Review and Analysis of the Development History of Meme Coin

Meme coin is one of the most unique existences in the field of cryptocurrency, combining cultural attributes and financial characteristics. Reviewing the history of meme coins is also a review of the collision between internet culture and financial speculation.

From the initial ironic joke to the current position it holds in the market, meme coins are telling us through their experiences that in today's era, cultural resonance and community belief may drive value creation more than technical white papers. While the traditional financial world is still trying to create new value, meme coins have already reshaped people's understanding of "value" itself.

In an era dominated by social media, the speed and manner of information dissemination have undergone fundamental changes. A meme that becomes popular on Reddit or Twitter can gain hundreds of millions of exposures globally within a few hours, and the power of this viral spread has now been directly transformed into financial value. Meme coins, as the perfect vehicle for this transformation, have written their own stories and legends on the time axis.

Breaking Ground/Foundation (2013-2016)

This period witnessed the original innovative journey of meme coins from zero to one, presenting a unique ecology where wild growth coexists with natural selection. Marked by the birth of DOGE in December 2013 as a symbolic starting point, and ending with the maturity of Ethereum's smart contract technology in 2016, it constitutes the most pure and authentic "Genesis Era" in the history of meme coin development.

From a technical perspective, with a few exceptions, almost all meme coins at this stage are based on forks of Bitcoin or Litecoin.

In terms of market performance, the average active cycle of meme coins born during this period is only 11.7 months, but survivors like DOGE demonstrate remarkable vitality.

In terms of historical status, the foundational significance of this stage cannot be underestimated. True innovation often arises when rules have not yet been established, and the experimental field of 2013-2016, which had not yet formed a system, preserved the most precious rebellious genes and innovative spirit of the cryptocurrency world.

Ephemeral

Mooncoin - An unfinished "moon landing" dream

As an entertainment-type meme coin with the slogan "登月(To the Moon)", its somewhat brief existence has not been able to support the ambition of this grand narrative. Mooncoin has no practical use cases related to space or moon landing aside from its name.

Looking back at its development trajectory from 2014 to 2018, the initial performance of mooncoin can be described as stunning: in its first year, it set a record for a single-day increase of over 300%; the discussion volume in the Reddit community exceeded 5000 posts in a month; it collaborated with the gaming platform Moonrocket; and it was even dubbed the "most serious joke coin".

However, after the spotlight comes a long silence: In 2015, the removal from mainstream exchanges led to a market cap drop of over 90%; the following year, members of the anonymous development team announced an "indefinite hibernation"; it was not until 2018 that the project experienced a brief resurgence - but this was not due to its own breakthroughs, rather it benefited from two external factors: first, the overall recovery of the cryptocurrency market; second, SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket launch reignited the "To the Moon" internet meme, and a parody video made by community members titled "Mooncoin Countdown to the Moon" unexpectedly brought in traffic.

Unfortunately, Mooncoin failed to seize this last opportunity. The development team claimed to create a "lunar base" metaverse game, but ultimately the white paper did not materialize, and the so-called "metaverse game" was merely a Unity demo video. After that, with Bitcoin's dramatic drop of 60% in April 2018, market enthusiasm waned, and Mooncoin completely faded from the stage.

Fedoracoin(TIPS) - A niche "gentleman" recognition

FedoraCoin(TIPS) was born on December 22, 2013. Its core is not aimed at the mass market, but precisely targets the "Fedora-wearing neckbeard"( subculture group on Reddit, known for their "keyboard warrior") persona. This highly vertical positioning allowed it to quickly gain popularity within specific communities in its early days, but it also planted the seeds for limitations in its subsequent development.

On a technical level, TIPS adopted the relatively common Scrypt algorithm at the time, and its design supporting GPU mining made it quite friendly for ordinary users. This simple and practical architecture helped it quickly accumulate a loyal following in the early stages.

At the same time, just two months after its launch, the r/Fedoracoin subreddit on Reddit set an astonishing record of over 2000 discussions in a single day, making it one of the most active meme coin communities for a time.

However, the good times did not last long, and TIPS soon encountered a predicament similar to that of Mooncoin. Due to the lack of practical application scenarios, this project, which is built on subcultural meme images, has always been unable to break through the limitations of cultural symbols. Starting from 2015, as mainstream exchanges gradually delisted TIPS, its liquidity experienced a cliff-like decline. One can glimpse the issue from the product's initial positioning to serve a specific subcultural group; while this approach precisely matched the target users, its niche nature also made it difficult to expand into a broader market and subsequent marketing.

Although the cryptocurrency market as a whole warmed up in 2018, the price of TIPS briefly rebounded. Unfortunately, TIPS did not manage to take advantage of this opportunity to turn things around.

During the period from 2014 to 2016, FedoraCoin gradually lost market attention. By the end of 2018, the TIPS GitHub repository stopped at version v1.8.0, with the last on-chain transaction record remaining in November. In 2019, this once-prominent project was officially listed as "dead."

Nyancoin - A brief "rainbow" light effect

As the second meme coin after DOGE, Nyancoin was launched on January 6, 2014, and within a month, it gained the unique identity of being the "first officially licensed cryptocurrency in history", yet it lags far behind the former in market influence.

In terms of the essence of the project, this gap is primarily reflected in the differences in cultural genes: the "Rainbow Cat" meme that Nyancoin is based on, (Nyan Cat), has far less dissemination and cultural penetration compared to the DOGE "Shiba Inu" Doge meme - before being exposed to these two cryptocurrencies, most people may have never seen the Rainbow Cat, but almost everyone has seen that captivating Shiba Inu on their screens.

In addition, in the fields of application scenarios and development directions, the direct manifestation of this cultural cognition gap is that Nyancoin lacks some breadth and depth compared to DOGE. DOGE has built a multi-dimensional application ecosystem encompassing payment, tipping, charity, and more, while the application scenarios of Nyancoin, which are mainly used for trading, are relatively singular.

In terms of external empowerment, the community activity and external traffic of Nyancoin are not ideal. This vicious cycle - weak community support leads to sluggish project development, while stagnation further weakens community enthusiasm - ultimately leads to the gradual decline of Nyancoin.

The Nyancoin community has only 1.5k subscribers, and the last active post dates back to two years ago. This community disconnect directly led to mainstream data platforms stopping the update of Nyancoin's real-time data after 2019 - at that time, its 24-hour trading volume had long been below $10,000, and the lack of liquidity gradually led to its delisting from exchanges. The case of Nyancoin is sufficient to illustrate a brutal market rule: in the era of attention economy, the endorsement of top IPs often plays a more decisive role than the technical characteristics of the project itself.

General of Eternal Victory Type

Dogecoin(DOGE) - An unexpected "grassroots carnival"

Launched on December 6, 2013, Dogecoin was initially just a parody of Bitcoin's fanatical culture created by programmers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, but it unexpectedly evolved into one of the most enduring phenomenons in the history of cryptocurrencies as a meme coin. Its iconic Shiba Inu image originates from the "Doge" meme that went viral on the internet in 2013, and this inherently high-profile internet IP allowed it to quickly rise to fame on platforms like Reddit.

In terms of design philosophy and founding intention, it does not emphasize complex technology like other cryptocurrencies, nor does it boast revolutionary blockchain technology or promise grand visions. Instead, it uses a cute Shiba Inu meme as its logo, entering this increasingly fervent field in the most mocking way.

Looking back at DOGE's several market capitalization peaks, they were at the beginning of 2021 due to a surge in retail investor enthusiasm and strong community support, where its market cap soared to 10 billion USD; in May of the same year, under the influence of its number one fan Elon Musk's continuous promotion on social media platforms and the effect of the Saturday Night Live (SNL) show, DOGE's market cap reached 80 billion USD.

In the following years, although the popularity and price of DOGE have both declined, even entering a downward trend, the overall market trend has remained relatively stable, maintaining a certain influence and popularity in the cryptocurrency field. Until November 12, 2024, when Trump announced that Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy would jointly lead the newly established "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE), with the aim of cutting government spending. However, the official abbreviation of this new department, "DOGE," is completely identical to the code for Dogecoin, and this coincidence has sparked heated discussions in the crypto community. Although Musk later clarified that there is no connection between the two, given his consistent style of action and long-term admiration for DOGE, the outside world generally believes that this choice of abbreviation is certainly not a coincidence.

Regarding this intriguing naming coincidence, there are various interpretations in the market: some speculate that this is Musk's clever arrangement to bridge the gap between the cryptocurrency market and the political stage; others believe it may be a foreshadowing to revitalize the DOGE market's popularity; of course, it may also be, as he himself said, just an interesting coincidence. What true intentions are hidden behind this dramatic naming event may only be revealed by time. However, it is undeniable that this event once again highlights DOGE's unique position in cryptocurrency culture, as well as the intricate and complicated relationship between Musk and DOGE.

The development of DOGE perfectly showcases the dual nature of meme coins: on one hand, it created a financial miracle driven by ordinary netizens; on the other hand, it also exposed the risk of such coins easily becoming speculative tools.

However, what is impressive is that even when the entire meme coin market is sluggish in 2025, DOGE still maintains a daily trading volume of over 1 billion dollars, with its market capitalization ranking consistently in the top ten. Moreover, its community activity still exhibits astonishing vitality, and it is believed that this advantage can always be transformed into market momentum at critical moments, which in turn feeds back into the system, ultimately forming a virtuous cycle.

It must be admitted that this digital currency, initially created as a joke, has now become a unique and enduring presence in the world of cryptocurrency.

Hibernation/Outbreak(2017-2021)

In the past five years, the market has witnessed the transformation of meme coins from a fringe subculture to mainstream financial assets. The popularization of the ERC-20 standard in 2017 marked a technological turning point, leading up to 2021.