The Evolution of Meme Coins: From Joke to Phenomenon in Encryption Assets

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

1. Breaking Ground/Foundation Development (2013-2016) — Wild Growth, Sifting Through the Sands

• Ephemeral type: Short-term popularity, lacking cultural accumulation, and quickly disappearing. (e.g., Mooncoin, TIPS, Nyancoin)

• Perpetual Victor Type: Cultural symbol + community-driven, long-term survival. (e.g., DOGE)

2. Dormancy/Outburst (2017-2021) - The Era of Smart Contracts, meme coins Experience a Qualitative Change

• Meteor Shining Type: Speculation-driven, bubbles burst rapidly. (e.g., UET, HOGE)

• Stellar Everbright Model: Ecological expansion, breaking limitations. (e.g., ShibaSwap of SHIB)

• Transformational Breakthrough: Attempting innovation, but progress is slow due to various limiting factors. (Such as the metaverse blueprint of FLOKI, the public chain binding of SAMO)

3. Sedimentation/Reconstruction (2022-2025) - The Rise of New Narratives, Market Begins to Restructure

• Short-term speculation: Relies on hotspots, extremely high risk. (Such as the political narrative frenzy of TRUMP)

• Ecology-driven: Based on public chains, short-term explosion. (e.g. WIF, BONK)

• Narrative Innovation Type: AI + Meme, concept hype, trust crisis. (e.g., GOAT)

• Cultural Symbol Type: Internet celebrity IP, short-term popularity. (e.g., MOODENG)

Meme coin will continue to face the challenge of balancing “speculation and substance,” while technological innovations (such as AI, DeFAI) and community building will become key factors. Although the market is undergoing adjustments, as a typical product of the attention economy, meme coin will still maintain its unique position and influence in the cryptocurrency field.

Review history, trace the context

As one of the most unique existences in the field of cryptocurrency, meme coins possess both cultural attributes and financial characteristics. Looking back at the history of meme coins is also a reflection on the collision between internet culture and financial speculation.

From an ironic joke at the beginning, to a virtual currency that is now taking its place in the market, the meme coin is telling us with its experience that in this day and age, perhaps cultural resonance and community beliefs can drive value creation more than technical white papers. While the traditional financial world is still trying to create new value, Meme coins have reshaped people’s perception of “value” itself.

In the era dominated by social media, the speed and manner of information dissemination have undergone fundamental changes. A meme that becomes popular on Reddit or Twitter can receive hundreds of millions of exposures worldwide within hours, and this viral dissemination power is now directly converted into financial value. Meme coins, as the perfect vehicle for this conversion, have written their own stories and legends on the time-based axis.

Breaking Ground/Foundational Work (2013-2016) — In the midst of a burgeoning era, the pioneers bravely stand at the forefront; where the waves wash away the sand, the unsuccessful quietly exit.

This period witnessed the original innovation journey of meme coins from zero to one, presenting a unique ecology where barbaric growth coexists with natural selection. Marked by the birth of DOGE in December 2013 and ending with the maturity of Ethereum smart contract technology in 2016, it forms the purest and most authentic “Genesis Era” in the history of meme coin development.

On the technical level, with a few exceptions, almost all meme coins at this stage are based on forks of Bitcoin or Litecoin code.

In terms of market performance, historical data shows that the average active cycle of meme coins born during this period is only 11.7 months, but survivors like DOGE have shown incredible vitality.

In terms of historical status, the foundational significance of this stage cannot be underestimated. In fact, history tells us that true innovation often arises in times when rules have not yet been established, and the experimental field from 2013 to 2016 preserved the most precious rebellious genes and innovative spirit for the world of encryption.

Hibernation/Outburst (2017-2021) - Amid the ebb and flow of tides, the wise rise with the momentum; amid the changing winds and clouds, the powerful meet their demise.

