Exploring Popular Meme Coins

Meme coins are a subset of cryptocurrencies that have gained significant popularity due to their origins in internet memes, popular culture references, or humorous concepts. Unlike traditional cryptocurrencies, meme coins often lack a specific utility beyond representing a community or cultural phenomenon.

You can learn more about the concept behind these digital memes in our Introduction to Meme Coins guide and get a better picture of how they work in Understanding Meme Coin Basics  guide.

In 2023 and 2024, meme coins saw a significant surge in popularity, marked by a notable increase in trading volume and market capitalization.

The rise of meme coins can be attributed mostly to the overall bullish sentiment in the markets and the public interest, attracting both online communities and savvy investors. The sector has evolved, introducing innovations such as DeFi capabilities and NFT tie-ins, shifting the way these tokens are valued in the broader crypto sphere.

This guide explores the top meme coins, including DOGE $0.28 24h volatility: 4.3% Market cap: $41.22 B Vol. 24h: $2.20 B , SHIB $0.000017 24h volatility: 0.4% Market cap: $9.76 B Vol. 24h: $253.99 M , WIF $0.70 24h volatility: 0.6% Market cap: $695.33 M Vol. 24h: $714.28 M , FLOKI $0.000098 24h volatility: 0.0% Market cap: $948.12 M Vol. 24h: $151.48 M , PEPE $0.000010 24h volatility: 0.8% Market cap: $4.24 B Vol. 24h: $665.16 M , BONK $0.000018 24h volatility: 1.2% Market cap: $1.42 B Vol. 24h: $159.72 M , MEME $0.00468 24h volatility: 0.8% Market cap: $180.88 M Vol. 24h: $56.73 M , and NOT $0.00300 24h volatility: 2.5% Market cap: $307.36 M Vol. 24h: $89.15 M . We will explore the beginnings, distinctive characteristics, and the driving forces behind the surge of these tokens in the constantly changing cryptocurrency landscape.

If you’ve already made your mind to start investing into these digital assents, check where you can buy meme coins to choose the best option.

Dogecoin (DOGE): The World’s First Meme Coin

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Dogecoin is considered the world’s first meme coin, created in late 2013 by software engineers Billy Marcus and Jackson Palmer. Palmer branded the cryptocurrency’s logo using a meme popular at the time, featuring the deliberately misspelt word “doge” to describe a Shiba Inu dog. Dogecoin remained basically under the radar until the altcoin hype of 2017.

In early 2021, Dogecoin’s popularity spiked as it started to appear on platforms like X (formerly Twitter), 4chan, and Reddit. This sudden spike solidified the coin as a cultural phenomenon within the crypto community.

The real catalyst for Dogecoin’s meteoric rise was Tesla Inc (NYSE: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk, who called Dogecoin his favourite cryptocurrency and declared himself as the Dogefather. Musk’s tweets boosted DOGE price as people saw him more involved in the project, to the point that his collaboration with Dogecoin developers to enhance the crypto and introduce more use cases into the ecosystem was revealed later on.

Following Musk’s endorsement, other celebrities like Mark Cuban, Snoop Dogg, Gene Simmons and Kevin Jonas embraced Dogecoin, further fueling its popularity and the “Doge Army” of supporters.

All I’m saying… $doge

— kevin jonas (@kevinjonas) February 7, 2021

Dogecoin differs from BTC $97 803 24h volatility: 1.3% Market cap: $1.94 T Vol. 24h: $29.33 B  in a few critical aspects. Firstly, it’s proof of work (PoW), but it uses the Scrypt hashing algorithm which makes the meme coin mining process quicker and easier to complete. As a result, Dogecoin is more efficient for processing payments. Secondly, it has an infinite supply, unlike Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies with a fixed maximum supply.

Learn more about this one of the most popular meme coins in the comprehensive Dogecoin guide.

Shiba Inu (SHIB): The First Dogecoin Killer

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Shiba Inu (SHIB) is a dog-themed meme coin created in August 2020 by the pseudonym developer “Ryoshi”. Just like Dogecoin, it was inspired by the Shiba Inu dog and the token sells itself as an alternative to Dogecoin. It was one of the first coins to initiate the meme coin trend, with other OG meme tokens like Floki Inu, Babydoge, Akita Inu and CumRocket following suit.

Epic crypto donation spree by @VitalikButerin!

All AKITA tokens to Gitcoin Community Multi-Sig
13,292 ETH to Givewell
1000 ETH + all ELON tokens – Methuselah Foundation
1050 ETH – MIRI (AI safety org)
500 ETH + 10% of the SHIB – @CryptoRelief_
500 ETH – Charter Cities Institute

— Hudson Jameson (@hudsonjameson) May 12, 2021

The meme coin has also gained attention from celebrities like Elon Musk, Kai Greene, Nick Carter, and Ice-T. The Shiba Inu community, known as the ShibArmy, is active on platforms like Reddit’s r/SHIBArmy and X.

Explore more details in a detailed Shiba Inu guide.

Dogwifhat (WIF): The Most Popular Solana Meme Coin

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Dogwifhat (WIF) is a popular meme coin launched in December 2023 on the Solana (SOL) blockchain. It features a Shiba Inu dog wearing a pink-knitted hat as its mascot, capturing the imagination of the crypto community.

WIF stands out for its simplicity and lack of utility, embracing the meme coin ethos of being “literally a dog wif a hat” without pretending to be anything more. This straightforward approach has resonated with investors looking for a fun, community-driven crypto project.

WIF has benefited greatly from viral marketing and social media hype.

Visit our What Is Dogwifhat (WIF) Meme Coin? guide for more details.

