Overview

A meme coin (also spelled memecoin) is a cryptocurrency that originated from an internet meme or has some other humorous characteristic.

It may be used in the broadest sense as a critique of the cryptocurrency market in its entirety—those based on particular memes such as Dogecoin, celebrities like Coinye, and pump-and-dump schemes such as BitConnect—or it may be used to make cryptocurrency more accessible.

Meme coins derive their price primarily from social media momentum and celebrity association. Their prices can skyrocket rapidly as new investors, drawn by viral attention or fear of missing out (FOMO), pour in funds. However, this growth is typically unsustainable, as the price depends heavily on a continuous influx of new buyers. When interest wanes or new investment slows, meme coins frequently experience sharp price collapses, as there is little fundamental value to support their market capitalization, much like how Ponzi schemes rely on new capital to pay returns to earlier investors.

History

In late 2013, Dogecoin was released after being created as a joke on the Doge meme by software engineers. This sparked the creation of more meme coins. In October 2021, there were 124 meme coins circulating. Notable examples include Dogecoin and Shiba Inu.

In early 2021, Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission banned meme coins as part of a crackdown on digital goods with "no clear objective or substance". In late 2021, advertisements promoting the meme coin Floki Inu in London led to investigations around promoting the meme coin, considered to be an unregulated financial product by the United Kingdom Advertising Standards Authority.

Meme coins increased in popularity in 2021 and 2022 when Elon Musk endorsed Dogecoin, one of the first meme coins. He posted several tweets about the coin, including saying that Tesla-branded merchandise could be purchased with Dogecoin. Musk was sued by investors who accused him of using Dogecoin as an unregistered security to operate a pyramid scheme.

Rugpulls

In December 2024, Haliey Welch, who became viral online for the "hawk tuah" meme, issued $HAWK and it reached a peak of $490 million before plummeting to $25 million. She was accused of promoting a pump-and-dump as well as engaging in a rug pull scheme and insider trading.

During the memecoin frenzy of early 2025, hackers hijacked verified government X accounts, including those of the Cuban government, former Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad, and Bihar's Water Resource Department, to promote fraudulent memecoins like "CUBA" and "MALAYSIA" on platforms like Pump.fun. These tokens surged before crashing, with CUBA's volume dropping from $158.7M to $4.3M and MALAYSIA's rug pull draining $1.7M.

The Catholic News Agency and German President's Frank-Walter Steinmeier's accounts were also compromised to push similar scams by repurposing them to impersonate various figures promoting tokens.

On 15 April 2025, hackers compromised UK Government Minister Lucy Powell's verified X account to promote a fraudulent "House of Commons" cryptocurrency ($HCC), using deleted posts with the House of Commons logo to tout it as a "community-driven digital currency."

As an investment

In January 2025, three US asset managers set out to launch exchange-traded funds investing in meme coins linked to Trump and Musk.

Criticism

Commentators have compared meme coins with the speculative frenzy and collapse of the non-fungible token (NFT) market in 2022. American investor David Einhorn stated that, "We have reached the 'Fartcoin' stage of the market cycle ... Other than trading and speculation, it serves no other obvious purpose and fulfills no need that is not served elsewhere." In February, more than 700 different copycat and spam coins were sent to Trump's digital wallet by people apparently seeking to falsely suggest they had his endorsement.