Memecoins have no real-world use. They donât solve problems, run smart contracts, or power decentralized apps. Yet Dogecoin is worth billions. Shiba Inu has a community bigger than some countries. Pepe and Dogwifhat popped up out of nowhere and hit $1 billion market caps in weeks. How? If youâre looking for technical brilliance, youâll find none. But if youâre looking for human behavior, youâll find everything.
They Started as Jokes - And Thatâs Why They Worked
Dogecoin was never meant to be serious. In 2013, two engineers made it as a joke to mock the wild crypto boom. They picked a Shiba Inu dog meme - the same one everyone was sharing on Reddit - and slapped it on a blockchain. No whitepaper. No roadmap. No team. Just a funny picture and a promise: âWhy not?â And people loved it. Unlike Bitcoin, which was built to replace banks, or Ethereum, which promised to run apps, Dogecoin didnât try to fix anything. It didnât need to. It was fun. It felt like a party. People tipped each other for good comments. They raised money for real causes - like sending the Jamaican bobsled team to the Olympics. Thatâs when it stopped being a joke and became a culture. Thatâs the first secret: memecoins donât sell technology. They sell belonging.Community Is the Only Product
Look at Shiba Inu. It launched in 2020 with one quadrillion tokens. Thatâs not a feature - itâs a gag. One coin is worth almost nothing. But together, they create a sense of scale. The more people own it, the more it feels like youâre part of something huge. The âShib Armyâ isnât just a group of investors. Itâs a movement. They call themselves âShibes.â They make memes. They post on Twitter, Reddit, TikTok. They cheer for every price bump like itâs a sports game. When Vitalik Buterin - one of Ethereumâs founders - burned 90% of the SHIB he was given, the community turned it into a legend. He didnât do it to help the price. He did it to make a point. But the community made it a win. This isnât finance. This is fandom. Think of it like baseball cards. A 1952 Mickey Mantle card isnât useful. You canât eat it. You canât play baseball with it. But collectors pay $5 million for it because itâs rare, iconic, and tied to a story. Memecoins work the same way. Dogecoin isnât valuable because itâs fast or secure. Itâs valuable because itâs the OG meme coin. The one Elon Musk tweets about. The one that survived every crash.Elon Musk Didnât Create Value - He Amplified It
Elon Musk didnât invent Dogecoin. But he made it explode. In April 2019, he tweeted âDogecoin is the peopleâs crypto.â That one post sent DOGE up 200% in 24 hours. In 2021, he called it âthe currency of the internet.â By May 2021, Dogecoin hit $86 billion in market value. Not because it got better. Because more people saw it, laughed, and bought in. This isnât about fundamentals. Itâs about visibility. Memecoins thrive on attention. A single tweet from a celebrity, a viral TikTok, a meme on 4chan - thatâs all it takes to trigger a buying frenzy. And hereâs the brutal truth: most people donât even understand what theyâre buying. They see a chart going up. They hear â1000x!â They jump in. Thatâs not investing. Thatâs chasing a feeling.
Most Memecoins Die - Fast
There are over 40,000 memecoins out there. Almost all of them are dead. In 2021, thousands launched. By 2022, 95% were worthless. Why? Because they had no community. No story. No reason to exist beyond a quick pump. Take Squid Game token. It was based on a Netflix show. It looked legit. It had a website. A roadmap. A team. Then, one day, the devs vanished. The price dropped from $2,800 to zero in hours. Thatâs not a market correction. Thatâs a scam. SafeMoon? Same story. Raised $6 billion. Then locked everyone out of selling. People couldnât cash out. The coin collapsed. These arenât failures. Theyâre the norm. The only memecoins that survive are the ones with real, active communities - and even those are risky.How Do You Tell the Real Ones From the Scams?
If youâre thinking about jumping in, hereâs what actually matters:- Liquidity lock: Are the devs stuck with their coins? Only 12% of new memecoins lock liquidity. If they can dump their tokens anytime, walk away.
- Team doxxing: Do you know who made it? Less than 5% of memecoins reveal their team. Anonymous = high risk.
- Tokenomics: Is there a burn mechanism? Is supply capped? Most memecoins have infinite supply - thatâs not a bug, itâs a feature. But it also means inflation kills value over time.
- Community size: Check Reddit, Twitter, Telegram. Are people talking daily? Or is it just a bot farm?
- History: Dogecoin and Shiba Inu have been around for years. Theyâve survived bear markets. New coins? Theyâre lottery tickets.
Why Do People Keep Buying?
Because sometimes, it works. There are real stories of people turning $500 into $250,000 with Dogecoin. Not because they were smart. Because they got in early - before the hype. They sold at 10x or 50x. Then they walked away. The ones who lose? They hold through crashes. They chase pumps. They believe âthis time is different.â They donât have a plan. They have hope. Memecoins arenât for long-term investors. Theyâre for short-term gamblers. If you treat them like stocks, youâll lose. If you treat them like carnival games - where you know the odds and only bet what you can afford to lose - you might walk away with something.Theyâre Not Going Away
Regulators are cracking down. The SEC has sued 17 memecoin projects since 2022. Banks wonât touch them. Institutions avoid them like the plague. But theyâre still here. Why? Because theyâre human. They give people who donât understand finance a way to feel like theyâre part of something bigger. They turn speculation into spectacle. They turn boredom into excitement. The Bank for International Settlements summed it up best: memecoins donât have utility - but they create network effects. People join because others are there. They stay because they feel connected. Thatâs not economics. Thatâs sociology. And as long as humans crave belonging, memes, and the thrill of a quick win - memecoins will have value. Not because theyâre useful. But because theyâre loved.Whatâs Next?
