Memecoins turn internet jokes into real money, sometimes overnight. One moment it's just a meme, the next, it's a million-dollar token—wild, right? This article breaks down how they rise and fall, their impact on the market, and the latest trends, including AI-powered memecoins.
The Dream of Generational Wealth (And the Reality of Losing It All)
So why do people love memecoins? It's super simple — you take some random, funny meme, throw it on the blockchain, and next thing you know, it's worth ACTUAL MONEY. While everyone else is busy buying into NVDIA, you're over here buying $RETARDIO and trying to fund Dogwifhat to be on the Las Vegas Sphere. The more people get hyped, the more likely they'll invest, sending that price sky-high. It's easier to shill a memecoin than to explain what layer 2 is. Here's the thing, most people aren't really in it for the meme; they're all about hitting the once-in-a-lifetime generational wealth jackpot. A perfect example is the $TRUMP coin. In case you've been living in a cave and didn't know about this: the President of the United States launched his own memecoin $TRUMP in Jan 2025.
In just 48 hours, $TRUMP went from $0.01 to an all-time high of $75 (with a peak market cap around $15B), flipping nearly every other memecoin and becoming the second biggest memecoin in the world. The speed at which this happened was just wild. When you're still trying to figure out if this thing is legit, you start seeing people on X posting how they just 100x their money overnight. It does make you feel like you just missed a once-in-a-lifetime generational wealth opportunity.
But here's the deal: If you're not watching closely and jump in late, you're gonna get burnt bad. There's this running joke on X about memecoin charts looking like Christmas trees—big pumps followed by even bigger dumps—and $TRUMP was no different, even with the President's name on it. Once the hype dies down, so does the price, leaving latecomers with their wallets lighter.
Maybe you’re reading this because you saw others cash out big and thought, ‘I need to figure this out before the next one pops.’ That’s how the memecoin cycle keeps spinning—some make it, some miss it, and everyone is chasing the next big score. Most memecoins are ultra-speculative, moving purely on hype, and once the excitement fades, so does the price. If you're in it, you're either playing for fun or you're full-on gambling.
Easy to Launch, Hard to Profit From
Before you jump into trading memecoins, it helps to know just how easy it is to create one. Launching a memecoin is easier than setting up a social media account. Platforms like Moonshot and Pump.Fun let anyone launch a token in minutes, no coding skills needed. There are 20,000 new memecoins launched on Pump.fun every single day! The odds of finding the next big hit is like finding a needle in a haystack. If you're making money from memecoins, we thank you for still reading this article.
Most memecoins go through pump-and-dump cycles — many coins, such as the Hawk Tuah girl, are outright rug pulls, where the creators drain liquidity and vanish, leaving investors with worthless tokens. Data from 2024 shows that 90% of memecoins lose liquidity within a week, crashing to near-zero after the initial hype fades. The average lifespan of a liquid token is just 1.3 hours. Early adopters and insiders might cash out big, but latecomers are often left holding worthless bags. It’s a high-stakes game where timing is everything—and most get it wrong.
Memecoin Trends and Where They Thrive
But hey, here's the silver lining — even though 99% of memecoins die, a few gems like like DOGE, SHIB, PEPE, FLOKI, and BONK have not just survived, they have withstood the test of time, maintained strong price performance and actually built strong, loyal communities. These are the kind of gems we want to find! So, let's go over a list of some of the memecoins that everyone was going nuts in the past few months. They were fire at the time, but now, looking back, which ones do you think might have another run in them, and which have already burnt out?
You may notice that many of these memecoins are launched on Solana, Ethereum and Base. Why?
Solana is known for its fast and cheap transactions, making it a perfect platform for rapid token launches and trading. Ethereum, despite higher fees, holds strong with 45% of liquid memecoin projects as of 2024, thanks to its established ecosystem and ERC-20 standard. Base, a Layer-2 chain, has Coinbase's backing, which gives it a stamp of trust and a strong developer community. The leadership from @jessepollak, who's always posting on X, has also been the key to its growth. Memecoins on Base tend to get more speculation because sometimes they get supercharged from Coinbase listings. Take $TOSHI for example — it went from $40m to $950m in marketcap after being listed on Coinbase.
AI Agent Coins Becoming Memecoins?
If you thought memecoins were wild, AI-powered memecoins are taking things to a whole new level. Imagine a token that not only pumps based on internet hype but also tweets, interacts, and builds its own following—just like $AIXBT, which went from a meme to an influencer on X almost overnight.
AI-themed tokens like $VIRTUAL and $AIXBT are blending AI with memecoin speculation. They're not your average sit-back-and-watch tokens. They use AI to actually talk to their community, whip up content, and even try to predict where the market's heading. Every tweet or interaction can kick-start a price surge, making these AI memecoins some of the wildest, most unpredictable rides in the crypto space.
The Chaos of Memecoins Across Blockchains
With 40,000 to 50,000 new memecoins popping up daily across different blockchains (sometimes 100,000 during hype peaks), keeping up is chaos. Aggregators like CoinGecko list over 2,000 memecoins, but only half have any trading volume. Prices swing wildly, and scams lurk everywhere. The window to buy in at the ground level can be incredibly brief, and navigating through different chains to do so has become a source of immense frustration, making it a logistical nightmare for traders who just want to snipe the coin ASAP.
For many newcomers, the need to switch wallets/networks, figure out on-ramp options, and deal with different gas fees across chains is just a headache, often leading to missed opportunities and a less than thrilling trading experience.
This is why you should try out Nekodex! We're proud to have built a mobile app that offers the best experience to trade crypto on-chain, with zero setup required! You don't even need to know which chain the memecoins are on. You can easily buy your favorite memecoins across EVM chains in one click. Besides that, our team curates a list of the hottest memecoins, so if you're unsure what’s trending, just check out the app for the latest picks.
Final Thoughts
Love them or hate them, memecoins aren’t going anywhere. They’re not just about speculation—they represent internet culture in its purest form. Some crypto traders think we might be heading into a full-blown "Memecoin Supercycle"—a time when everything meme-related pumps like crazy. While it’s possible, it’s also just as likely that the market remains as volatile as ever. Whether you’re in it for the fun, the profits, or the memes themselves, understanding why they resonate with people is the key to navigating this crazy space.
