KEYTAKEAWAYS
- Meme coins capitalize on internet trends and popular culture to attract interest, with price volatility influenced heavily by social media and current events.
- Key elements affecting meme coin prices include popularity, trading liquidity, and investor confidence, which drive market movements and investment potential.
- Despite their playful nature, meme coins can offer investment returns but carry higher risks due to their reliance on market trends and sentiment.
CONTENT
In today’s society, awash with social media, have you ever wondered if memes could one day merge with cryptos and become immensely popular? Indeed, meme coins have quickly become a trend in the crypto market, even offering investors the opportunity to multiply their assets in a short period.
But what exactly are meme coins? And what are the top meme coins 2024? In this article, we will explain all of the details to you.
WHAT ARE MEME COINS?
Meme coins are a subcategory of crypto, revolving around popular internet memes or pop culture, serving as a form of cryptos. The creators of meme coins capitalize on trendy topics to capture the attention of the crypto market, or by promotion through influential figures, such as a meme coin created from a scene where Elon Musk uncontrollably swore in public, sparking a meme coin craze.
Many consider memes, and by extension meme coins, to be a refreshing departure from other cryptocurrencies, inviting a new generation of users to interact with blockchain technology in an accessible and non-traditional manner. Due to their meme-centric nature and tendency to follow current events, meme coin prices can be even more volatile than typical cryptocurrencies in an already fluctuating market. For instance, Dogecoin surged by more than 300% in a single day in May 2021, only to fall by more than 50% in a single day in May 2022.
TOP MEME COINS: HOW TO SELECT AMONG MEME COINS?
Given the extreme volatility of meme coin prices, understanding the main factors that determine their value and selecting potential meme coins for maximum profit becomes particularly important. Below, we introduce three key elements that influence meme coin price trends for readers to consider:
- Popularity: The more popular a meme coin is, and the more widely it is discussed in communities, the more likely it is to attract investors and drive up its price.
- Trading Liquidity: The easier it is for a meme coin to circulate (to be traded or converted into other assets), the more stable its price will be.
- Investor Confidence: If investors have confidence in a meme coin, or believe that it has the potential to appreciate in the future, they will naturally be willing to buy, indirectly pushing up the price of the meme coin.
WHAT ARE THE TOP MEME COINS 2024?
Here, we list several top meme coins to date by their market cap:
- Dogecoin (DOGE):
Dogecoin is a crypto and an independent blockchain ecosystem. First released in 2013, Dogecoin was initially intended as a satirical commentary on the speculative hype and elitist communities surrounding cryptocurrencies, thus being issued at an “extremely low” price. Dogecoin has no supply cap and has been jointly developed by the Dogecoin Foundation and its community, still reigning as the leader among meme coins, and standing out in a world of cryptocurrencies that emphasize utility and finance.
The representative image of Dogecoin is an internet meme featuring a Shiba Inu dog. Elon Musk has publicly stated that Dogecoin might be his favorite crypto, and he has frequently posted Dogecoin-related memes on Twitter, while also accepting Dogecoin as payment for services under his brands (such as SpaceX). Although Musk is a bona fide Dogecoin enthusiast, he is not an official promoter of the coin.
- Shiba Inu (SHIB):
Shiba Inu Coin is a meme coin themed around dogs, inspired by Dogecoin and dubbed the “Dogecoin killer.” Its trading symbol is SHIB, named after the English term for the Shiba Inu breed. The founding team of Shiba Inu Coin goes by the pseudonym “Ryoshi,” and their true identity remains undisclosed to this day.
Shiba Inu Coin emerged in August 2020, based on the Ethereum blockchain, with a total token supply of 1 quadrillion. At its inception, to provide liquidity, Ryoshi locked 50% of Shiba Inu Coin’s total supply in Uniswap, the largest decentralized exchange on Ethereum, and gifted the other 50% to Ethereum’s co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, for free. In May 2021, Vitalik Buterin initially donated 10% of his Shiba Inu Coin holdings to the India Covid Crypto Relief Fund. He then burned the remaining 90% of his tokens, a move that catapulted Shiba Inu Coin into the spotlight.
- Pepe Coin (PEPE):
PEPE Coin is a meme coin launched on the Ethereum blockchain, themed around Pepe the Frog. Similar to other meme coins like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, PEPE Coin aims to challenge the current market’s dog-centric meme framework and re-establish Pepe the Frog as the most attention-grabbing meme coin. Unlike other meme coins that follow a Ponzi-like economy, PEPE Coin had no presale or high transaction tax. The official team even burned the LP tokens and renounced contract ownership, pledging never to rug pull.
