This begs the question—why are meme coins booming now? The short and lazy answer would be that crypto works in cycles, and now is the time for meme coins. All of them will go to zero once the hype passes. But no.
The world is becoming increasingly distraught, and younger generations are having a hard time making sense of it. There’s an utter lack of meaning—and disillusionment—as established institutions either crumble or betray their dark, anti-individual underbelly.
Starting with Bitcoin Bitcoin
btc
1.05%
Bitcoin and Ethereum Ethereum
eth
0.94%
Ethereum, a culture of anarchy together with cutting-edge tech defined crypto’s value proposition. It came with the promise of a decentralized and trustless world built around individual autonomy. But more than fifteen years later, crypto-tech hasn’t quite fulfilled its promises … yet.
While more infra and more apps might increase the coolness of blockchain and crypto, what it truly needs—especially for mass adoption—is more emotional touchpoints and narratives around which people can huddle.
The next billion users don’t care about the tech or which big-shot VC is investing in the next shiny object. They care about having fun with a community of like-minded people. The ‘public good’ or social impact projects created downstream from here—are the cherry on top.
Take DOGE, the OG crypto meme coin, for example. It was born with satirical intent and no groundbreaking tech or VC funding to back it up. I was in the room at the Ethereum Foundation in Zug when DOGE was launched. It was an intentional joke; tech bros said, “Let’s not take ourselves too seriously.” Yet it now has over 6.9 millionholders, and the community is using its money to fund water wells in Kenya. That’s what you call bottom-up utility creation.
Rather than deep-pocket investors dumping ‘use-cases’ and overvalued coins on retail, meme coins foster genuinely decentralized community formation. That’s the core strength and beauty of meme coins.
Speculation aside, they incentivize geographically, culturally, and ideologically discreet people to form groups around a shared idea—mostly a fun, humorous one. And because there’s typically no ulterior, long-term end in sight, memecoin communities come together for the community’s sake.
Vibing in a disconnected world
Tribalism isn’t new in crypto. Bitcoin maximalism or Ethereum loyalty, for example, is nothing short of quasi-religious sentiments. The Genesis Block is a holy symbol enshrined in mathematics, game theory, and mythology.
