Meme coin

A meme coin (also spelled memecoin) is a cryptocurrency that originated from an internet meme or has some other humorous characteristic.
The term is sometimes used interchangeably with the term shitcoin, which typically refers to a cryptocurrency with little to no value, authenticity, or utility. It may be used in the broadest sense as a critique of the cryptocurrency market in its entirety — those based on particular memes such as Dogecoin, celebrities like Coinye, and pump-and-dump schemes such as BitConnect — or it may be used to make cryptocurrency more accessible.
The term is often used dismissively, comparing the value or performance of those cryptocurrencies to that of mainstream digital assets. Supporters, on the other hand, observe that some memecoins have acquired social currency and high market capitalizations.
In late 2013, Dogecoin was released after being created as a joke on the Doge meme by software engineers. This sparked the creation of more meme coins. In October 2021, there were 124 meme coins circulating. Notable examples include Dogecoin and Shiba Inu.
In early 2021, Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission banned meme coins as part of a crackdown on digital goods with "no clear objective or substance". In late 2021, advertisements promoting the meme coin Floki Inu in London led to investigations around promoting the meme coin, considered to be an unregulated financial product by the United Kingdom Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
Meme coins increased in popularity in 2021 and 2022 when Elon Musk endorsed Dogecoin, one of the first meme coins. He posted several tweets about the coin, including saying that Tesla-branded merchandise could be purchased with Dogecoin. Musk was sued by investors who accused him of using Dogecoin as an unregistered security to operate a pyramid scheme.
Meme coins have seen a resurgence following Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 United States presidential election. One such example is Fartcoin, whose valuation briefly surpassed $2 billion. Trump himself launched the meme coin $Trump three days before his second inauguration.
In February 2025, the President of the Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, announced a national memecoin, $CAR, on his official X account. Soon after its launch, the project's X account was suspended amid questions about its legitimacy and because the announcement video had previously been flagged as a deepfake. Despite continued promotion from Touadéra via his verified X account, the value of $CAR dropped by 95% on February 11—just one day after trading began.
Commentators have compared meme coins with the speculative frenzy and collapse of the NFT market in 2022. American investor David Einhorn said, "We have reached the ‘Fartcoin’ stage of the market cycle ... Other than trading and speculation, it serves no other obvious purpose and fulfills no need that is not served elsewhere." In January 2025, three US asset managers set out to launch exchange-traded funds investing in meme coins linked to Trump and Musk, which the Financial Times describes as "casino-like speculation". In February, more than 700 different copycat and spam coins were sent to Trump's digital wallet by people apparently seeking to falsely suggest they had his endorsement.
This list includes meme coins that have received significant amounts of media coverage: