As an investor, you surely know all the top 10 most popular cryptocurrencies. You know what Bitcoin or Ethereum is. However, have you ever wondered what memecoins are and why they have become so popular in the crypto industry? In today’s lesson, we will answer these questions.
Memecoin – what is it?
Meme coins are nothing more than cryptocurrencies that are based or inspired on jokes, memes and viral online images. Hence, their name. Very often generated by creators as a joke, they are moving into the mainstream in the cryptocurrency world. On a large scale, they are not taken seriously, but over time they gain huge popularity, and their value increases. Cryptocurrencies based on memes are, for example, Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB), Samoyedcoin or Doge Dash.
You have also probably noticed that the popularity of these coins is driven by famous public figures or internet celebrities. Some meme coins are typically a passing fancy for their author. They’ve been around for a few years now, but it’s estimated that the memecoin boom started at the end of 2020. That’s when the WallStreetBets community, on Reddit, significantly inflated the value of GameStop shares. In retaliation, another group of redditers pumped up the value of Dogecoin, and the trend took hold and, most importantly, has continued.
At this point, we must also mention Elon Musk, thanks to whom the popularity of DOGE has also increased a lot, but some meme coins are not just a funny joke. Floki Inu, also part of the meme coin canon, was created together with the Million Gardens Movement. It is a charity co-founded by Elon Musk’s brother Kimbal, but we will talk about the characteristics of this funny cryptocurrency later.
MemeCoins – characteristics
What do they have in common? Certainly, a high and sometimes unlimited supply. Unlike Bitcoin, for example, which is limited. They also very often do not have a ‘burn’ mechanism that burns them or removes them from circulation permanently. As a result, their number is constantly growing.
Their second common feature is their low price. Any investor can acquire numerous of them without consuming high monetary resources.
Ease of creation. There are many programs on the crypto market that will create such a coin for you from start to finish. You can redesign them in any theme to fit in with any trend.
They have no ecosystem to support them. They rely on their communities, which sometimes artificially pump up their popularity.
Investing
Investing in memecoins is very risky. Their prices are highly fluctuant and basically depend on the mood of the community, external factors or even celebrity tweets. Their price can rise to arbitrary values and then fall sharply. Outside the crypto world, they are often worthless. Nobody accepts payments in memecoins, but in popular cryptocurrencies, they do. We can conclude that in a few years nobody will remember meme coins any more and their value will be close to zero.
Let’s not harass them so much, though. Of course, you can invest in these coins, but you can never be sure of a profit. Proceed as you would with cryptocurrencies. Do thorough research before you invest in something. Never spend more than you can afford to lose.
The most popular memecoins
1. Dogecoin (DOGE) – was created in 2013. It is by far the most popular meme coin. In 2021, it was backed by Elon Musk himself. At that time, its value skyrocketed and DOGE was among the top 20 cryptocurrencies in terms of market capitalization. This memecoin is, of course, an open source digital currency. It uses a peer-to-peer algorithm. Dogecoin has a community that uses and trades it.
2. Floki Inu – this is quite an interesting memecoin. It combines the ridiculousness of memes with usability. The Floki Inu ecosystem consists of Valhalla. It is a P2E NFT Metaverse game. The game is powered by the FLOKI token. By playing Valhalla, you earn tokens. What’s more, the entire Floki Inu network also includes a cryptocurrency education platform, and an NFT shop will soon be launched to trade Flokiplaces cryptocurrency.
3. Dogelon Mars (ELON) – one of the many dog currencies. It has gained its popularity due to its similarity to DOGE and SHIB. It is safe to say that ELON is an icon for the dog cryptocurrency community. Elon Musk has also shown his support for him.
4. Shiba Inu (SHIB) – Dogecoin’s direct competitor. It was created from a dog meme in 2013. Its mascot is the dog of the same name – the Shiba Inu. The entire ecosystem consists of up to three tokens. The titular SHIB, Leash (Leash) and Bone (BONE).
5. Akita Inu (AKITA) – memecoin, equally inspired by Dogecoin. It entered the cryptocurrency world on 1 February 2021. It was built on the Ethereum network. Coin is part of the AKITA community. It is backed by its network of the same name. AKITA is entirely created by its community, something it immodestly prides itself on. It has no founders or team. It is its community, collectively striving for success and progress.
6. Samoyed Coin – an equally fun memecoin that, unlike the others, has a mission. It was created on the Solana blockchain. Its mission is to attract more users to the cryptocurrency world, using a fun theme.
7. Dogs of Elon – memecoins are meant to be an alternative to CryptoPunks. The project itself comes from the NFT collection, which includes as many as 30 Elon and 70 Zombie DOGE. The team behind this memecoin is working on a P2E gaming platform.
Summary
The topic of memecoin is not complicated. You already know that it is a kind of cryptocurrency that was inspired by an internet meme or viral. By far the most popular of these is Dogecoin. They work similarly to most digital assets except that, unlike them, they are more volatile. Primarily because they are driven by their communities rather than being company or project-based. Most of them were founded on blockchain technology and are mined quite like the other, more established cryptocurrencies. Finally, we remind you that before you add any meme coin to your portfolio, do thorough research.
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