In the past five years, the market has witnessed the transformation of meme coins 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 the historical market value set by SHIB in 2021, meme coins have completed a qualitative change from “internet jokes” to “phenomenal investment targets.”

From a technical dimension, the maturity of smart contracts has completely restructured the issuance logic of meme coins. According to data on the Ethereum chain, most meme coins born between 2017 and 2021 opted to adopt the ERC-20 standard or rely on other protocols, with issuance costs reduced to less than one-thousandth (compared to the tens of thousands of dollars for independent chain development). This technological democratization, akin to a double-edged sword, has spawned a frenzy of “everything can be a meme,” but it has also sown the seeds of homogenized competition.

At the same time, on the market narrative level, in December 2017, the market value of DOGE first broke 1 billion USD, while during the peak period in 2021, the overall daily trading volume of meme coins exceeded 30 billion USD, accounting for 12.3% of the entire encryption currency market. It is worth noting that the meme coins born during this stage have seen a significant improvement in their lifecycle compared to the previous period.

However, it should be noted that not all meme coins have a higher survival rate and longer lifespan. Research reports indicate that in 2020, meme coin projects experienced an average of monthly deaths.

Throughout the entire history of encryption, the most profound change during this period is the reconstruction of value perception. When DOGE was included in mainstream exchanges in 2021, and when the SHIB founder remained anonymous yet was able to leverage a market value of tens of billions, traditional finance had to reassess the essence of meme coins—just as revealed in research reports: “The value capture mechanism of assets like Dogecoin essentially transforms network attention into liquidity premiums.” This shift in perception laid a crucial foundation for the subsequent social finance experiments of the Web3 era.

Sedimentation/Reconstruction (2022-2025) — When the tide collapses, true gold begins to show its color; in a world of great contention, the pattern finally becomes clear.

Starting from 2022, the meme coin market has begun a deep adjustment from frenzy to rationality. Marked by the collapse of Terra in May 2022, and the rise of the BRC-20 standard in 2023, the meme coin ecosystem is undergoing a brutal yet necessary value reassessment.

According to statistics, the overall market value of meme coins shrank by 82% in 2022, but the leading projects DOGE and SHIB still maintained their positions in the top 20 market value rankings. A new report pointed out that “97% of meme coins have died.” The report also stated: “Different blockchain platforms show different meme coin mortality rates. Base leads with a mortality rate of 66.91%, followed by Solana at 54.03% and Ethereum at 36.59%.”

Nevertheless, we cannot underestimate or speculate whether meme coins have already reached the end of the story. The cryptocurrency market has always been full of uncertainties, and meme coins, as a particularly distinctive category within it, are even harder to measure with conventional perspectives.

As market analysts have stated: “Meme projects that can still secure funding after 2023 must prove their ability to capture long-term value beyond simple speculation.” Researchers have also pointed out: “This winter is filtering out speculative bubbles, leaving behind truly culturally resilient digital assets.” The future landscape may prove that meme coins that can transcend cycles will ultimately become a key bridge connecting the encryption world and popular culture.

Break down into chunks and delve into key details

Breaking Ground/Foundation (2013-2016)

The coins at this stage can be roughly divided into the following categories based on their life cycle, community activity, market capitalization changes, etc.:

Ephemeral

In the fast-evolving ecosystem of cryptocurrency, driven by innovation, projects that lack sustained vitality are destined to be mere fleeting visitors. They may attract market attention during specific periods, but ultimately struggle to escape the fate of being a “flash in the pan.” Although they may shine brightly when they bloom, it is difficult to maintain that heat for long.

Mooncoin - An Unfinished “Moon Landing” Dream

As an entertainment-type meme coin with the slogan “To the Moon,” its somewhat brief life has not been able to bear the ambition of this grand narrative.

