Review and Analysis of the Development History of Memes

Memes as one of the most unique presences in the cryptocurrency field, combining cultural attributes and financial characteristics. Looking back at the history of memes, it is also a reflection on the collision between internet culture and financial speculation.

From the initially ironic joke to the virtual currencies that now hold a place in the market, memes tell us through their journey that in today's era, cultural resonance and community belief may drive value creation more than technical whitepapers. While the traditional financial world is still trying to create new value, memes 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 goes viral on Reddit or Twitter can garner hundreds of millions of exposures globally within a few hours, and the power of this viral spread has now been directly converted into financial value. Memes, as the perfect vehicle for this conversion, have written their own stories and legends along the timeline.

1. Breaking Ground/Expanding Foundation (2013-2016)

This period witnessed the original innovation process of meme coins from zero to one, presenting a unique ecology of both barbaric growth and natural selection. Marked by the birth of DOGE in December 2013 and ending with the maturity of Ethereum's smart contract technology in 2016, it constitutes the purest and most authentic "Genesis Era" in the history of meme coin development.

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

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

In terms of historical status, the foundational significance of this stage cannot be underestimated. In fact, history tells us that true innovation often arises when rules have not yet been established, and the experimental field from 2013 to 2016, which had not yet formed a system, preserved the most precious rebellious genes and spirit of innovation in the world of cryptocurrency.

1.1 Ephemeral Type

Mooncoin - An unfinished "moon landing" dream

As a entertainment-type meme coin with the slogan "登月(To the Moon)", its somewhat short life has not been able to bear the ambition of this grand narrative. Looking back at its development trajectory from 2014 to 2018, Mooncoin's early performance can be considered stunning: in its first year, it set a record for a single-day increase of over 300%; the discussion volume on the Reddit community r/Mooncoin exceeded 5000 posts in a month; and it collaborated with the gaming platform Moonrocket.

However, after the highlights comes a long period of silence: In 2015, the delisting from mainstream exchanges led to a market value drop of over 90%; the following year, members of the anonymous development team announced an "indefinite hibernation"; it wasn't until 2018 that the project experienced a brief revival - but this was not due to breakthroughs of its own, rather thanks to two external factors: First, the overall recovery of the cryptocurrency market; second, the launch of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket reignited the "To the Moon" network meme, and a parody video titled "Mooncoin Countdown to the Moon" created by community members unexpectedly attracted traffic.

Unfortunately, Mooncoin failed to seize this last opportunity. The development team claimed to create a "lunar base" metaverse game, but in the end, the white paper was never realized, and the so-called "metaverse game" was merely a Unity demo video. After this, with Bitcoin plummeting 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, the "keyboard warrior") who wears a top hat. This highly vertical positioning allowed it to quickly gain popularity in specific communities early on, 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 the design supporting GPU mining made it quite user-friendly for ordinary users. This simple and practical architecture helped it quickly accumulate a group of loyal followers in its 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 posts in a single day, making it one of the most active memes communities.

However, the good times did not last long, and TIPS quickly encountered a predicament similar to that of Mooncoin. Due to the lack of practical application scenarios, this project built on subcultural memes has always been unable to break through the limitations of cultural symbols. Starting in 2015, as mainstream exchanges like Cryptsy and Bittrex gradually delisted TIPS, its liquidity experienced a drastic decline. The initial positioning of this product to serve specific subcultural groups is telling; while it accurately matched the target users, this niche attribute also made it difficult to expand into a broader market and subsequent marketing.

Although the cryptocurrency market as a whole rebounded in 2018, the price of TIPS briefly surged. Unfortunately, like mooncoin, TIPS did not take this opportunity to turn around.

Nyancoin - A brief "rainbow" light and shadow

As the second memes after DOGE, Nyancoin was released on January 6, 2014, and within a month, it gained the unique status of "the first officially licensed cryptocurrency in history," yet it lagged 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 reach and cultural penetration compared to the DOGE "Shiba Inu" Doge meme - before encountering these two cryptocurrencies, most people may have never seen the rainbow cat, but almost everyone has been inundated by that charming Shiba Inu.

