Review and Outlook of Meme Coin Development

This article systematically sorts out the development history of meme coins, analyzing typical cases and revealing their unique value logic: unlike traditional financial assets, the core value of meme coins is manifested as "cultural dissemination power × community consensus," rather than relying solely on technology or practical value. Based on their evolutionary characteristics, they can be divided into three key development stages:

1. Breaking Ground / Foundation Laying (2013-2016) ------ Barbaric Growth, The Sand Washes Away the Chaff

1.1 Ephemeral Type: Short-term popularity, lacking cultural accumulation, and quickly fading away.

• Mooncoin: An entertainment-type meme coin that uses "moon landing" as its slogan, lacking practical use cases, and ultimately destined to fade away.
• Fedoracoin (TIPS): Targeted at specific subcultures on Reddit, lacking practical application scenarios, making it difficult to expand into a broader market.
• Nyancoin: Based on the "Nyan Cat" meme, with low cultural recognition and a single application scenario.

1.2 General of Constant Victory: Cultural Symbol + Community Driven, Long-term Survival

• Dogecoin (DOGE): Originating from the popular Shiba Inu meme on the internet, it has a strong community-driven force and has maintained a top market capitalization ranking for a long time.

2. Dormancy / Outbreak (2017-2021) ------ In the era of smart contracts, meme coin has undergone a qualitative change.

2.1 Meteor Shining Type: Speculation Driven, Bubble Quickly Burst

• Useless Ethereum Token (UET): A token that claims to have no value, raised a large amount of funds in a short period, and ultimately disappeared due to technical flaws.
• Hoge Finance (HOGE): Attracts investors through a deflationary model and community governance, but lacks practical application scenarios.

2.2 Stellar Everbright Type: Ecological Expansion, Breaking Boundaries

• Shiba Inu (SHIB): From imitating DOGE to building a complete ecosystem, including a decentralized exchange and Layer 2 network.

2.3 Transformational Breakthrough: Attempt innovation, but progress is slow due to various limiting factors.

• Floki Inu (FLOKI): Attempting to build an ecosystem that includes DeFi, NFTs, and the metaverse, but progress is slow.
• SAMO (Samoyedcoin): As the "mascot" of the Solana ecosystem, it attempts to diversify its development but is limited by the binding of the public chain.

3. Sedimentation / Reconstruction (2022-2025) ------ The rise of new narratives, the market begins to shuffle

3.1 Short-term speculation: relies on trends, extremely high risk

• Trump (TRUMP): A political-themed token, its market performance is highly correlated with political situations, experiencing significant volatility.

3.2 Ecological-driven: relying on public chain, short-term explosion

• Dogwifhat (WIF): A popular project in the Solana ecosystem, experiencing rapid market value growth but facing issues with dependency on public chains.
• BONK: Regarded as the "savior dog" of the Solana ecosystem, driving ecological recovery but facing regulatory challenges.

3.3 Narrative Innovation: AI + Meme, Concept Speculation, Trust Crisis

• Goatseus Maximus (GOAT): A meme coin that combines AI hype, exposing the fragile boundaries between algorithmic sentiment and market manipulation.

3.4 Cultural Symbol Type: Internet Celebrity IP, Short-term Popularity

• MOODENG: Based on the influencer Hippo IP, it has rapidly gained popularity but faces challenges of declining heat and lack of practical applications.

Future Outlook

The meme coin market is undergoing a transition from reckless growth to rational development. Technological innovations (such as AI, DeFAI) and community building will become key factors. Although the market is experiencing adjustments, as a typical product of the attention economy, meme coins will still maintain their unique position and influence in the cryptocurrency space. In the future, projects that can balance hype with substantive value may have a greater survival advantage.