Floki Inu (FLOKI): The People’s Cryptocurrency

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Floki Inu is a decentralized meme coin inspired by Elon Musk’s Shiba Inu puppy named Floki and announced back in June 2021. The coin was launched shortly after by an unknown team of developers who were enthusiastic fans of the Shiba Inu community.

Floki Inu brands itself as “The People’s Cryptocurrency” and operates on both the ETH $2 711 24h volatility: 0.8% Market cap: $326.75 B Vol. 24h: $14.87 B  blockchain and the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) network. The FLOKI token serves as the utility token of the Floki ecosystem, which includes a range of applications and projects.

Key features of the Floki Inu ecosystem include DeFi products like staking and lending, prepaid cards for everyday purchases, and Valhalla, a gamified NFT metaverse. The developers have also partnered with other crypto protocols to expand the token’s ecosystem.

The Floki Inu community, known as the “Floki Vikings”, plays a significant role in the project’s development and popularity. In 2022, Floki Inu ads appeared all over London, leading to a legal controversy with the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banning those ads.

Despite regulatory scrutiny, Floki Inu has gained a dedicated following and continues to be a prominent player in the meme coin market.

In our Floki Inu: The Rise of ‘The People’s Crypto’ in the World of Meme Coins guide, you will find more details on the coin.

Pepe (PEPE): The Most Memeable Meme Coin in Existence

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Pepe coin (PEPE), featuring the iconic Pepe the Frog meme, has been experiencing a surge in popularity and value since its launch in April 2023. Pepecoin focuses on meme culture and digital collectibles (NFTs).

Pepe runs on the Ethereum blockchain. Despite outperforming leading meme coins like SHIB and DOGE in terms of price gains, it lags behind in market capitalization and number of holders.

Strong cultural appeal, focus on meme culture, and the overall bullish sentiment in the cryptocurrency market have driven the rise of Pepe coin. Pepe coin powers decentralized applications like PepeSwap, a decentralized exchange, highlighting the increasing integration of cultural elements into the crypto sphere.

Learn all the ins and outs of this popular meme coin in a comprehensive Pepe guide.

Bonk (BONK): A Funny Meme Coin with a Strategic Purpose

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Bonk (BONK) is the second-largest Solana meme coin. Launched on December 25, 2022, with 50% of its total supply airdropped to the Solana community, BONK aims to be the primary coin of Solana.

It caters to traders, collectors, artists, developers, and other key players within the community.

BONK is designed to be a community-owned altcoin, breaking away from the traditional VC-dominated model prevalent in Solana. Dubbed the “Dog coin of the people”, BONK is also known as the “community coin of Solana”.

To find out all the essential info on BONK, visit our dedicated Bonk meme coin guide.

Memeland (MEME): Web3 Meme Coin Ecosystem

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Memeland is a Web3 venture studio created by the team behind 9GAG, a popular online meme platform. The project focuses on building social products revolving around community engagement, creativity, memes, and NFTs.

MEME is the native cryptocurrency of the Memeland ecosystem. MEME integrates seamlessly into 9GAG’s ecosystem, unlocking new avenues for content monetization, creator incentives, and community engagement.

The Memeland team is developing several other Web3 platforms to expand the MEME ecosystem, including a metaverse project called “Treasure Islandz” and a staking protocol called “Stakeland”. Prominent figures like 9GAG founder Ray Chan, Moonbirds founder Kevin Rose, and VeeFriends CEO Gary Vaynerchuk are backing the project.

Learn more about MEME token in our What is Memecoin (MEME)? guide.

Notcoin (NOT): Click-to-Earn Experience

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Notcoin (NOT) is the native token of a play-to-earn game within the popular messaging service Telegram. It was first announced as a meme token by the TON project in November 2023. The game allowed users to “mine” or earn a cryptocurrency called Notcoin through a straightforward mechanism: they need to repeatedly click on an animated coin within the chat.

The game’s mechanics are straightforward, even for users with no experience in cryptocurrencies or blockchain technology. The rapid rise of Notcoin also led to raising awareness regarding other TON-native projects as it rewarded users for signing in, connecting their wallets, interacting with protocols, referring other users, engaging in different communities or educating themselves on different crypto-related topics.

Despite choosing “maybe nothing” as its slogan, the project’s influence in the TON community is substantial, with the TON Foundation supporting the project and adding legitimacy to the crypto community

Notcoin became a significant phenomenon in the play-to-earn sphere, just as other games and play-to-earn apps like Axie Infinity or Stepn did in their times.

To know more about Notcoin, see how it works and understand what makes it stand out in the crowded world of crypto games, visit our Notcoin: Tap-to-Earn Telegram Phenomenon guide.

Conclusion

Meme coins, despite their humorous beginnings, have carved out a significant niche in the cryptocurrency landscape with a pretty big market full of activity and noise. They blend internet culture with finance and reflect the power of community engagement as a tool to bring value to otherwise worthless projects.

The rapid growth and volatility of meme coins also highlight the unpredictable nature of the crypto world. While their value can skyrocket or crash based on a tweet or a viral trend, they also remind us of the speculative risks inherent in meme coin market. Most of them live fast and die young, many are killed by their own scam developers, but others gain enough steam to become global trends. Guessing which ones succeed is the driving force that powers the meme coin ecosystem —and the sentiment that gave birth to the WAGMI (“We’re All Gonna Make It”) slogan too.

So, whether you’re a seasoned crypto investor or a casual observer, keep an eye on the meme coin market, because in this realm, the next viral sensation could be just a tweet or a jpeg away.

To help you succeed, we’ve developed an ultimate guide to crypto memes, which will help you navigate all the intricacies of these phenomenon.