From Zero to One: An Overview of the Development History and Unique Value Logic of Meme Coins

This article systematically sorts out the development history of meme coins, analyzes typical cases, and reveals their unique value logic: unlike traditional financial assets, the core value of meme coins is expressed as "cultural dissemination power × community consensus," rather than relying solely on technology or practical value. Based on their evolutionary characteristics, they can be divided into three key development stages:

1. Breaking Ground / Foundation Laying (2013-2016) - Barbaric Growth, The Sands of Time Wash Away

• Ephemeral type: short-term popularity, lack of cultural accumulation, rapid disappearance. (e.g. Mooncoin, TIPS, Nyancoin)
• Invincible General Type: Cultural Symbol + Community Driven, Long-Term Survival. (e.g. DOGE)

2. Hibernation/Outbreak (2017-2021) - The Era of Smart Contracts, meme coins Welcome a Qualitative Change

• Meteor Shining Type: Driven by speculation, bubbles burst rapidly. (e.g., UET, HOGE)
• Stellar Everbright Type: Ecological expansion, breaking limitations. (e.g., ShibaSwap of SHIB)
• Transformational breakthrough: Attempting innovation but progressing slowly due to various limiting factors. (Such as FLOKI's metaverse blueprint, SAMO's public chain binding)

3. Consolidation/Reconstruction (2022-2025) - The Rise of New Narratives, Market Begins to Reshape

• Short-term speculation: relies on trends, extremely high risk. (e.g., the political narrative craze of TRUMP)
• Eco-driven: relying on public chains, short-term explosion. (e.g., WIF, BONK)
• Narrative Innovation Type: AI + Meme, Concept Hype, Trust Crisis. (e.g. GOAT)
• Cultural Symbol Type: Internet Celebrity IP, short-term popularity. (e.g. MOODENG)

Meme coins will continue to face the balance test of "hype and substance," while technological innovation (such as AI, DeFAI) and community building will become key factors. Despite the market undergoing adjustments, as a typical product of the attention economy, meme coins will still maintain their unique position and influence in the cryptocurrency space.

Reviewing history, tracing the context

As one of the most unique entities in the cryptocurrency space, meme coins possess both cultural attributes and financial characteristics. Looking back at the history of meme coins is also a reflection on the collision of internet culture and financial speculation.

From the ironic jokes at the beginning to the virtual currency that now holds a place in the market, meme coins are telling us through their experiences - in today's era, perhaps cultural resonance and community belief drive value creation more than technical white papers. While the traditional financial world is still trying to create new value, meme coins have already reshaped people's understanding of "value" itself.

In an era dominated by social media, the speed and manner of information dissemination have undergone fundamental changes. A meme that goes viral on Reddit or Twitter can gain hundreds of millions of exposures worldwide within a few hours, and the power of this viral spread has now been directly transformed into financial value. Meme coins, as the perfect medium for this transformation, have written their own stories and legends on the time-based axis.

Breaking ground/Foundational stage (2013-2016) - In a time of rising momentum, the pioneers bravely stand at the forefront; In the midst of the great waves washing away the sand, the disheartened quietly exit.

This period witnessed the original innovative journey of meme coins from zero to one, presenting a unique ecology where savage 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 authentic "Genesis Era" in the history of meme coin development.

On the technical level, with a few exceptions, the meme coins at this stage are almost all based on forks of Bitcoin or Litecoin code.

In terms of market performance, historical data from CoinMarketCap shows that meme coins born during this period have an average active cycle of only 11.7 months, but survivors like DOGE have displayed 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 arises at a time when rules are not yet 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.

Lurking/Outburst (2017-2021) - Amidst the ebb and flow of tides, the wise rise to seize the opportunity; in the midst of changing fortunes, the powerful are met with defeat.

In the past five years, the market has witnessed the transformation of meme coins from a fringe subculture to a mainstream financial asset. Marked by the popularization of the ERC-20 standard in 2017 as a technological turning point, and the historical market value reached by SHIB in 2021, meme coins have undergone a qualitative change from "internet joke" to "phenomenal investment standard."

From a technical perspective, the maturity of smart contracts has completely restructured the issuance logic of meme coins. According to data from the Ethereum blockchain, the majority of meme coins born between 2017 and 2021 chose to adopt the ERC-20 standard or rely on other protocols, reducing the issuance cost to less than one-thousandth (compared to the tens of thousands of dollars for independent chain development). This technological democratization, akin to a double-edged sword, has given rise to the craze of "everything can be a meme," but it has also buried the hidden dangers of homogenized competition.

At the same time, on the market narrative level, CoinGecko data shows that in December 2017, the market capitalization of DOGE first broke 1 billion USD, while during the peak period in 2021, the overall daily trading volume of the meme coin sector exceeded 30 billion USD, accounting for 12.3% of the entire cryptocurrency market. It is worth noting that the meme coins born during this stage have seen a significant improvement in their lifecycle compared to the previous period.