Looking back at its development trajectory from 2014 to 2018 (its last GitHub commit was in 2018 (v1.8.0), which almost marks the substantial demise of the project), the early performance of mooncoin was quite stunning: it set a record for a single-day increase of over 300% in its first year; community discussions exceeded 5,000 posts in a month; it collaborated with gaming platforms; and it was even dubbed as the “most serious joke coin.”

However, after the spotlight comes a long silence: In 2015, the delisting from mainstream exchanges caused the market value to drop by over 90%; the following year, members of the anonymous development team announced an “indefinite hibernation”; until 2018, the project experienced a brief resurgence—yet this was not due to its own breakthroughs, but rather benefited from two external factors: first, the overall recovery of the cryptocurrency market; second, related space events reignited the popularity of the “To the Moon” meme community.

Unfortunately, Mooncoin failed to seize this last opportunity. The development team claimed to create a “Lunar Base” metaverse game, but in the end, the white paper never materialized, and the so-called “metaverse game” was merely a demo video. After that, with Bitcoin plummeting 60% in April 2018, market enthusiasm waned, and Mooncoin completely faded from the stage.

Fedoracoin (TIPS) - A niche “gentleman” recognition

FedoraCoin (TIPS) was born on December 22, 2013, and its core is not for the mass market, but precisely targeting 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.

On a technical level, TIPS adopted the then relatively common Scrypt algorithm, and its design supporting GPU mining made it quite user-friendly for ordinary users. This simple and practical architecture helped it quickly accumulate a group of loyal followers in the early stages.

At the same time, just two months after its launch, the r/Fedoracoin subreddit on Reddit set an astonishing record of over 2000 discussions in a single day, making it one of the most active meme coin communities for a time.

However, the good times didn’t last long, and TIPS soon encountered a similar predicament as Mooncoin. Due to the lack of practical application scenarios, this project, which is based on subcultural memes, has always been unable to break through the limitations of cultural symbols. Since 2015, as mainstream exchanges have gradually delisted TIPS, its liquidity has seen a steep decline. The initial positioning of the product to serve a specific subcultural group can be seen here; although this approach accurately matched the target users, its niche nature also made it difficult to expand into a broader market and subsequent marketing.

Although the cryptocurrency market as a whole rebounded in 2018, the price of TIPS only briefly surged. Unfortunately, like mooncoin, TIPS did not manage to seize this opportunity to turn things around.

Between 2014 and 2016, FedoraCoin gradually lost market attention. By the end of 2018, the GitHub repository for TIPS stopped at version v1.8.0, with the last on-chain transaction record remaining in November. In 2019, this once-prominent project was officially listed on the “dead list.”

What it leaves to the encryption world is not only a vivid case of subcultural experimentation but also a mirror reflecting the essence of meme coins.

Nyancoin – a brief “rainbow” of light and shadow

As the second meme coin after DOGE, Nyancoin was released on January 6, 2014, and within a month, it gained the unique status of being “the first officially authorized encryption currency in history,” yet it lags far behind the former in market influence.

In terms of the essence of the project, this gap is first reflected in the differences in cultural genes: the “Nyan Cat” meme that Nyancoin is based on has far less dissemination and cultural penetration compared to DOGE’s “Shiba Inu” meme—before encountering these two cryptocurrencies, most people may have never seen Nyan Cat, but almost everyone has been bombarded by the mesmerizing Shiba Inu.

In addition, in the fields of application scenarios and development directions, the direct manifestation of this cultural awareness gap is that Nyancoin lacks some breadth and depth compared to DOGE. DOGE has built a multi-dimensional application ecosystem covering payments, rewards, charity, and more, while the application scenario of Nyancoin mainly used for trading is relatively singular.

In terms of external empowerment, the community activity and external traffic of Nyancoin are not ideal. This vicious cycle—weak community support leads to sluggish project development, and stagnation further weakens community enthusiasm—ultimately led Nyancoin to gradually decline.

