The truth about meme coins: Why the memes you share are more valuable than the whitepaper

In May 2021, a token with a Shiba Inu avatar suddenly surged into the top ten by market capitalization in the cryptocurrency space. This thing was created in 2013, originally as a complete joke, but it ended up turning itself into a multi-billion-dollar entity.

Many people were stunned: what exactly makes this thing valuable?

The answer is actually hidden in every meme you share, concealed in the flood of “To the Moon” comments, and even more so in those holders who spontaneously create memes, spread them, and stick to them relentlessly.

Today, let’s talk about why the secret to Meme coin value isn’t in the technical white paper, but in your and my social networks.

How a joke survived

The story begins in 2013. Programmers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer teamed up to create a parody—they wanted to mock the speculative frenzy of the crypto world at the time, so they used the most popular Shiba Inu meme as a logo, and the token supply? Infinite. This setup was a blatant declaration of “anti-cryptocurrency” at the time.

No one expected that this joke would actually develop emotional attachment.

Reddit users started tipping funny posts with Dogecoin, the community organized charity events themselves, and even crowdfunded sponsorships for NASCAR drivers and the Jamaican bobsled team to participate in the Winter Olympics. No white paper, no technological breakthroughs—Dogecoin relied solely on the wild enthusiasm of its community. It peaked in 2021 at $0.74, with a market cap once surpassing $85 billion.

Elon Musk’s tweets indeed boosted the hype, but what really kept Dogecoin alive over ten years was that group of die-hard fans constantly creating memes and hosting online events. Other altcoins had long cooled off, but Dogecoin was still bouncing around. That’s the power of cultural stickiness.

From Shiba Inu to Frog: How cultural symbols monetize

If Dogecoin was a happy accident, then Shiba Inu (SHIB), which emerged abruptly in 2020, was a deliberate cultural experiment. It called itself the “Dogecoin killer,” copying the same approach—adorable Shiba Inu images, rallying the “SHIB Army” slogan, making every buyer feel like they were participating in a movement.

In 2021, SHIB’s price skyrocketed by 120,000 times, reaching a peak market cap of $36 billion. Even more aggressive was PEPE in 2023—the “Sad Frog” meme—without any backing, purely spread by netizens on Twitter and Telegram. Within two weeks, its market cap reached $7 billion.

These cases tell you one thing: the value of Meme coins isn’t coded into their scripts; it’s propagated through cultural symbols. Just as Disney makes money from Mickey Mouse, Meme coins turn memes into tradable cultural assets. The more people recognize, use, and spread a symbol, the more valuable it becomes. The logic is straightforward and brutal.

Stop urging project teams to pump the price—you’re the real whale

Many newcomers buy Meme coins and keep yelling in groups, “When will the project team pump?” But if you truly understand the essence of Meme coins, you’ll see that this mindset is completely wrong.

Meme coins are not the same as stocks or traditional cryptocurrencies. Stocks are backed by company performance, Bitcoin by blockchain technology faith, but the only “fundamental” of Meme coins is community consensus and cultural dissemination. The project team can at most spark a fire; the real driving force is every holder.

Look at PEPE: it has no founder, no team, entirely relies on users spontaneously creating memes and spreading funny images on Twitter and Telegram. When you share a PEPE meme or talk with friends about how funny the frog is, you’re actually “empowering” it—each share adds fuel to this cultural symbol.

Conversely, if the community only waits for the project team to pump the price, it’s like a group guarding a fish pond that can’t reproduce itself—inevitably, it will run out of resources. Recently, hundreds of new Meme coins pop up daily on Pump.fun, but 99% won’t last more than a week because they only have code, no culture, and no community willing to spread them.

Attention is the real mine

In this era of information explosion, attention is the scarcest resource. Essentially, Meme coins are “attention securitization”—packaging users’ focus, discussions, and shares into tradable assets.

Platform algorithms naturally favor interesting content, and Meme coins are tailor-made for social media. A funny meme spreads a thousand times faster than a white paper; a phrase like “To the Moon” ignites FOMO more than technical specs. When you post a SHIB meme in your friend circle, you’re actually helping it capture others’ attention, which can ultimately turn into buying pressure.

Meme coins on Solana and Base chains are especially active because these platforms support fast transactions and low fees, making them more suitable for retail traders engaging in high-frequency trading and spreading. Technology is just infrastructure; the true engine is the “social currency” created by the community.

Newbies, remember these three points before playing

If you decide to participate in this cultural game, these three points are a thousand times more important than watching K-line charts:

Choose a cultural symbol you truly identify with
Don’t buy Meme coins you don’t understand. If you find a meme utterly boring, don’t expect others to spread it. PEPE’s holders are mostly Gen Z who grew up with this frog; they spread it because they genuinely like it, not just to make money.

Be a spreader, not just a speculator
Instead of constantly asking “When will it pump?”, think about how to make more people know about this meme. Create funny memes, write jokes, or comment on related topics. Every creative act you share adds value to the tokens you hold.

Treat investing with entertainment in mind
Meme coins are essentially “cultural lotteries.” While they have more cultural value than pure gambling, they remain highly speculative. Never invest more than you can afford to lose. Think of it as buying a ticket to an amusement park—having fun is the main goal, making money is just an extra reward.

Your memes are your IPO

When we turn memes into cryptocurrencies, we’re essentially giving “IPO” to internet culture. Every surge of a Meme coin is a grassroots cultural assault on traditional financial systems.

But remember: no dissemination, no value. The hype created by project teams or KOLs is nothing compared to the power of that meme you’re about to post on social media. Instead of waiting for others to pump, open your drawing app now and create cultural symbols for finance that belong to this era.

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