What Are Meme Coins?
Meme coins are a type of cryptocurrency born from jokes, memes, and internet culture. At first, they may look like cute images with funny names, but they can quickly grow into tokens with billions in market value. This mix of humor, community, and hype makes meme coins unique: they don’t create new technology — they create a movement.
How Meme Coins Differ From Other Cryptocurrencies
Even though meme coins can be stored, sent, and exchanged like any other cryptocurrency, they have important differences from traditional digital assets. Here are the main ones:
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Purpose of Creation
Meme coins are usually created for fun or as experiments, while major crypto projects are built with serious goals in mind. For example, Bitcoin was designed as decentralized digital currency, and Ethereum as a platform for smart contracts and apps. These projects follow clear roadmaps and long-term plans. -
Blockchain vs. Token
Large coins like ETH or SOL have their own blockchains — Ethereum and Solana — with their own networks and validators. Meme coins, on the other hand, are almost always launched as tokens on existing blockchains, such as ERC20 on Ethereum, SPL on Solana, or BEP20 on BNB Chain. -
Ease of Creation
Since meme coins don’t require a separate blockchain, launching them is very easy. Platforms like Pump.fun (a service for instant token creation on Solana network) let anyone choose a name, add a picture, and release a token. A simple smart contract is enough, and it only takes a few minutes. -
Value
This simplicity affects their value. Meme coins often don’t offer real use cases — their price depends on memes, community activity, and social media buzz. Most are created by enthusiasts or anonymous developers chasing trends. -
Communities as the Key to Success
And yet, meme coins have their own strength. The community is the main driving force behind these tokens: it is the users who turn a joke into a project with real market value. Activity in Telegram or X (Twitter) directly affects the price. For example, in 2021 just a few tweets from Elon Musk (the head of Tesla and SpaceX) pushed Dogecoin up by more than 40% in only three days. With classic cryptocurrencies, communities usually play a supportive and educational role. In the case of meme coins, it is the community that determines their life or death.
Why Are Meme Coins Popular?
Just a few years ago, meme coins were seen as a niche phenomenon, but today they are a full sector of the crypto market with a total market cap of more than $70 billion. Their popularity comes from viral growth, the strength of communities, and the interest of traders looking for quick opportunities to earn profits. This is why daily trading volume in meme coins consistently stays around $6–7 billion. Social media activity creates a snowball effect: a single joke or tweet can trigger massive buying. As a result, tens of thousands of new tokens appear every day, and during peak periods their number can reach 50–60 thousand in a single day — mainly due to platforms like Pump.fun and others. Still, only a few like Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, Pepe, or Bonk gain real value and become symbols of the entire market. Meme coins are not one single format but rather a wide spectrum of ideas — and below we’ll look at their main types.
Meme coin creation on Pump.fun: tens of thousands of new tokens daily. Source: dune.com
Types of Meme Coins
Not all meme coins are the same: there are long-time “veterans”, sudden hype-driven launches, and entire groups of tokens on different blockchains.
Dogecoin: From Joke to the King of Meme Coins
Dogecoin (DOGE) was launched in 2013 as a joke based on the popular Shiba Inu dog meme. Unlike most meme coins, it is unique because Dogecoin has its own blockchain built on Bitcoin’s code. Low fees and instant transactions make it convenient for everyday use — people can pay with DOGE for shopping, donations, and even event tickets. This attracts regular users and helps the community grow stronger. Today, DOGE has more than 8 million holders and a market cap of over $32 billion, making it the largest and most recognizable meme coin that stands apart from the rest.
Dogecoin Holders — more than 8.4 million addresses hold DOGE, with a market cap exceeding $32 billion. Source: coincarp.com
Ethereum Meme Coins: The Meme Arena
Many meme coins are launched on the Ethereum blockchain, as this network makes it easy to create new cryptocurrencies. Among Ethereum-based meme coins, the most popular are:
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Shiba Inu (SHIB): Introduced in 2020, it was quickly nicknamed the “Dogecoin killer” by its community, as it aimed to compete with DOGE through a stronger ecosystem and fan base. Today its market cap exceeds $7 billion, making SHIB one of the largest meme coins — and not just a token to hold, but also one that can be used for payments in online stores and services that accept crypto.
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Floki Inu (FLOKI): Emerging in 2021, it became one of the most notable “dog” tokens of the new generation. Today it has nearly 100,000 holders, and thanks to strong community engagement and marketing, Floki has turned into a recognizable brand among meme coins.