The Nyancoin community has only 1.5k subscribers, and the last active post was two years ago. This community fracture directly led mainstream data platforms to stop updating Nyancoin’s real-time data after 2019 — at that time, its 24-hour trading volume had long been below $10,000, and liquidity depletion gradually caused it to be delisted from exchanges. The case of Nyancoin is enough to illustrate a harsh market rule: in the era of attention economy, the endorsement of top IPs often has a more decisive effect than the technical characteristics of the project itself.

General of Constant Victory

Dogecoin (DOGE) - An Unexpected “Grassroots Carnival”

Dogecoin, born on December 6, 2013, was initially just a parody of the Bitcoin craze created by programmers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, but it unexpectedly evolved into one of the most enduring phenomenon meme coins in cryptocurrency history. Its iconic Shiba Inu image comes from the “Doge” meme that became popular on the internet in 2013, and this inherently high-profile internet IP allowed it to quickly gain fame on platforms like Reddit.

In terms of design philosophy and founding intention, it does not emphasize complex technologies like other cryptocurrencies, boast revolutionary blockchain technology, or promise grand visions. Instead, it uses a cute Shiba Inu meme as its symbol, entering this increasingly fervent field in the most playful way.

Looking back at the several peaks in DOGE’s market value, they were driven by a surge of retail investment and strong community support at the beginning of 2021, when its market value skyrocketed to $10 billion; in May of the same year, due to its number one fan Elon Musk’s continuous endorsements on social media and the effects of the Saturday Night Live (SNL) show, DOGE’s market value reached $80 billion.

In the following years, although the popularity and price of DOGE have declined, and even entered a downward mode, the overall market trend is relatively stable, and it still maintains a certain influence and popularity in the cryptocurrency field. Until November 12, 2024, Trump announced that Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy would co-lead the newly created “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), with the aim of cutting government spending. But the official abbreviation of this new division, “DOGE”, is exactly the same as the code name of Dogecoin, a coincidence that has sparked heated discussions in the crypto community. Although Musk later clarified on social platforms that the two are not related, given his consistent style of acting and long-standing admiration for DOGE, it is widely believed that the choice of the abbreviation is no accident.

Regarding this intriguing naming coincidence, there are various interpretations in the market: some speculate that this is Musk’s clever arrangement to bridge the gap between the cryptocurrency market and the political stage; others believe this may be a foreshadowing to revive the enthusiasm for the DOGE market; of course, it could also be, as he himself said, merely an interesting coincidence. What real intentions lie behind this dramatic naming event may only be answered by time. However, it is undeniable that this incident once again highlights DOGE’s unique position in cryptocurrency culture, as well as the intricate and inseparable relationship between Musk and DOGE.

The development of DOGE perfectly showcases the duality of meme coins: on one hand, it created a financial miracle driven by ordinary internet users; on the other hand, it exposed the risks of such coins easily becoming speculative tools.

But what is admirable is that even in a downturn in the market, DOGE still maintains a daily trading volume of more than $1 billion, and its market capitalization ranking is still in the top 10. And its community activity is still amazingly vigorous, and I believe that this advantage can always be transformed into market momentum at critical moments, and then fed back to form a virtuous circle.

It must be admitted that this digital currency, which was initially created as a joke, has now become a unique and lasting presence in the world of encryption.

Although this period’s meme coins have exhibited two completely different lifecycles and survival states, it is undeniable that they all have their own glorious years. Despite the former’s market performance perhaps not being grand and its notoriety far less than that of the latter, in reviewing the long river of meme coin development, these projects still left a distinct mark of the era, becoming important milestones in witnessing the evolution of meme coin culture. Their rise and fall not only reflect the market’s ongoing exploration of the meme coin model but also provide valuable lessons for later generations, leaving their unique imprint on the development map of cryptocurrencies.

