The Past and Present of Meme Coins: From Internet Jokes to Billions in Market Capitalization

Imagine if your favorite internet meme suddenly turned into a tradable digital currency, doesn't it feel both absurd and interesting?

These digital assets, which seem like products of a joke, can occasionally rise to a market capitalization of several billion dollars, leaving many people baffled. Their value is largely driven by internet jokes, the popularity on social media, and the consensus of online communities. Doesn't it sound a bit like a grand joke?

But this is meme coin, a peculiar phenomenon born out of internet humor that can stir waves in the financial market. In fact, these seemingly unserious digital toys are attracting a massive amount of funds and attention at a staggering pace. Let’s dive into the wonderful and crazy world of meme coins together, exploring their origins and the potential future they may lead to.

Origin of "Doge": The Birth of Meme Coins

Meme coins, as the name suggests, are cryptocurrencies inspired by internet memes. Their emergence is often filled with sarcasm and entertainment, which fundamentally distinguishes them from traditional cryptocurrencies that claim to offer disruptive technology or solve real-world problems. You might see a variety of animal avatars, popular memes, or even celebrities printed on these digital currencies, and their existence seems to be just to make people laugh and see if they can stir up a little ripple in the market.

However, it is precisely this seemingly "unserious" characteristic that has become the unique charm of meme coins. They do not have the complex mining mechanisms and total supply limits like Bitcoin, nor do they attempt to build a massive decentralized application ecosystem like Ethereum. The value of meme coins often comes from community consensus and the viral spread on social media. A popular meme, a resonating tweet, or even just a joke can instantly make an obscure meme coin famous, and the price will rise accordingly.

At first glance, this phenomenon may seem difficult to understand, but it precisely reflects the increasing influence of socio-cultural factors on financial markets in the digital age. People's curiosity about novelty, their desire for a sense of community belonging, and their dreams of quick wealth are all reflected to some extent in the world of meme coins. This may also suggest that in the future financial landscape, entertainment, community engagement, and viral dissemination will become an undeniable force, attracting a new generation of investors who may not be interested in traditional financial tools.

If we are to talk about the originator of meme coins, it must be Dogecoin.

This cryptocurrency, created by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer at the end of 2013, was originally intended as a joke. Palmer first publicly mentioned Dogecoin on November 28, 2013, joking on social media, "Invest in Dogecoin, I'm sure this is the next big thing." Its inspiration came from the "Doge" meme that was wildly popular on the internet at the time—a picture of a Shiba Inu with a colorful, humorous internal monologue. Palmer then created the Dogecoin.com website, while Markus completed the development of Dogecoin in just three hours, most of which was spent changing the client’s text to Comic Sans font. The two founders may not have initially realized that this joke project would quickly become a sensation, garnering astonishing attention and users in just a few weeks.

In its early days, Dogecoin was mainly used for "tipping" on social media platforms, where users could reward creators who posted interesting or valuable content with a small amount of Dogecoin. This relaxed and cheerful atmosphere attracted a group of loyal followers, forming a vibrant community. Unexpectedly, Dogecoin's early community also demonstrated a charitable spirit; for example, in 2014, they raised $25,000 for the Jamaican bobsled team, which did not have enough funding to participate in the Sochi Winter Olympics, and donated $30,000 to a clean water project in Kenya.

It is worth mentioning that before Dogecoin, Billy Markus also created another cryptocurrency called Bellscoin in 2013, inspired by Nintendo's game "Animal Crossing." Dogecoin is actually a fork of Bellscoin's code.

In 2021, Elon Musk mentioned Dogecoin multiple times on social media, pushing it into a global craze, with its price soaring over 8000% at one point and its market capitalization surpassing 88 billion USD. This initial joke project gradually accumulated enormous market capitalization and influence in the following years. This fully demonstrates that a seemingly unserious project, if cleverly combined with popular internet culture and forming a strong community consensus, can also achieve unexpected success, laying the foundation for the subsequent emergence of many meme coins.

From Pets to President: The Wild Evolution of Meme Coins

After the unexpected success of Dogecoin, a variety of meme coins have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, as if the cryptocurrency world has experienced a "Cambrian explosion of life." Various digital currencies themed around cute animals, characters, current events, or popular memes are emerging endlessly. Among the most notable is Shiba Inu Coin ( SHIB ), often referred to as the "Dogecoin killer," launched in August 2020. Shiba Inu Coin is also themed around Shiba Inu and attempts to replicate Dogecoin's success, building its own large community known as the "SHIB Army." Bonk Coin ( BONK ) on a certain blockchain is another rapidly rising meme coin, launched at the end of 2022, and is the first dog-themed meme coin in that ecosystem. Another highly discussed meme coin is Pepe Coin ( PEPE ), which reignited people's enthusiasm for meme coins in 2023, inspired by the famous "Pepe the Frog" meme. Additionally, there are newcomers like dogwifhat ( WIF ), whose logo features a Shiba Inu wearing a pink knitted hat.