However, it should be noted that not all meme coins have a higher survival rate and longer lifespan. According to the research report by Chainplay, meme coin projects experienced an average of monthly deaths in 2020.

Throughout the entire history of cryptocurrency, the most profound change during this period is the reconstruction of value perception. When DOGE was listed on mainstream exchanges like Coinbase in 2021, and when the SHIB founder was able to leverage a market value of tens of billions anonymously, traditional finance had to reassess the essence of meme coins - as revealed in the report "Meme Assets and Attention Economics" published by the MIT Digital Currency Initiative in 2021: "The value capture mechanism of assets like Dogecoin essentially converts network attention into liquidity premiums." This shift in perception laid a crucial foundation for subsequent social finance experiments in the Web3 era.

Sediment/Reconstruction (2022-2025) - When the great wave collapses, true gold begins to reveal its color; in a world of great contention, the pattern ultimately becomes clear.

Starting from 2022, the meme coin market began a deep adjustment from frenzy to rationality. Marked by the collapse of Terra in May 2022 and the rise of the BRC-20 standard in 2023, the meme coin ecosystem is undergoing a brutal yet necessary value reassessment.

According to CoinMarketCap statistics, the overall market value of meme coins shrank by 82% in 2022, but leading projects DOGE and SHIB still maintained their positions in the top 20 by market value. A new report "State of Memecoin 2024" released by the GameFi market data center Chainplay pointed out that "97% OF MEMECOINS HAVE DIED". The report further noted: "Different blockchain platforms exhibit varying meme coin death rates. Base leads with a death rate of 66.91%, followed by Solana at 54.03% and Ethereum at 36.59%."

Even so, we should not underestimate or speculate whether meme coins have reached the end of their story. The cryptocurrency market has always been full of variables, and meme coins, as a particularly unique category within it, are even more difficult to measure with conventional perspectives.

As Mathew McDermott, head of digital assets at Goldman Sachs, said: "Meme projects that can still secure funding after 2023 must demonstrate their ability to capture long-term value beyond simple speculation." Similarly, as noted by a16z researchers: "This winter is filtering out speculative bubbles, leaving behind digital assets that truly have cultural longevity." The future landscape may prove that meme coins capable of transcending cycles will ultimately become a key bridge connecting the crypto world with popular culture.

Block decomposition, digging deep into key details

Breaking Ground/Foundation Laying (2013-2016)

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

Ephemeral

In the fast-evolving ecosystem of cryptocurrency, driven by innovation, projects lacking sustainable vitality 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." While they may shine brilliantly at their peak, it is difficult for them to maintain that heat for long.

Mooncoin - An Unfinished "Moon Landing" Dream

As an entertainment meme coin with the slogan "To the Moon," its somewhat brief existence has failed to carry the ambition of this grand narrative. As Crypto Briefing stated in 2015: "Mooncoin has no practical use related to space or moon landing, apart from its name."

Looking back at its development trajectory from 2014 to 2018 (its last GitHub submission was in 2018 (v1.8.0), which almost marked the project's substantial demise), the early performance of mooncoin was quite stunning: it set a record for a single-day increase of over 300% in its first year; the discussion volume in the Reddit community r/Mooncoin exceeded 5,000 posts in a month; it partnered with the gaming platform Moonrocket (which later went bankrupt); it was even referred to by Coindesk as "the most serious joke coin."

However, after the spotlight comes a long silence: in 2015, the delisting from mainstream exchanges led to a market value drop of 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, rather it benefited from two external factors: first, the overall recovery of the cryptocurrency market (Bitcoin rebounded from $13,000 to $17,000 in Q1 2018, driving altcoins up); second, the launch of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket reignited the "To the Moon" internet meme, and a parody video titled "Mooncoin Countdown to the Moon" created by community members unexpectedly brought traffic.

Unfortunately, Mooncoin failed to seize this last opportunity. The development team claimed to create a "lunar base" metaverse game, but in the end, the white paper was never realized, and the so-called "metaverse game" was merely a Unity demo video. After that, with Bitcoin plummeting 60% in April 2018, market enthusiasm waned, and Mooncoin completely faded from the stage. As summarized in Delphi Digital's "Cryptocurrency Cycle Report" (2019): "This flashback confirms the cruel rule of Meme coins - projects lacking cultural accumulation find that any technological update is merely a lifeline."

Fedoracoin (TIPS) - A niche "gentleman" recognition

FedoraCoin (TIPS) was born on December 22, 2013. Its core focus is not aimed at the mass market but is precisely targeted at the "Fedora-wearing neckbeard" subculture on Reddit. This highly vertical positioning allowed it to quickly gain traction within specific communities in its early days.