Dormancy/Outburst (2017-2021)

After entering 2017, meme coins began to transition from pure joke coins to more complex ecological development. Some projects attempted to combine new concepts such as DeFi and NFT, but they remained primarily driven by speculation and community. According to the classification criteria mentioned earlier, the coins in this stage can be divided into the following categories:

Meteor Shining Type

Similar to the “ephemeral” mentioned earlier, they share almost identical development trajectories and historical trends—rapid rise after a short-term explosion, followed by a quick fall, disappearing like a meteor. These types of coins usually rely on speculative sentiment and short-term peaks of popularity, rather than actual applications or community consensus.

Useless Ethereum Token (UET, 2017)

As the most honest scam in the history of encryption, UET was launched by the developer “UselessEthereumToken” (anonymous) on June 17, 2017, during the height of the ICO (Initial Coin Offering) bubble, directly stating on its official website: “This is a worthless token, buying it is wasting money.”

Is this really counter-marketing or performance art-style financing? The UET project team openly admits that the coin has no functionality, no team, and no roadmap. The official website FAQ even states: “Why should I buy this coin? — You don’t need to.”

Its logo also deepens the ironic meaning, challenging the norm and breaking the existence of established theorems, truly bringing an interesting crossroads to the field of encryption currency.

Such a blatant display of its “uselessness,” UET still raised 310 ETH (about $93,000 at the time) in 48 hours, becoming one of the most absurd ICO cases in history.

When it comes to its token mechanism, it is a blatant “self-exploding” design. It can be said to implement 100% honest economics in practice, with a total supply of UET fixed at 1 billion, with no increase or destruction. All the raised ETH is transferred to the developer’s address, with no promised use. At the same time, its zero-technical packaging and the Easter eggs on the official website constantly reinforce the absurd theatrical effect of this program: technically based on the most fundamental ERC-20 standard, with no smart contract functionality, and even no transfer restrictions opened.

Although UET’s blatant attitude is shocking, the market response has not been entirely negative. UET has found its “kindred spirit” in the market and gained a group of followers. In the early stages of its launch, some exchanges listed UET out of curiosity, causing the price to briefly surge by 800%. Even some netizens initiated the “UET Challenge”—to see who can convince others to take over with the most absurd reason.

However, soon after the brief speculative frenzy ended, UET also faced its own crisis and challenges. First, in early 2018, security researchers discovered a fatal vulnerability in the UET smart contract, which was subsequently exploited, causing the UET price to plummet and its market value to evaporate. After the bear market in 2018, UET’s liquidity dried up, and it was ultimately labeled as a “failed project” in 2020.

This absurd success seems to confirm the irrational characteristics of the encryption market—despite UET’s clear self-denial, the market is still willing to pay for a vacuous narrative. When “worthless” can become a selling point, the frenzy in this field has only just begun.

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

HOGE, which was born on the Ethereum blockchain in 2021, is not positioned to achieve disruptive new technology, but rather aims 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 token holders, attempting to drive value growth through scarcity. This design has indeed attracted a large number of retail investors, making it one of the most active community tokens in a short period.

Unlike other cryptocurrencies, HOGE emphasizes and implements the concept and methods of “decentralization,” allowing community members to vote on the project’s development direction. This unique community-driven approach accelerates the community’s rapid growth and has garnered sufficient attention for HOGE in the cryptocurrency market. At the same time, similar to what DOGE has done, HOGE is also enthusiastic about charity and is committed to funding animal welfare projects, which has once again gained it a lot of popularity and support. This popularity and support is directly reflected in the data, as HOGE remains an active topic of discussion on major cryptocurrency forums and social media platforms.

However, like other similar projects, the bottleneck of HOGE quickly became apparent: despite a promising start, the lack of practical application scenarios led to a long-term reliance on speculative sentiment, ultimately failing to break through the limitations of meme coins, and after a price drop, it showed a prolonged slump.

During the market winter of 2022, the price of HOGE fell by more than 90% from its peak, and liquidity gradually shrank. Although the community attempted to boost enthusiasm through marketing gimmicks like the “Space Program”.