In addition to these "established" powerhouses, the world of meme coins continues to see new participants emerging, drawing inspiration from a more diverse range of sources. For example, cat-themed meme coins like "Popcat" and various zoo coins such as "MEW". Political figures have also ventured into the realm of meme coins, with the $TRUMP coin officially announced by Donald Trump, whose market capitalization once soared to $14.5 billion but plummeted after he took office. Melania Trump also launched her own meme coin, $Melania, which had seen a 90% drop in value by February 2025. Other meme coins related to political figures, such as $BODEN, $LIBRA, and $CAR, introduce a new dimension where political figures creating and promoting coins blur the lines between political movements, internet culture, and financial speculation, creating "unique risks" and opportunities. Additionally, there are meme coins inspired by artificial intelligence, such as Dawgz AI. In October 2021, there were only 124 meme coins circulating in the market, but by February 2025, millions of meme coins had emerged on certain platforms.

How does Digital Happy Coin operate?

Although meme coins may seem like a joke, they still rely on the solid foundation of blockchain technology. Simply put, blockchain is like a shared digital ledger that securely and transparently records every transaction. Most meme coins operate as tokens on existing blockchains, such as Ethereum ( following the ERC-20 standard ) and certain blockchains ( following the SPL token standard ). This allows for faster development and the ability to leverage the infrastructure of existing blockchains.

Although some meme coins may claim to possess certain unique technological features, their value and popularity are primarily driven by social and cultural factors rather than technological innovation or practical applications. Unlike crypto projects that are dedicated to developing new technologies or solving real-world problems, meme coins are more like a social phenomenon, with their value stemming from community consensus and market sentiment. Therefore, when evaluating meme coins, technical analysis often seems less important, while focusing on the community power behind them and the network's popularity is more critical.

"Token economics" is also key to understanding how meme coins operate. It mainly includes the supply of tokens, which is usually very large or even unlimited, for example, Dogecoin mines 10,000 new coins every minute with no total limit, the distribution method, such as airdrops distributed for free to community members, like Bonk coin, or through presales, etc., and any unique mechanisms, such as token burning to increase scarcity by reducing circulation, like PePe coin and Shiba Inu coin have adopted this strategy. For meme coins like Dogecoin, mining is still the way to generate new coins. It uses a proof-of-work mechanism with the Scrypt algorithm, which has lower energy consumption compared to Bitcoin's SHA-256 algorithm. Various token economic models demonstrate different ways to manage inflation and perceived value.

It is worth noting that the barrier to creating meme coins is very low, with many tools and platforms allowing anyone to easily issue their own meme coin by simply inputting a name, symbol, and image. This extremely low barrier explains the large number of meme coins in the market. Although this ease of creation fosters innovation and allows for rapid experimentation with new ideas, it also makes the market susceptible to a large number of low-quality tokens and potential scams, as there is usually almost no review process.

The Growth and Explosion of Memes: A Certain Blockchain

The rise of meme coins is attributed to social media hype, community-driven support, and their appeal as a low-barrier investment for new crypto enthusiasts. Certain blockchain platforms for meme coin projects have played a key role in this growth, providing the necessary technological infrastructure for the mass creation and trading of these tokens.

Although Ethereum is the birthplace of many early meme coins like Shiba Inu, the high gas fees and congestion of the network often pose significant challenges for developers and investors. A certain blockchain has emerged as a game changer for meme coin projects as a high-performance blockchain. The most striking advantage of this blockchain is its lightning-fast transaction speed, reaching up to 65,000 transactions per second, with extremely low transaction fees, usually less than a cent. This efficiency has attracted a wave of developers and investors, leading to a surge in meme coin activity based on this blockchain. As a result, this certain blockchain is dominating the meme coin market, making it the preferred choice for both new and established crypto projects aiming to capitalize on this growth trend.

You can compare a certain blockchain to a budget airline in the crypto world—fast, low-cost, and very suitable for those quick, impulsive decisions. This makes it very suitable for the high trading volume and high-risk trading characteristics of meme coins. In addition, it is also partly due to the token launch platform, which has facilitated the deployment of over 8 million tokens since its launch in early 2024.

However, in February of this year, a token scandal triggered by a certain country's president affected other core protocols on the fast and cost-effective blockchain, leading to the status of other meme leaders on that blockchain in recent months.