How to Doge the system: The strange rise and rise of the meme coin
They're a type of cryptocurrency that started as a joke. But the segment is now worth billions. You can make them too, with just a few clicks. What’s going on?
They’re a bit like the novelty T-shirts one buys on impulse; the kind that say “Here for #RishGotHerMan” or “Family Trip Survivor”.
Meme coins — a type of cryptocurrency — are easy to make, easy to buy. They cost between a fraction of a paise and ₹15 per unit. They are churned out, sometimes as an in-joke and sometimes by celebrities, to build on a sense of fandom or community.
And yet… Presidents are now launching them; billions are being made.
In January, US President Donald Trump launched $Trump, so fans could show their support, “celebrate our win and have fun”. People have collectively paid more than $350 million for these tokens, since mid-January.
US First Lady Melania Trump launched a meme coin, Melania, as a “digital collectible intended to function as an expression of support”. Influencer and one-time Olympic gold-winning decathlete Caitlyn Jenner has one, named JENNER. So do singer Jason Derulo ($JASON), rapper Cardi B (WAP) and Australian rapper Iggy Azalea (MOTHER).
The tokens, as Trump’s website states, are not “the subject of, an investment opportunity, investment contract, or security of any type”.
And yet, the industry has ballooned to a market capitalisation (the total value of all the meme coins in circulation) of nearly $49 billion, according to cryptocurrency tracker CoinMarketCap.
And, in February, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, President of Central African Republic launched $CAR, in an “experiment” to draw investors and boost its economy. (The coin has had a rocky start, but still currently represents $15.56 million.)
How did we get here?
It all began, of course, with Doge, which was launched as a joke.
In 2013, software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer created the world’s first such token, named for the meme about the confused-looking Shiba Inu dog.
If Bitcoin (launched in 2009) could be considered real money, they demanded, why not this crypto coin based on a meme?
It too had to be developed using coding and blockchain.
If enough people bought in, could it be considered legitimate currency as well?
The joke backfired almost immediately. Doge became trendy, as “a community-driven digital currency, particularly for tipping and charitable donations,” says David S Krause, a blockchain researcher and emeritus associate professor of finance at Marquette University in Milwaukee.
By the end of that year, Doge was worth nearly $8 million. Then Elon Musk invested in it, and began to accept it as payment for Tesla accessories. More recently, the US government helpfully named the cost-cutting squad Musk heads the Department of Government Efficiency. All this has helped raise Doge valuations to about $25.5 billion.
Meanwhile, millions of other meme coins now sit around, uselessly, across the ethosphere.
There’s one named for Pepe the Frog of the Boy’s Club comics (Pepe). Another named after a favourite condiment (GRLC). Even nicher ones play on interests in scatological humour, pornography, and sheer silliness (PINEOWL, for a wished-for hybrid of a pineapple and an owl).
There has been a boom since January 2024, when the cryptocurrency launchpad Pump.Fun made it possible to create a meme coin with a few clicks (in exchange for a 1% fee on each trade, and further charges as a coin gets more popular).
Mint condition
Meme coins currently account for about 1.79% of the total cryptocurrency market (which is worth an estimated $2.74 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap).
They exist in a dense regulatory grey area.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in February stated that, in its view, they are collectibles rather than securities, and as such cannot really be monitored or governed.
They “typically are purchased for entertainment, social interaction, and cultural purposes… have limited or no use or functionality… do not generate a yield or convey rights to future income, profits, or assets of a business. In other words, a meme coin is not itself a security,” the SEC website states.
It’s like Monopoly money, if Monopoly money were to suddenly become tradeable.
Rates are determined, incidentally, by trading volumes on crypto exchanges such as Binance, Coinbase and Kraken.
These trading volumes are driven purely on speculation, hype cycles and the actions of whatever community “buys in on the joke”, says Kashyap Kompella, who researches and consults on artificial intelligence, blockchain, automation and emerging technologies.
This makes them uniquely risk-laden.
The $Trump coin, for instance, has seen valuations rise from less than $10 to $70 and then drop to $11.40 since January. Mother is down from $0.21 last July to $0.004659 (and still has a market cap of $4.7 million).
In 2021, Squid Coin revealed another aspect of the dangers. Created anonymously (as many meme coins are), the makers led buyers to believe it was official digital merchandise for the popular Korean Netflix series Squid Game. They sold tens of thousands of units; then simply shut shop and walked away with about $2.5 million. The case is still being investigated.
Sitting Argentinian president Javier Milei, meanwhile, is being investigated for allegedly doing something similar with a rug-pull scheme that operated through a meme coin called $LIBRA. (He denies any involvement; investigations are underway.)
“The rise of politically themed meme coins signals a dangerous fusion of financial speculation and political branding, creating an unregulated avenue for influence peddling, self-enrichment and campaign-finance loopholes,” says blockchain researcher Krause. “Without swift regulatory intervention, these tokens risk becoming an untraceable financial pipeline between politicians and their wealthiest, most opaque benefactors.”
Awkward coinage
Essentially, the joke just isn’t funny any more.
Meme coins are rooted in a primal urge to be in on the joke, to belong, says Ekta Mourya, a crypto analyst with the foreign-exchange resource platform FXStreet. “And we’re hooked to that gamified approach, be it in finance or wellness.”
But it’s worth remembering, Krause says, that most meme coins will be short-lived, driven by speculation rather than utility. They do simply want your money.
“They are a sign of the irreverent exuberance of our times,” adds Kashyap.
Money for nothing… who would have thought?
