The Development of meme Coins: From Joke to Phenomenon Asset

This article systematically sorts out the development process of memes, analyzes typical cases, and reveals its unique value logic: unlike traditional financial assets, the core value of memes is expressed as "cultural transmission power × community consensus," rather than solely relying on technology or practical value. Based on its evolutionary characteristics, it can be divided into three key development stages:

1. Breaking Ground/Foundation (2013-2016) - Barbaric Growth, The Great Wave Washes Away the Sand

This period witnessed the original innovative journey of memes from zero to one, presenting a unique ecosystem of both barbaric growth and natural selection. Marked by the birth of DOGE in December 2013 and ending with the maturity of Ethereum smart contract technology in 2016, it constitutes the purest and most authentic "Genesis Era" in the history of meme development.

The cryptocurrencies in this stage can be roughly divided into the following categories based on their lifecycle/community activity/market value changes, etc:

1.1 Ephemeral Type

1.1.1 Mooncoin - An Unfinished "Moon Landing" Dream

As an entertainment-type meme coin with the slogan "登月(To the Moon)", its somewhat brief life has failed to bear the ambition of this grand narrative. Looking back at its development trajectory from 2014 to 2018, mooncoin's early performance can be described as stunning: it set a record for a single-day increase of over 300% in its first year; the Reddit community r/Mooncoin had more than 5000 posts in a single month; after collaborating with the gaming platform Moonrocket(, the project's platform went bankrupt); and it was even referred to by Coindesk as "the most serious joke coin."

However, after the spotlight comes a long silence: in 2015, delisting from mainstream exchanges led to a market cap drop of over 90%; the following year, members of the anonymous development team announced an "indefinite hibernation"; it wasn't until 2018 that the project experienced a brief resurgence. Unfortunately, Mooncoin failed to seize this last opportunity, and with Bitcoin's 60% crash in April 2018, market enthusiasm waned, and Mooncoin completely faded from the stage.

1.1.2 Fedoracoin(TIPS) - A niche "gentleman" recognition

FedoraCoin(TIPS) was born on December 22, 2013, and its core is not aimed at the mass market, but precisely targets the "Fedora-wearing neckbeard"( and "keyboard warrior") subculture group on Reddit. This highly vertical positioning allowed it to quickly gain popularity within specific communities in its early days, but it also planted the seeds for limited development in the future.

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

However, the good times didn't last long, as TIPS soon encountered a predicament similar to that of Mooncoin. Due to the lack of practical application scenarios, this project built on subcultural memes has always struggled to break through the limitations of cultural symbols. Starting in 2015, as mainstream exchanges like Cryptsy and Bittrex gradually delisted TIPS, its liquidity experienced a cliff-like decline.

Between 2014 and 2016, FedoraCoin gradually lost market attention. By the end of 2018, the TIPS GitHub repository 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 as "dead" by Deadcoins.

1.1.3 Nyancoin - A brief "rainbow" 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 identity of being the "first officially authorized cryptocurrency in history," yet it lags far behind the former in market influence.

In essence, this gap is first reflected in the differences in cultural genes: the "Rainbow Cat" meme on which Nyancoin is based, ( Nyan Cat ), has far less spread and cultural penetration than the "Shiba Inu" Doge meme of DOGE.

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, tips, charity, and more, while the application scenarios of Nyancoin, mainly used for trading, are 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 leads Nyancoin step by step toward decline.

The Nyancoin community r/nyancoins has only 1.5k subscribers, and the last active post was two years ago. This community gap directly led to mainstream data platforms ( like CoinMarketCap; Coincarp, etc., ) stopping the update of Nyancoin's real-time data after 2019. At that time, its 24-hour trading volume had long been below $10,000, and the depletion of liquidity gradually caused it to be delisted from exchanges.

1.2 The Invincible General Type

1.2.1 Dogecoin(DOGE) - An unexpected "grassroots carnival"

Dogecoin, which was born on December 6, 2013, was initially just a parody of the Bitcoin craze culture by programmers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, but unexpectedly evolved into one of the most enduring phenomenon memes 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 popularity on platforms like Reddit.

