Meme Coins and Their Role in the Crypto Space - A Case for Meme Tokens
Even with outrageous price increases, meme coins will always remain what they truly stand for - memes
Meme coins are cryptocurrencies that are usually inspired by popular internet memes. In 2021, these tokens grew in popularity as dog-themed cryptocurrencies like DOGE and SHIB saw explosive growth in their price and market capitalization. As of December 2021, DOGE has increased by over 8,000%, while SHIB has gained more than 60,000,000%.
This success has led to the increasing number of meme coins in the market with many investors looking to gain in on the next meme success. However, meme coins are usually highly volatile.
They can show massive price gains in a few hours and crash unexpectedly as most people invest with FOMO (fear of missing out), and others based on celebrity endorsements.
Although meme coins are gaining more attention, most experts have pointed to their lack of utility as a major red flag. A host of them in the crypto market have no fundamentals like top currencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum or BNB, and they are largely driven by sentiments.
In as much as this sounds concerning, the lens through which most folks view meme tokens are a bit stereotyped.
A large number of people in the crypto space are getting it all wrong when it comes to understanding the true value of these tokens and their role in the cryptoverse.
Memes and Culture
The word 'meme' first appeared in the 1976 book, The Selfish Gene written by popular biologist, Richard Dawkins. Although memes themselves date as far back as the beginning of man.
Memes are ideas, behaviours, practices, and styles propagated through imitation and communication within a culture and they often have significant meanings.
A large chunk of culture we practice today are memes that mutated and reproduced themselves from person to person - the way we talk, eat, dress, invest, dance, etc.
Memes reproduction rate has accelerated with the emergence of the internet as new communities with different memes are formed daily. From the usage of LOL, Dog filters, GIFs, Tik-Tok videos, big shirts, etc., meme culture has swallowed up the internet and our society at large.
Just the way memes found their way into fashion, language, food, etc, memes are gradually establishing themselves in the world of cryptocurrencies.
Memes in Crypto
It all started with the popular internet meme "doge" featuring a Shiba Inu dog named Kabosu. Developers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer brought the doge craze to crypto by performing a fork of the Litecoin network to create the first meme token, Dogecoin. The currency jumped over 300% in the first 72 hours of trading but later went cool for years.
However, the dog-themed meme was only gathering momentum for the explosive growth it saw in the crypto market in 2021, replicating itself in hundreds of other tokens including the giant currency, Shiba Inu.
Other memes are gradually finding their way into the market but the dog family consumes a large percentage currently.
As a crypto enthusiast, the approach you take with these coins is of critical importance. Several persons have both won and lost thousands of dollars investing in meme coins.
While most cryptocurrencies are investment opportunities to earn passive income, meme coins, however, are not created with investment purposes in mind.
Just the way memes start with jokes, random ideas or beliefs without a well-thought process, meme coins are created the same way.
They often do not have a sound business model to ensure they stand the test of time. We have seen different meme coins increasing in thousands of percentages and crashing a few weeks after.
Meme coins, originally, are a way of using money on a blockchain to show that you relate with or support a trend, idea, jokes, etc. Their survival is dependent on the community of people who identify with the meme.
Meme coins with support from communities with a good number of passionate enthusiasts or influential figures are usually successful in the long run.
Dogecoin has seen several price appreciation through a series of tweets from Tesla billionaire, Elon Musk and determined Reddit traders. The recently launched African meme coin, Wakanda Inu, jumped more than 1,000 per cent in a week through collective efforts from African traders. Shiba Inu pumped over 1,000 per cent in a week through deliberate efforts from its community.
All successful meme coins have one thing in common - a strong community that relates with its meme.
Meme coins will always play a huge role in the crypto space as long as people exist to reproduce and replicate memes. These tokens are allowing people to show support for a cause and have fun in the space.
Nevertheless, people are still bagging meme tokens intending to become the next meme millionaire. While it is safe to include a little in your crypto portfolio, never approach them with an investment-first mentality. A few experienced traders and other lucky folks may have profited through them but many have also lost good money on them.
Even with outrageous price increases, meme coins will always remain what they truly stand for - memes.
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