The Development of Memes: From Joke to Industry

As one of the most unique existences in the field of cryptocurrency, memes combine cultural attributes and financial characteristics. Reviewing the history of memes is also a review of the collision history between internet culture and financial speculation.

From an ironic joke at the beginning to a virtual currency that now occupies a place in the market, memes are telling us through their experiences that in today's era, perhaps cultural resonance and community belief 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 the era dominated by social media, the speed and methods of information dissemination have undergone fundamental changes. A meme that becomes popular on Reddit or Twitter can achieve hundreds of millions of exposures worldwide 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 time-axis.

Breaking Ground/Foundation Laying (2013-2016): In a time of rising momentum, the pioneers bravely stand at the forefront; In the place where the great waves wash away the sand, the disheartened quietly leave the stage.

This period witnessed the original innovative journey of memes from zero to one, presenting a unique ecology where barbaric growth coexists with natural selection. Marked by the birth of DOGE in December 2013 and ending with the maturity of Ethereum smart contract technology in 2016, it constitutes the purest and most genuine "Genesis Era" in the history of meme development.

From a technical perspective, with a 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 remarkable vitality.

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

The currencies in this stage can be roughly divided into the following categories based on their lifecycle/community activity/market capitalization changes, etc.

Ephemeral

In the rapidly iterating ecosystem of cryptocurrency, driven by innovation, projects lacking sustained viability are destined to be mere fleeting visitors. They may attract market attention during specific periods, but ultimately struggle to escape the fate of being "a flash in the pan." Although they may shine brilliantly when they bloom, it is difficult to maintain that heat for long.

Mooncoin - An unfinished "moon landing" dream

As an entertainment-type meme coin with the slogan "登月(To the Moon)", its relatively short life could not bear the ambition of this grand narrative.

Looking back at its development trajectory from 2014 to 2018, the early performance of mooncoin was quite impressive: it set a record of over 300% daily increase in its first year; the Reddit community r/Mooncoin had more than 5000 posts in a single month; it collaborated with the gaming platform Moonrocket; and it was even referred to by Coindesk as "the most serious joke coin."

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

Unfortunately, Mooncoin failed to seize this last opportunity. The development team claimed to create a "Moon Base" metaverse game, but in the end, the white paper never materialized, 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, and its core is not aimed at the mass market, but precisely targets the "Fedora-wearing neckbeard" subculture group on Reddit. This highly vertical positioning allowed it to quickly gain popularity within a specific community in its early days, but it also planted the seeds for limited development in the future.

On a technical level, TIPS adopted the relatively common Scrypt algorithm at the time, and its design supporting GPU mining made it quite user-friendly for ordinary users. This simple and practical architecture helped it quickly accumulate a loyal following 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 at one point.

However, the good times didn't last long, and TIPS soon encountered a predicament similar to that of Mooncoin. Due to a lack of practical application scenarios, this project, built on subcultural memes, has always struggled 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 cliff-like decline. The product's initial positioning to serve specific subcultural groups reveals a glimpse of its challenges; while this approach precisely matched the target users, its niche attribute also made it difficult to expand into a broader market and subsequent marketing.

Although the cryptocurrency market overall warmed up in 2018, the price of TIPS briefly rebounded. Unfortunately, like mooncoin, TIPS did not manage to take this opportunity to turn around.

From 2014 to 2016, FedoraCoin gradually lost market attention. By the end of 2018, the TIPS GitHub repository stopped at version v1.8.0, with the last on-chain transaction record remaining in November. In 2019, this once-prominent project was officially listed as "dead" by Deadcoins.

What it leaves to the crypto world is not just a vivid case of subcultural experimentation, but also a mirror reflecting the essence of memes.

Nyancoin - A brief "rainbow" light and shadow

As the second meme coin after DOGE, Nyancoin was released on January 6, 2014, and within a month, it gained the unique identity of "the first officially licensed cryptocurrency in history," but it lags far behind the former in market influence.

In essence, this gap is primarily reflected in the differences in cultural genes: the "Rainbow Cat" meme on which Nyancoin is based has far less reach and cultural penetration than DOGE's "Shiba Inu" Doge meme - before encountering these two cryptocurrencies, most people may have never seen the Rainbow Cat, but almost everyone has encountered 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, rewards, charity, and more, while the application scenarios primarily 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 a lack of project development, while stagnation in development further weakens community enthusiasm - ultimately leads Nyancoin step by step towards decline.

The Nyancoin community r/nyancoins has only 1.5k subscribers, and the last active post dates back two years ago. This community fracture has directly led to mainstream data platforms ceasing to update 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 its delisting from exchanges. The case of Nyancoin is enough to illustrate a brutal market rule: in the era of attention economy, the backing of top IPs often plays a more decisive role than the technical characteristics of the project itself.

Victory General Type

Dogecoin(DOGE) - An unexpected "grassroots carnival"

Dogecoin, which was born on December 6, 2013, was initially just a parody by programmers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer of the Bitcoin craze culture, 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 went viral 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 intentions, it does not emphasize complex technologies like other cryptocurrencies, nor does it boast revolutionary blockchain technology or promise grand visions. Instead, it uses a cute Shiba Inu meme as its symbol, entering this increasingly fervent field in the most playful way.

Looking back at the peaks of DOGE's market value, they occurred in early 2021 due to the retail investment frenzy and strong community support, with its market value soaring to $10 billion; in May of the same year, under the continuous promotion by its number one fan Elon Musk on social media platforms and the effects of the "Saturday Night Live" show, DOGE's market value reached $80 billion.

In the following years, although the popularity and price of DOGE have declined and even entered a downward trend, the overall market trend has remained 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, which sparked heated discussions in the crypto community. Although Musk later clarified that there was no connection between the two, given his consistent style of behavior and long-term admiration for DOGE, the outside world generally believes that this abbreviation choice is no coincidence.

Regarding this intriguing naming coincidence, there are multiple interpretations in the market: some speculate that this is Musk's clever arrangement to bridge the gap between the cryptocurrency market and the political stage; others believe it may be a foreshadowing aimed at reviving the excitement in the DOGE market; of course, it could also be, as he himself said, merely an interesting coincidence. What real intentions lie behind this dramatic naming event may perhaps only be answered by time. But it is undeniable that this event once again highlights DOGE's unique position in cryptocurrency culture, as well as the intricate and tangled relationship between Musk and DOGE.

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

However, what is admirable is that even when the entire memes market is sluggish in 2025, DOGE still maintains a daily trading volume of over 1 billion USD, and its market cap remains stable in the top ten. Moreover, its community activity still demonstrates astonishing vitality, and it is believed that this advantage can always be transformed into market momentum at crucial times, which in turn nourishes itself, ultimately forming a virtuous cycle.

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

Although the meme coins of this period have shown two completely different lifecycles and survival statuses, it is undeniable that they all have their own glorious years. Although the market performance of the former may not be grand, and its popularity is far less than that of the latter, in reviewing the long river of meme coin development, these projects have still left a distinct mark of the era, becoming witnesses to meme coins.