What Makes Dogecoin Worth $85 Billion? Unveiling the True Profit Logic Behind Meme Coins

Something surreal happened in May 2021.

A “Dogecoin,” created as a joke back in 2013, suddenly broke into the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap. That Shiba Inu meme paired with a multi-billion dollar valuation left traditional finance folks completely baffled: What’s the justification for this thing?

How Did an “Anti-Crypto” Joke Survive?

The story starts with a prank by two programmers. Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer were fed up with the rampant speculation in crypto in 2013, so they created a satirical project—a “counter-crypto” coin using the internet’s hottest Shiba Inu meme as its logo, with unlimited supply ( deliberately mocking Bitcoin’s 21 million scarcity ).

Logically, something like this should have died off in three days.

But Redditors don’t play by the rules. They actually started tipping fun posts with Dogecoin, organizing charity events, even crowdfunding sponsorships for a NASCAR driver and the Jamaican bobsled team. Nobody cared about what was written in the white paper or what tech was behind it—they just did it for laughs.

Those laughs lasted ten years. In 2021, Dogecoin peaked at $0.74 with a market cap of $85 billion. Sure, Musk’s tweets added fuel to the fire, but the real fuel was the community constantly making memes and hosting events. While countless altcoins perished in the bear market, the Dogecoin community kept entertaining themselves with meme creations.

That’s the real secret to its survival.

How Did Memes Become “Tradable Assets”?

If Dogecoin was an accidental hit, then Shiba Inu in 2020 followed a deliberate playbook.

It declared itself the “Dogecoin killer,” copy-pasted the same formula—cute Shiba Inu mascot + “SHIB Army” community branding. Every holder felt they were participating in a cultural movement, not just buying a token. In 2021, SHIB’s price soared 120,000x, peaking at a $36 billion market cap.

And then things got even crazier in 2023 with PEPE coin.

This token based on the “Sad Frog” meme had no team, no backing—just viral spread by users on social media, rocketing to a $7 billion market cap in two weeks. Yes, you read that right—two weeks.

What are these cases telling us? The price of a Meme Coin doesn’t come from brilliant code, but from how widely its cultural symbol spreads. Just like Disney makes money off Mickey Mouse, Meme Coins turn memes into tradable cultural assets. The more people recognize, use, and spread the symbol, the more valuable it becomes.

What Are All the “Pump” Shouters Getting Wrong?

Many newbies, after buying Meme Coins, go straight to the community to ask: “When is the team going to pump the price?”

But if you really understand the underlying logic of Meme Coins, you’ll realize you’re asking the wrong people.

Stocks have earnings reports, Bitcoin has a tech narrative. But the only “fundamental” for Meme Coins is community consensus and cultural virality. The devs might light the match, but the real “market makers” are the holders themselves.

Look at the PEPE example—it has no founding team, it’s entirely driven by users on Twitter and Telegram making memes and spreading them. When you retweet that Sad Frog, or joke about it with friends, you’re empowering it. Every share adds value to that cultural symbol.

On the flip side? If the whole community just sits and waits for the team to pump, it’s like guarding a fish pond that never breeds—running out is only a matter of time. Hundreds of new Meme Coins pop up daily on Pump.fun, but 99% don’t survive a week because all they have is a contract code—no cultural core, and no community eager to spread the word.

Attention Is the Real “Fundamental”

We live in an era of information overload. Attention is the scarcest resource.

The essence of Meme Coins is the securitization of “attention”—turning online interest, discussions, and shares into tradable assets.

Social platform algorithms inherently favor fun content. A funny meme spreads faster than a hundred-page white paper. “To the Moon” triggers more FOMO than any technical parameter. When you post a SHIB meme to your friends, you’re helping it capture attention—and that attention eventually translates into buy pressure.

Why are Meme Coins so active on Solana and Base? Because those chains are fast and cheap, ideal for retail traders to trade and share at high frequency. Tech is just the infrastructure; the real engine is the “social currency” generated by the community.

If You Really Want to Play This Game

Before you join in, remember these three things are more important than just watching the price chart:

1. Pick a cultural symbol you genuinely resonate with
Don’t buy a Meme Coin you personally find boring. If you feel nothing for the meme, why expect others to spread it? Most PEPE holders are Gen Z who grew up with this frog meme—they spread it out of genuine love, not just for profit.

2. Be a spreader, not a speculator
Instead of asking “When will it go up?” think about how to get more people to know about the meme. Make a fun meme, write a post, or leave a witty comment under a trending topic. Every creative contribution you make adds value to your own holdings.

3. Approach investing with a sense of fun
Meme Coins are basically “cultural lotteries”—they have more cultural value than pure gambling, but are still highly speculative. Never invest more than you can afford to lose. Treat it as buying a ticket to an amusement park—having fun is what matters; profits are just a bonus.

Everyone Can Be Their Own Market Maker

When we turn memes into cryptocurrencies, we’re essentially giving internet culture an “IPO.” Every Meme Coin’s meteoric rise is grassroots culture ambushing traditional finance.

But remember: No spread, no value.

No matter what the devs promise or KOLs hype, nothing is as powerful as that meme ready to be posted from your phone. Instead of waiting for someone else to pump, why not open your image editor and create your own financial meme for this era?

After all, in the attention economy, everyone is their own market maker.