Memecoins Mania: Unveiling the World of Meme Coins

While controversial, meme coins' popularity demonstrates crypto's relationship with internet culture. However, high gas fees challenge new launches. Bitfinity's scalable platform seeks to enable lower-cost BRC-20 token launches on Bitcoin to address this.

In recent years, crypto has become more like a gambling industry than that of utility and a peculiar phenomenon encapsulates this idea exactly: ‘the rise of meme coins’. These digital currencies, often inspired by internet memes and fueled by social media hype, capture the attention and imagination of investors worldwide.

From Dogecoin to Pepe, all are eternalized on the blockchain. In today's article we will look at the emergence of meme coins, their impact on ecosystems, including Bitcoin, and the underlying factors behind their rise and how Bitfinity can facilitate their launching in the future.

pepe the frog, doge shiba inu and dog with hat sitting around a camp fire singing together — Memes Being Frens

Meme Coin Narrative

Meme coins are cryptocurrencies that don't serve any functional purpose. Plain and simple. They are often launched as 'fair launch projects'. Which refers to the entire token supply being immediately available to the public without any pre-sale to venture capitalists or insiders.

Memes Coins are directly inspired by popular internet memes and are backed by a strong community, not developers or a corporate team.

When we examine the markets, it's evident that meme coins dominate more than a significant portion of it. This might come as a surprise, especially in the realm of Ethereum and Bitcoin maximalists who often view these meme coins with a big amount of skepticism. But the reality shows that billions of dollars flow through these coins, and most people new in crypto find their way into our niche through the memes and memes coins.

Some say that memecoins seem to be one of the last remaining opportunities in crypto for a ‘normal’ person to go from 0 to respectable $ in a short period of time. If you are starting, a memecoin could be the way to dip your capital.

For the people by the people.

Most Famous Examples of Meme Coins

The list of memecoins is endless, ranging from dog memes, internet figures to cat memes. With each having their own history and origins. Let us take a closer look at some of the main ones that have shaped and given legitimacy to the world of meme coins.

Dogecoin

Dogecoin is the first and original meme coin that gained widespread recognition. Created in 2013 as a Litecoin fork, it stands on its own blockchain and has made many millionaires while going at it. Despite having an infinite supply, which theoretically leads to dilution, its popularity persists. The doge meme is big and was an inspiration for many other memes that followed.

Shiba Inu

Another variant on the Shiba Inu that took the concept of Dogecoin and built upon it within the Ethereum ecosystem, in an attempt to add utility to the meme coin narrative. A place where people can launch their own coins and stake, Shiba Inu signifies another substantial weight in meme coins in the market.

Pepe the Frog

Pepe the Frog represented a big part of internet culture and crypto Twitter. It was only a matter of time before this newer generation of meme coins, which were introduced and minted on Bitcoin, broke through to the mainstream. Pepe is almost universally known in any part of the world and has even been the topic of controversy.

Dog With Hat

The latest revelation in internet hype culture is the Dog With Hat, a meme coin inspired by the iconic "Doge" meme, but now he has a hat atop his head. Simple yet popular for everyone trading meme coins, while its value and utility may be subject to debate, because there is none.

The Dog With Hat stands as testimony to the growing influence of meme culture in crypto space and is especially large in America. Many big names are backing and spreading it across the crypto culture. If their community gets its way, they will be broadcasting the WIF on the Vegas sphere.

‘Insert Coin Name’

Although not always viewed as memecoins, we can see that traditional coins can be more meme-like than you might think. With coins that have gained cult-like followings rapidly spreading their messages across all platforms, their communities are the driving factors of project success.

With their numbers, communities will utilize meme culture to promote their projects, blurring the lines between utility tokens and meme coins. What we mean is that memes and crypto go hand in hand.

**Meme of Reaction to Memecoins (Not True, but could be)**

MemeSeason Precursor AltSeason?

The question arises: do memes lead us to the promised land? Well some would argue they might. Many have been screaming 'AltSeason' from the tops of their 'longs' for quite some time now.

Altseason refers to a period in the cryptocurrency market where alternative coins (altcoins) experience significant price surges, often outperforming Bitcoin. This phenomenon is characterized by increased investor interest, trading volume, and a shift of market focus from Bitcoin to other cryptocurrencies.

