOGE on the Ethereum chain, with a circulation of up to 1,000 trillion.

• Outbreak: Elon Musk's tweet in May 2021 ignited the market, soaring 1200% in a single day.
• Twist: Vitalik Buterin donates and burns a large amount of SHIB tokens to the COVID-Crypto Relief Fund in India.
• Ecosystem expansion: Build a “Shib ecosystem”, including the decentralized exchange ShibaSwap and the Layer2 network Shibarium
• Current status in 2025: Market cap ranking remains at the forefront, competition with DOGE continues.

( 2.3 Transformation Breakthrough: Attempting innovation, but progress is slow due to various limiting factors.

)# Floki Inu###FLOKI,2021###

Floki Inu was born in June 2021 and was inspired by Musk's naming of his Shiba Inu “Floki”.

• Ambition: To build a vast ecosystem covering DeFi, NFTs, the metaverse, Trading Bots, and more.
• Market performance: Hit an all-time high of $0.00034 at the end of 2021 and plunged more than 90% in the bear market in 2022
• Challenge: Slow ecological implementation, Valhalla game progress is not as expected.
• Transformation attempt: launching derivatives, collaborating with Binance to establish a payment interface

(# SAMO)Samoyedcoin,2021###

Born during the Solana ecosystem explosion period in 2021, Samoyedcoin quickly became popular with the image of a Samoyed dog and is regarded as the “official mascot of Solana.”

• Features: Fully utilize the low fee advantage of the Solana chain to launch staking mining, NFT series, and other gameplay.
• Peak: Market capitalization exceeded $500 million at the end of 2021
• Dilemma: In 2022, SAMO was hit hard by multiple downtime events on the Solana chain
• Transformation attempt: Launching “SAMO Visa Card” aims to achieve offline payments, but progress is slow.

3. Precipitation/Reconstruction ( 2022-2025 ) - The Rise of New Narratives, the Market Begins to Reshape

Since 2022, the meme coin market has begun a deep adjustment from frenzy to rationality. The collapse of Terra in May 2022 served as a watershed moment, and the rise of the BRC-20 standard in 2023 marks a turning point. The meme coin ecosystem is undergoing a brutal yet necessary value reassessment.

( 3.1 Short-term speculation: relies on hotspots, extremely high risk

)# Trump###TRUMP,2025### - An absurd marriage of politics and crypto

On January 17, 2025, then-US President Donald Trump announced the launch of his personal meme coin, $TRUMP.

• Features: Distinct political stance, supporters call themselves “MAGA Army”
• Market performance: The market capitalization once exceeded $10 billion, becoming the top three meme coins
• Challenge: High centralization, lack of technological innovation, completely relying on Trump's IP effect.
• Controversy: Accused of “profiting from presidential power”, price fluctuations are severe.

( 3.2 Eco-driven: Relying on public chains, short-term outbreaks

)# Dogwifhat###WIF,2023### - An absurdist of meme coins

On December 13, 2023, WIF was born as another dog-themed memes on the Solana chain.

• Features: Shiba Inu image wearing a pink knitted hat, without technical endorsement
• Market Performance: Market capitalization skyrocketed to 3 billion USD within 104 days.
• Community Popularity: Official X account accumulated over 200,000 followers in 3 months.
• Challenge: Relying too much on the Solana public chain and lacking practical application support

(# BONK - A “savior dog” of the Solana ecosystem

On December 25, 2022, as the Solana ecosystem was on the verge of collapse due to the FTX crisis, BONK emerged.

• Features: Based on the Solana SPL standard, transaction speed reaches 65,000 TPS, with fees as low as $0.0001
• Market Performance: The surge from a market cap of $0 to $3 billion has significantly boosted the activity on the Solana chain.
• Ecological Contribution: Facilitate the return of developers and promote the revival of the NFT ecosystem
• Challenge: Increased regulatory pressure, facing warnings from the SEC and FCA

) 3.3 Narrative Innovation: AI + Memes, Concept Hype, Trust Crisis

Goatseus Maximus###GOAT,2024### - Crypto “wrapper” under AI mania

Born in October 2024, GOAT originated from a bizarre prophecy of an AI chatbot and quickly evolved into a carnival worth over $700 million.

• Narrative: AI robots continuously output subcultural memes, with VC endorsement providing “mainstream recognition”
• Market Performance: Over 1000 times increase in ten days
• Controversy: The so-called “AI autonomy” has been exposed as a marketing tactic, leading to a trust crisis.
• Revelation: The essence of the current “AI coin” is still a speculative game for humans.

( 3.4 Cultural Symbol Type: Internet Celebrity IP, Short-term Popularity

)# MOODENG###2024### - An internet-famous hippo that has entered the crypto world

MOODENG originated from a young pygmy hippopotamus named MooDeng at the Khao Kheow Zoo in Thailand.

• IP Influence: Attracting interactions from brands like IMAX, McDonald's, Google, etc.
• Market performance: Market value exceeded $270 million 20 days after launch.
• Celebrity Effect: Vitalik Buterin publicly declared himself as a “foster father”, propelling the market value of the ERC-20 version to soar.
• Challenge: The chips are highly concentrated and lack practical application scenarios

Summary and Outlook

Memes as the most unique phenomenon in the cryptocurrency market perfectly showcase the collision of speculation and culture. Their core advantage lies in their astonishing spreadability, but they also face challenges of homogenization and regulatory risks. Future development trends:

1. Technological Innovation: The popularity of AI + memes continues to rise, and the DeFAI concept is emerging.
2. Community-driven: The trend of celebrities issuing coins continues, but the market will filter out truly quality projects.
3. Ecological Transformation: Early memes urgently need to transform, and new projects must solve multiple challenges.
4. Regulatory challenges: The SEC has stepped up scrutiny, and a large number of projects are facing an existential crisis

The meme coin market is undergoing a necessary transition from wild growth to rational development. Ultimately, what remains may not be the craziest memes, but the survivors that best balance speculation and substance.

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