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

Looking back at DOGE's several market capitalization peaks, the first was in early 2021 when retail investment enthusiasm and strong community support drove its market cap to 10 billion USD; in May of the same year, under the continuous promotion of its number one fan Elon Musk on social media platforms and the effect of the "Saturday Night Live" ( SNL ) program, DOGE's market cap reached 80 billion USD.

In the following years, although the popularity and price of DOGE have receded, even entering a downward trend, the overall market trend has remained relatively stable, maintaining a certain level of influence and popularity in the cryptocurrency field. Until November 12, 2024, when Trump announced that Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy would jointly lead the newly established "Government Efficiency Department" (DOGE), aimed at reducing government spending. However, the official abbreviation of this new department, "DOGE," is identical to the code for Dogecoin, which sparked heated discussions in the crypto community. Although Musk later clarified on the X platform that there is no connection between the two, considering his consistent style of operation and long-standing admiration for DOGE, the public generally believes that this abbreviation choice is far from coincidental.

What is admirable is that even when the entire meme coin market is bleak in 2025, DOGE still maintains a daily trading volume of over 1 billion USD, and its market capitalization remains firmly in the top ten. Moreover, its community activity still shows astonishing vitality. It is believed that this advantage can always be transformed into market momentum at critical moments, which in turn feeds back and ultimately forms a virtuous cycle.

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

2. Hibernation/Outbreak ( 2017-2021) - In the era of smart contracts, memes undergo a qualitative change.

In the past five years, the market has witnessed the transformation of memes 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 culminating in the historic market value of SHIB in 2021, memes have undergone a qualitative change from "internet joke" to "phenomenal investment benchmark."

After entering 2017, memes began to shift from being purely joke coins to more complex ecological developments. Some projects attempted to combine new concepts such as DeFi and NFTs, but they were still 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:

2.1 Meteor Shining Type

2.1.1 Useless Ethereum Token(UET,2017)

As the most honest scam in cryptocurrency history, UET was launched on June 17, 2017, by the developer "UselessEthereumToken" during the craziest period of the ICO( bubble, anonymously). It directly stated on its official website: "This is a worthless token; buying it is a waste of money."

Is this really reverse marketing or behavior art financing? The UET project party openly admits that the token has no functions, no team, and no roadmap. Even the official website FAQ states: "Why should I buy this token? - You don't need to."

Despite its "uselessness" being so blatant, UET still raised 310 ETH in 48 hours, which was around $93,000 at the time, making it one of the most absurd ICO cases in history.

When it comes to its token mechanism, it is a blatant "self-explosive" design. It can be said to embody 100% honest economics, with a total supply of UET fixed at 1 billion, no issuance 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 website easter eggs constantly enhance the absurd theatrical effect of this performance: technically based on the most basic ERC-20 standard, without smart contract functionality, and even with transfer restrictions not opened.

Although UET's blatant attitude is shocking, the market response has not been entirely negative. UET has found its "kindred spirits" in the market and has gained a group of followers. During its initial launch, some exchanges (, such as EtherDelta ), listed UET due to curiosity, causing a brief price surge of 800%. Even a Reddit user initiated the "UET Challenge" - to see who can convince others to take over with the most absurd reasoning.

But 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 2018 bear market, UET's liquidity dried up, and it was eventually marked as a "dead project" by CoinGecko in 2020.

This absurd success seems to confirm the irrational characteristics of the cryptocurrency market - even though UET clearly self-denies, the market will still pay for the empty narrative. When "worthless" can become a selling point, the frenzy in this field has just begun.

(# 2.1.2 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 to build a unique token economy through a deflationary model and community governance. 1% of the tokens are automatically burned with each transaction, while 1% is distributed to 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 method of "decentralization," allowing community members to vote on the direction of project development. This unique community-driven approach drives rapid development within the community and has garnered enough attention for HOGE in the cryptocurrency market. At the same time, just like DOGE, HOGE is also enthusiastic about charity and is committed to funding animal welfare projects, which has once again gained it considerable popularity and support. This popularity and support are directly reflected in the data on major cryptocurrency forums and social.