What Are Meme Coins and Tokens?

Some of 2024’s largest meme coins originated on Pump.fun, including BILLY, FWOG and celebrity-launched tokens such as Iggy Azalea’s MOTHER. Simply put, meme coins and tokens are cryptocurrencies based on internet memes. Purchasing cryptocurrencies is still seen as a high-risk investment by many. The crypto market is known to be volatile already, and meme coins are the most prone to drastic swings in price of all options. However, great risk can always mean great reward and some have become “Dogecoin millionaires” after the shift in price from around $0.0004 in 2013 to nearly $0.75 in 2021. This has led many to try their hand at creating their own meme currency, which is why we are now seeing a dizzying amount of new coins.

Its rapid ascent created a new narrative that seamlessly merged AI and crypto, setting the stage for this niche market’s explosive growth. On January 2, 2025, Finbold retrieved data from CoinGecko’s consolidated “AI meme coins” market cap. By writing time, the AI meme coins total capitalization was precisely at $10.9 billion, up 25.3% in 24 hours. Unlike traditional cryptos, meme tokens have no inherent value and are not judged according to the utility they offer to customers. Instead, the majority of them are created as a means of making quick money. You should not invest more than you can afford to lose and you should ensure that you fully understand the risks involved.

However, many meme coins don’t often have utility, such as being used to pay blockchain participants for doing work for the blockchain. For example, ether is used to pay validators for verifying transactions on the Ethereum blockchain. Before you start buying meme coins, it’s essential to have a clear understanding of which ones have the potential to soar. Check out this top meme coins list to find out which cryptocurrencies to invest in this month. Benzinga’s top picks for the best meme coins to buy this month include DOGE, SHIB, PEPE and WIF. You can buy these meme coins from cryptocurrency exchanges like eToro, Coinbase or Kraken.

What Are Meme Coins and Tokens?

However, meme coins have characteristics that resemble financial bubbles, which traders should be aware of. The “Greater Fool Theory” explains the dynamics seen on these speculative tokens, moved primarily by social hype and buzz without any organic demand. As reported by Colin Wu, Binance Futures just listed AI16Z, ZEREBRO, and GRIFFAIN for derivatives trading. FARTCOIN, the second-largest AI meme token by market cap, is already trading on the platform since late December.

Famous People Who Own Meme Coins

It is working toward this goal by providing different services to the community, such as decentralized finance (DeFi) applications and a handful of games that investors can play. Most often, meme coins will be upfront about their status as a meme currency. However, it can be difficult to differentiate a “normal” cryptocurrency from a meme.

Memecoin trading simply involves the buying of meme coins on cryptocurrency exchanges, with the hope that their value will increase due to its hype, trend, and other community efforts. If you are looking for a place to buy meme coins, Coinbase, eToro, Kraken, Webull and PrimeXBT are great cryptocurrency exchange options to get started. Setting up an account on these trading platforms is usually straightforward, with account verification and funding completed in just a couple of business days. The only token on this list to feature a cat, MEW hopes to “save the world from other dog coins.” The token differentiates itself from other meme coins by embracing its cat-based identity. While the project has not created much value, the cat theme has allowed it to perform extremely well in 2024.

It was created from a viral meme of a Shiba Inu which explains the dog face that represents it. The Meme Index platform has undergone thorough audits by two reputable firms, Coinsult and SolidProof, guaranteeing the security of its smart contracts. The Meme Index has passed audits from two trusted firms, Coinsult and SolidProof, ensuring the platform’s smart contracts are secure. You can also buy $MEMEX by using Best Wallet, the new Web3 crypto wallet that is taking the cryptoverse by storm. Prospective buyers will find $MEMEX in the Upcoming Tokens section of the app. Memes in this basket could quickly reach Moonshot or even Titan levels.

With the emergence of web3, meme coins have also continued to thrive as they are now part of the ‘new internet’. As mentioned above, holding the $MEMEX token is the only way to access the Meme Index’s diverse basket of meme coins and gain exposure to this rapidly growing sector. The Midcap Index targets tokens with a market cap between $50 million and $250 million. If these tokens break the $1 billion mark, investors can expect potential returns between 4x and 20x. Meme Moonshot Index – This basket is filled with volatile up-and-comers, that are challenging for the meme coin leaderboard. Listing rumors, growing communities – Moonshot tokens are poised for greatness.

There is no “best” meme coin, only meme coin fan favorites and speculators. Meteora is a DeFi platform on the Solana blockchain that aims to increase yields for users by automating yield farming strategies. There’s even a fork of Dogecoin called Floki Inu which is based on Elon Musk’s pet dog. Then, there’s a Shiba Inu meme coin BilliCat that was intended to mock Dogecoin.

However, they could still gain popularity when members of a particular community buy into the most recent meme token to be in on that joke. Thailand’s regulator ordered exchanges to delist meme tokens in June 2021, alongside NFTs and fan tokens. Memecoins are often created as internet jokes or copies of existing cryptocurrencies. Some are inspired by political figures or events, while others are celebrity tokens.

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Conversely, meme cryptocurrencies often follow a get-rich-quick purpose, or they exist as more of a joke than anything else. As ‘the people’s cryptocurrency’, which is how the meme token refers to itself, FLOKI was created as a DOGE replica and runs on Ethereum and the Binance Smart Chain (BSC). The meme token has a current circulating supply of nearly 230 million tokens. The 20 million BONE tokens that haven’t been minted have been set aside as rewards for the Shibarium validators.