Dogecoin is talking to Tesla. Shiba Inu is building its own blockchain layer. Bonk on Solana is being used for micro-tips and social payments. These arenât upgrades to make memecoins âserious.â Theyâre just ways to keep the party going. The future of memecoins isnât about becoming Bitcoin. Itâs about becoming the digital equivalent of a street festival - loud, chaotic, unpredictable, and full of people who just want to have fun. If youâre in it for the long haul, youâre already behind. If youâre in it for the ride - know the risks. Take profits. Donât fall for the hype. And remember: the only thing more dangerous than a memecoin is believing itâs an investment.Do memecoins have any real use case?
No, not in the traditional sense. Memecoins like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu donât power apps, secure networks, or process payments better than other blockchains. Their only use is as a social currency - a way for communities to bond, share memes, and participate in a shared cultural moment. Any utility like payment integrations or DeFi features is added later, but itâs not why they exist or why people buy them.
Why do memecoins spike in price so fast?
They spike because of social media momentum. A tweet from Elon Musk, a viral TikTok, or a trending Reddit thread can trigger a flood of new buyers. Since memecoins have low market caps and high supply, even small amounts of new money can cause massive price jumps. This is called FOMO - fear of missing out - and itâs the main driver behind their volatility.
Are memecoins a good investment?
For most people, no. Over 95% of memecoins launched in 2021 became worthless by 2022. Even the big ones like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu are extremely volatile. Theyâre not investments - theyâre speculative bets. If you trade them, treat them like gambling: only risk money you can afford to lose, set profit targets, and never hold through crashes hoping for a rebound.
Can memecoins become legitimate cryptocurrencies?
They can add utility - Shiba Inu has its own blockchain and DeFi tools, Dogecoin accepts payments through BitPay - but that doesnât make them fundamentally different from other cryptos. Their value still comes from culture, not code. Even with upgrades, they remain speculative assets. Most experts agree theyâll never be âseriousâ money like Bitcoin or Ethereum, but theyâll keep existing as cultural phenomena.
How do I avoid getting scammed with memecoins?
Check for liquidity locks (only 12% of new memecoins have them), verify the team (less than 5% are doxxed), and avoid coins with no history. Use tools like Token Sniffer or RugDoc to scan for scams. Never invest based on YouTube influencers or Telegram groups. If the project promises guaranteed returns or says â1000x,â itâs a trap. Walk away.
Why do young people invest in memecoins?
Sixty-eight percent of memecoin traders are under 35. Many have little investing experience and see crypto as a game - not a job. Memecoins are accessible, fun, and tied to internet culture. They donât need a finance degree to join. For many, itâs less about money and more about being part of a community, making memes, and feeling like theyâre in on something big.
Will memecoins ever be regulated like stocks?
The U.S. SEC has already sued 17 memecoin projects for selling unregistered securities. Regulators see them as speculative instruments with high fraud risk. While they wonât be regulated like stocks, future rules may require more transparency - like disclosing team identities or locking liquidity. But outright bans are unlikely because memecoins are too deeply tied to internet culture to disappear.
Comments
8 Comments
Gareth Fitzjohn
It's wild how something with zero technical merit can hold billions in value. But then again, isn't that what all markets are? Just shared belief? The fact that people tip each other with Dogecoin for good comments is oddly beautiful.
Katie Teresi
This is why America is doomed. We turned finance into a TikTok trend. No discipline. No education. Just memes and greed. The rest of the world laughs.
Steven Dilla
Bro I remember when DOGE was 0.00001 and we were all just joking around. Now my cousin bought $200 of SHIB and thinks he's a genius. đ We're not investing, we're just playing a game where the house always wins. But man... it's fun.
josh gander
Let me tell you something - this isn't about money. It's about belonging. You ever feel invisible in real life? Then you join a Reddit thread where everyone's cheering for a cartoon dog coin and suddenly you're part of something? Thatâs magic. Real. Not financial. Not technical. Just human. People need that. We all do. And yeah, most of these coins crash. But the ones that stick? Theyâre the ones that made people feel seen. Thatâs worth more than any whitepaper.
Ramona Langthaler
Why do dumb people keep falling for this? Its all just pump and dump. Elon tweets and boom 1000x then everyone loses everything. Its pathetic. No brain. No future. Just memes and tears
Andrea Demontis
Thereâs a deeper layer here - memecoins are the digital equivalent of tribal totems. They donât function as currency, they function as symbols. The Shiba Inu isnât a token, itâs a banner. The community isnât investors, theyâre pilgrims. Weâve moved from religion to capitalism to... meme worship. And the altar? Twitter. The priest? Elon. The sacrament? FOMO. Weâre not trading assets - weâre performing rituals of belonging in a world thatâs increasingly lonely. The fact that we donât name it doesnât make it less real.
Joseph Pietrasik
Actually Doge was the first real crypto. Bitcoin was for libertarians. Ethereum was for nerds. Doge was for everyone else. You think you're smart because you understand DeFi? Nah you're just scared of fun. The people who made millions off DOGE? They didn't read whitepapers. They laughed. And that's the real innovation
Pamela Mainama
Itâs not about profit. Itâs about joy. Iâve seen strangers on Reddit help each other with advice, share memes, celebrate small wins. Thatâs the real ROI. No need to overcomplicate it.
Write a comment