The total supply of PEPE tokens is 420 trillion, with 93.1% of the tokens injected into the Uniswap liquidity pool. Only 6.9% of the tokens are kept in a multisig wallet for future use, such as listings on centralized exchanges, cross-chain bridges, and liquidity pools. This wallet can be found by searching the ENS domain “pepecexwallet.eth.”
PEPE Coin lacks any substantial utility. Despite its slight differences from other meme coins, it’s difficult to justify its value. Therefore, investors focus more on its storytelling and the current hype and trends when purchasing, which also means higher investment risks.
- Bonk (BONK):
The meme of BONK originates from the internet sensation Cheems, a Shiba Inu being hit on the head with a blunt object. It’s used to self-deprecatingly indicate a negative state, signifying that one is getting “bonked” or used in situations where one wants to “bonk” someone else. The term “BONK” refers to the sound of a head being hit.
According to Bonk’s official Twitter, the Bonk project began planning on December 9, 2022 and called for interaction with other projects in the Solana ecosystem. Subsequently, on December 25, Christmas Day, Bonk officially launched a massive airdrop for the Solana ecosystem. 50% of BONK’s total supply was used for community airdrops, with 20% going to Solana NFT collectors, 10% to Solana ecosystem artists and collectors, 15% to early Openbook traders, and the final 5% to Solana developers.
BONK did not receive much attention upon its initial release, but as more projects and features integrated with it, such as NFT trading platforms incorporating BONK payments, NFT minting fees, Bonk domains, token burning, and listings on Huobi, BONK’s price was effectively driven up. From its closing price of $0.0000001487 on December 31, 2022, BONK surged almost 250 times to $0.000037 in March 2024.
- Floki Inu (FLOKI):
Floki Inu (FLOKI) is one of the many dog-themed meme cryptocurrencies inspired by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, such as Shiba Inu and Dogecoin. It was first listed in the summer of 2021, named after the rumor that Musk had bought a Shiba Inu and named it Floki.
Entering 2023, as the crypto market began to recover, FLOKI coin rose. Coupled with the meme coin craze led by PEPE Coin and the halving of FLOKI’s supply, the price of FLOKI coin surged by over 200%, transforming Floki into one of the hottest meme coins and successfully listing on Binance.
Although Floki initially started as a meme coin based on Elon Musk’s dog, it has evolved into a mature web3 project, covering decentralized finance, NFTs, and the Metaverse. Compared to other meme coins, it offers practical applications.
- Dogwifhat (WIF):
WIF is a meme coin themed around a “Shiba Inu wearing a woolen hat.” It quickly rose to fame in the crypto market after its launch in November 2023, with its market capitalization surpassing $2 billion in just over three months. According to CoinGecko, WIF’s trading price was $2.06 on March 6. 2024, with a nearly 23% increase in the past 24 hours and a trading volume exceeding $1 billion. Its two-week gain is as high as 480%.
WIF is the first major meme coin to break through the $1 barrier. Since such tokens typically have a large circulating supply, their prices are usually low. For example, Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) have never surpassed the $1 mark.
- BOOK OF MEME (BOME):
BOOK OF MEME, created by Pepe Meme artist Darkfarm, was released on March 14, 2024, and can be understood as a permanent storage album for memes. BOME is the native token used on BOOK OF MEME and is a meme coin on the Solana blockchain. According to Darkfarms, BOOK OF MEME (BOME) is a CC0 meme library that includes Shitcoins, updatable e-magazines, versatile tools for meme creation, and links to all unminted memes. BOOK OF MEME can also serve as a decentralized social network, a unifying NFT, and a mini GIF on the Solscan browser.
ARE TOP MEME COINS WORTH INVESTING?
From the above introduction, it is evident that meme coins, compared to other cryptos that primarily emphasize practical applications, focus more on cultural integration and reflecting current trends. As a result, their prices are more susceptible to current trends, and the characteristics of sharp rises and falls are more pronounced.
Therefore, although the generally lower prices of meme coins may offer investors the potential for multiple returns, investors still need to be more careful and implement risk management to avoid significant losses.
In conclusion, when purchasing meme coins, it is advisable to prioritize entertainment over purely seeking investment profits. By doing so, investors can enjoy the original intention of meme coins, which is rooted in meme culture.
FAQ
- What is the meme coin?
A: Meme coins are a subcategory of crypto, revolving around popular internet memes or pop culture, serving as a form of cryptos.
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What are the top meme coins 2024?
A: The top meme coins 2024 include but not limited to DOGE, SHIB, PEPE, FOLKI, BONK, BOMW, and WIF.
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What should investors keep in mind before buying meme coins?
A: When purchasing meme coins, it is advisable to prioritize entertainment over purely seeking investment profits because their characteristics of sharp rises and falls are more pronounced
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