In addition, in the fields of application scenarios and development directions, the direct manifestation of this cultural awareness gap is that Nyancoin lacks some breadth and depth compared to DOGE. DOGE has built a multi-dimensional application ecosystem covering payments, tipping, charity, and more, while the application scenarios primarily used for trading with Nyancoin 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, and stagnation further undermines community enthusiasm - ultimately results in Nyancoin gradually declining.

The Nyancoin community r/nyancoins has only 1.5k subscribers, and the last active post was made 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 depletion of liquidity gradually led to it being delisted from exchanges. The case of Nyancoin is enough 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.

1.2 Champion General Type

Dogecoin(DOGE) - An unexpected "grassroots carnival"

Dogecoin, born on December 6, 2013, was initially just a parody of the Bitcoin craze created by programmers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, but it unexpectedly evolved into one of the most enduring phenomenon memes in cryptocurrency history. Its iconic Shiba Inu image comes from the "Doge" meme that became popular on the internet in 2013, and this inherently high-profile internet IP allowed it to quickly gain popularity 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 humorous way.

Looking back at the several peaks in the market value of DOGE, it soared to $10 billion in early 2021 due to a surge of retail investment and strong community support; in May of the same year, under the continuous endorsements from its number one fan Elon Musk on social media platforms and the effect of the "Saturday Night Live" (SNL) program, DOGE's market value reached $80 billion.

In the following years, although the popularity and price of DOGE have both declined, even entering a downward trend, the overall market trend remains 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 exactly the same as the code for Dogecoin, and this coincidence sparked enthusiastic discussions in the crypto community. Although Musk later clarified on the X platform that there is no connection between the two, given his consistent style and long-standing admiration for DOGE, the outside world generally believes that this choice of abbreviation is by no means accidental.

Regarding this intriguing naming coincidence, there are various interpretations in the market: some speculate that this is a clever arrangement by Musk to bridge the gap between the cryptocurrency market and the political stage; others believe that this may be a foreshadowing to revive the heat of the DOGE market; of course, it could also be, as he himself stated, merely an interesting coincidence. What real intentions are hidden behind this dramatic naming event may only be answered by time. However, it is undeniable that this event once again highlights the unique position of DOGE in cryptocurrency culture, as well as the intricate and inseparable relationship between Musk and DOGE.

The development of DOGE perfectly showcases the duality of meme coins: on the one hand, it has created a financial miracle driven by ordinary internet users; on the other hand, it also exposes the risks of such coins easily becoming speculative tools.

However, what is impressive is that even when the entire memes market is in a downturn in 2025, DOGE still maintains a daily trading volume of over 1 billion dollars, and its market capitalization remains firmly in the top ten. Moreover, its community activity still possesses astonishing vitality. It is believed that this advantage can always be transformed into market momentum at critical moments, and in turn, feed back to create a virtuous cycle.

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

2. Hibernate/Explode ( 2017-2021)

In the past five years, the market has witnessed the transformation of memes from a fringe subculture to a mainstream financial asset. With the popularization of the ERC-20 standard in 2017 as a technological turning point and the historic market value of SHIB in 2021 as a milestone, memes have completed a qualitative change from "internet joke" to "phenomenal investment target."

From a technical perspective, the maturity of smart contracts has completely restructured the issuance logic of memes. According to data on the Ethereum chain, the majority of memes born between 2017 and 2021 chose to adopt the ERC-20 standard or rely on other protocols, with issuance costs reduced to less than one-thousandth ( compared to the tens of thousands of dollars ) for independent chain development. This kind of technological democratization, akin to a double-edged sword, has given rise to the frenzy of "everything can be a meme," but it has also buried the hidden dangers of homogenized competition.

At the same time, on the market narrative level, in December 2017, the market value of DOGE first surpassed $1 billion, while in the peak period of 2021, the overall daily trading volume of the memes sector exceeded $30 billion, accounting for 12.3% of the entire cryptocurrency market. It is worth noting that the memes that were born during this stage had a significantly improved lifecycle compared to the previous period.

However, it should be noted that not all memes have a higher survival rate and longer survival cycle. According to data from the Chainplay research report, in 2020, meme projects averaged per month.