The best-known representative is Dogecoin (DOGE). It was the first to break into and remain in the top ten cryptoassets by market capitalisation (CoinGecko<\/a>), competing with weightier projects.<\/p>\n Dogecoin was conceived as a spoof on the proliferation of cryptocurrencies, yet it quickly built a strong community. Its chief ambassador became Elon Musk\u2014his energetic promotion restarted network development and broadened the user base, helped by celebrities such as Snoop Dogg, Lil Yachty and Mark Cuban.<\/p>\n Dogecoin likely owes its popularity to its irreverent take on serious matters. The project has infrastructure, a development plan and a team of engineers. Over 11 years the meme token has travelled a long road to acceptance, becoming<\/a> a popular tool among merchants for taking payments. It also ignited the trend of \u201cdog coins\u201d.<\/p>\n Shiba Inu and Floki Inu have proved no worse in concept or execution than Dogecoin. The former\u2019s team is actively expanding the project, offering a metaverse, a layer-2 solution<\/a> atop Ethereum, and plans to turn SHIB\u2014the ecosystem\u2019s core asset\u2014from a meme into a utility token.<\/p>\n Floki Inu\u2019s team also touted serious plans. In late 2024 developers announced<\/a> they were preparing to launch an ETP<\/span> for European investors.<\/p>\n These examples show that meme coins can evolve into full-fledged crypto-ecosystems with real development. But that requires team effort, attention to the end product and community support. In practice, such projects are exceptions; most of the sector has become a vehicle for speculation.<\/p>\n Meme coins lowered the barrier to entry: one needn\u2019t buy the first or second cryptocurrency and hope for outsized gains if one can catch them by getting in early on a meme coin. Even so, this still constrained mass speculation\u2014creators needed at least some technical skill, which not everyone had.<\/p>\n Pump.fun, a Solana-based platform, changed that by reducing new-asset creation to a minimum. Since the \u201cmeme-coin factory\u201d went live, cumulative commission income has reached<\/a> $431m. Users have launched more than 6.3m coins with a combined capitalisation above $5bn, though many did not survive.<\/p>\n The ease of spinning up a meme token triggered a boom in unbacked speculative coins. The work of scammers became easier<\/a>, and insider trading flourished. Any pronouncement by an influencer started to be read as a signal<\/a> for the next shitcoin.<\/p>\n In January 2025 a class action was filed<\/a> against Pump.fun\u2019s operator, Baton Corporation. The project was accused of selling unregistered securities in the form of tokens and of facilitating Ponzi and pump-and-dump schemes. This happened just as shifts in the approach of America\u2019s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other authorities to crypto regulation were already under way<\/a>.<\/p>\n The meme-coin sector attracted Donald Trump, newly and unexpectedly crypto-friendly. Neither his status as head of state, possible violations<\/a> of law nor questions of ethics<\/a> deterred him. Two days before his inauguration he announced<\/a> the launch of TRUMP, which surged before swiftly correcting\u2014investors suffered<\/a> losses of about $2bn. His wife Melania followed<\/a> suit. At the time of writing neither the SEC nor any other regulator had taken an interest in the asset.<\/p>\n Around the same time a curious story unfolded on another continent. On February 9th, an announcement appeared<\/a> in the X account of Faustin-Archange Touad\u00e9ra, president of the Central African Republic (CAR), about launching a state meme token, CAR. Many doubted it was real, though at its peak the token\u2019s capitalisation reached $1.05bn. Within a day CAR fell<\/a> by 96%, and if this was indeed an \u201cexperiment\u201d meant to aid national development and put the country on the international stage, it failed.<\/p>\n The title of most scandalous project is currently held by LIBRA, helped along by Argentina\u2019s president, Javier Milei. He promoted the token, spurring a rally that was short-lived. The president later tried to distance himself, but he was nevertheless accused<\/a> of fraud, participation in a pump-and-dump scheme and threatened with impeachment.<\/p>\n Regulators again showed no interest<\/a>; instead, researchers and analysts stepped in<\/a>. They saw links between the teams responsible for launching the LIBRA and MELANIA meme tokens.<\/p>\n This may not yet be a catastrophe, but it already carries serious reputational risks for a crypto industry that was supposed to have moved beyond the Wild West phase.<\/p>\n In a conversation with journalists, BOB co-founder Dom Harz noted<\/a> that the scandals around LIBRA\u2014and earlier TRUMP, MELANIA, BARRON and HAWK<\/a>\u2014have undermined Solana\u2019s reputation. A network conceived as an \u201cEthereum killer\u201d is increasingly associated not with innovation but with fraud, scams, insiders and pump schemes.<\/p>\n “The narrative of Solana as the best retail network for onboarding has just changed and is now associated with fraud and insider trading. It will take time to fix this,” \u2014\u00a0 believes<\/a> Rollup Ventures co-founder known as Andy.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nYoung and restless<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Politicians<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Consequences<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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