With the big meme coins attracting attention and capital, we have seen "tremendous" gains in the last period—gains which K33 research suggests might be signaling the early stages of an AltcoinSeason.

Historically, when Bitcoin's market cap doubles concerning the total value of all cryptocurrencies excluding BTC and Ether (ETH), altcoins begin to catch up, as noted from the pattern in late 2020. We see that meme coins now are getting their time in the sun.

Meme Coins and Bitcoin's Ecosystem

The creation of new meme coins is happening as we speak. And these new meme tokens have been minted owing to the innovative launch of BRC-20 tokens that brought new life to the Bitcoin ecosystem.

BRC-20 Tokens

The BRC-20 tokens represent a breakthrough and technological advancement for the Bitcoin blockchain, which has been around for 15 years. Developed by Bitcoin developer Casey Rodarmor, these tokens utilize the Bitcoin Ordinals numbering system, assigning a unique number to each satoshi (Bitcoin's smallest unit).

The Ordinals (ORDI) token was the first meme coin created with the BRC-20 standard. It should be mentioned that even though ORDI was the original meme coin on Bitcoin, the Ordinals protocol is unrelated to it.

The inscription process further enriches this functionality by enabling direct creation of unique digital assets on the Bitcoin blockchain. What is coming by the hand of Casey will launch the Bitcoin ecosystem to new heights and could lead to 'hyperbitcoinization'.

Impact on Bitcoin Miners' Revenue

But this minting of new meme coins came with a cost and, according to a research report by Bitget, Bitcoin miners saw a substantial increase in their earnings from on-chain fees, jumping from 1.7% in August to an impressive 19.57% by November.

We know this is not only a problem for Bitcoin but also something experienced by other blockchains with the surge of inscriptions, whether with utility or without.

Demand for Minting Despite High Gas Fees

Despite the high cost of gas fees, community demand for minting BRC-20 tokens remains robust. For example, a meme coin called Sats (SATS) was fully minted, with over 21 million mints and more than 36,000 holders despite gas fees totaling over $15 million. In this case solutions need to be found swiftly.

Launching a Meme Coin

Launching a meme coin involves creating a smart contract with various parameters and on top of that considering both on-chain and off-chain marketing strategies.

On-chain marketing might include showing a large balance in the deployer wallet to instill trust. Off-chain efforts focus on community engagement and building hype around the coin, with the best memes of course. To learn more read our article on how to launch meme tokens on Bitfinity.

Also, meme launchers must be aware that after a project's initial hype, there is fatigue, where efforts slim down. At this stage the community takes over...

The Role of the Community

"Community" is a broad term in Web3, with every project aiming to build one. Community definitions have shifted over time. During the ICO boom in 2017, anyone holding a token was considered part of the community. But since then, the space matured, and belonging to a community was earned through blood, sweat and tears.

Now too, communities include cult-like followings, such as NFT holders, with projects like Bored Ape Yacht Club redefining community engagement.

These NFTs can be bought, sold, and traded within communities, providing financial incentive for creators and fostering a sense of ownership amongst participants.

Bitfinity Facilitating the Next Memecoins

Knowing the pain points of high gas costs and slow throughput, a new way to launch meme tokens is needed. Therefore, Bitfinity is ideal for launching them at much lower costs and at a much higher scale. With over 1000 transactions per second compared to Ethereum's congested 100 limit.

Additionally, there is huge Bitcoin liquidity ready to be tapped into when the Bitfintiy bridge removes all barriers for retail users and small meme projects to get minting on Bitcoin as well.

Conclusion

The meme coin market is not to be underestimated and, with billions in capitalization and a growing community of fanatical supporters, these coins represent one of the most interesting facets of our niche. Where gambling and internet culture become one.

On top of that, memes have the power to define cultural categories that may reflect shared values, ideas, and humor, contributing to collective identity. So they are here to stay whether you get them or not. Even more so, memes are going to get crazier in the future. The next phase, where memes easily and cheaply find their way onto Bitcoin, will come with the help of yours truly - Bitfinity.

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*Important Disclaimer: While every effort is made on this website to provide accurate information, any opinions expressed or information disseminated do not necessarily reflect the views of Bitfinity itself. The information provided here is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered as financial advice.