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Pepe (PEPE): Launched in 2023, based on the iconic internet meme “Pepe the Frog”. Within just 15 days, it reached a $581 million market cap thanks to viral social media support and community activity. Today its market cap exceeds $4 billion, making Pepe one of the most popular memes in the crypto world.
Solana Meme Coins: The Meme Factory
Solana has become a true “factory of meme coins” thanks to its low fees and high network speed. Tens of thousands of tokens have appeared here, and some of the most notable have become separate phenomena:
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Bonk (BONK): Launched in December 2022, BONK became the first truly massive meme coin on Solana. Today it has nearly 1 million holders, and Bonk marked the starting point for a new wave of interest in meme coins within this ecosystem.
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Pudgy Penguins (PENGU): PENGU is a young but already popular project with more than 500,000 holders. The cute “penguins” quickly built a fan base and turned the token into a new symbol of Solana’s meme coin culture.
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Official Trump (TRUMP): TRUMP is the first meme coin in the world launched by President Donald Trump. Its market cap exceeds $1.68 billion, and the number of holders has passed 600,000. TRUMP has become not just a token but a symbol of the connection between politics and crypto culture.
Top meme coins by market cap and trading volume: Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, Pepe, and other market leaders. Source: coingecko.com
What Are the Risks of Meme Coins: What You Need to Know
It’s important to look not only at the fun side of meme coins but also to understand the risks that come with them.
Extreme Volatility: Meme coin prices are very unstable — they can skyrocket overnight and then crash just as fast. A clear example is TRUMP, which reached a billion-dollar market cap only a few hours after launch. Traditional cryptocurrencies also face ups and downs, but because they usually have higher trading volumes, the swings are less extreme. Meme coins often have low liquidity, which makes them harder to buy or sell without moving the price. As a result, they remain much more speculative and risky than coins like ETH or BNB.
FOMO and Emotional Buying: Meme coins are driven by emotions. People see the price going up and rush to buy, or they jump in after reading a post. FOMO (fear of missing out) often pushes beginners to buy at the peak, and when the hype dies down, they end up with losses.
Scams and Rug Pulls: The ease of launching a meme coin is a double-edged sword. Creating a token on Ethereum or Solana takes only minutes, and scammers take advantage of this. They pump a coin on social media and then suddenly pull the liquidity (a rug pull), making the token worthless. Investors are left with useless coins while the creators walk away with the money.
Centralized Token Ownership: Many meme coins have a large share of tokens held by a single wallet or a few “whales”. This creates a big risk — if they decide to sell, the market often cannot handle it without a massive price crash. Statistics show that 90% of new meme coins don’t survive even a week after launch because liquidity dries up, whales exit, and trading stops.
Legal Risks and No Guarantees: The meme coin market is barely regulated. If you fall victim to fraud, it’s almost impossible to get your money back, since most projects are anonymous and not backed legally. Regulators don’t pay much attention to small meme tokens yet, but it’s still something to keep in mind.
5 Steps Before Buying a Meme Coin
After learning about the risks, it’s also important to know what to check before buying a meme coin.
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Check the Total Supply: If there are too many tokens in circulation, the price may grow more slowly.
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Review Liquidity: Make sure DEX pools (token reserves inside decentralized exchanges) have enough funds for trading. If the volume is too small, even a single trade can move the price a lot (this is called slippage). To check this, it’s very handy to use DEX Screener — one of the most popular tools where you can quickly see liquidity, trading volumes, and active pairs.
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Analyze Whale Concentration: If a few wallets hold most of the supply, the risk of a sudden price crash is very high.
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Look at Community Activity: Meme coins live on community hype. If the community gets quiet, interest and price usually drop fast.
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Verify the Contract: Always double-check the meme coin’s smart contract on Etherscan or Solscan to avoid scams.
Getting Started With Meme Coins
Getting into the world of meme coins is easy — even if you’re just starting out. With only a few steps, you can buy, store, and swap your favorite tokens right in your wallet.
Setting Up a Wallet for Meme Coins
The first step is to install a secure wallet that gives you access to multiple ecosystems, so you can easily manage different meme coins across various networks. The best multichain option is Gem Wallet — a self-custody open-source wallet that supports dozens of networks, thousands of meme coins, and millions of other tokens, giving you full control without intermediaries.
How to Acquire Meme Coins
There are several ways to get meme coins: transfer them from another wallet, receive them from friends, or purchase meme coins directly with a credit card. It only takes a few minutes and doesn’t require complex setup.
How to Swap Meme Coins
After you install and fund your wallet with meme coins, you can also swap them right inside the app at the best rates — for example, exchange USDT SPL to PENGU or exchange BONK for ETH.
