A memecoin or meme coin is a cryptocurrency that originated from viral memes or internet-based jokes. Although they are joke-based cryptocurrencies, some have become trending successes, giving back significant returns to early investors.
The first meme coin in the crypto market was Dogecoin, which features the Japanese breed Shiba Inu dog as its mascot. The runaway success of DOGE went on to create a whole subset of Shiba Inu-based meme coins, starting with Shiba Inu (SHIB) - the second most popular meme coin.
Meme coins were initially created as a humorous alternative that helped proliferate the adoption of cryptocurrencies among a larger audience. When Dogecoin initially originated, cryptocurrency use was limited to a small audience of miners and tech enthusiasts.
While critics may dismiss meme coins or meme tokens as fads with no real utility or value, they have helped make cryptocurrencies more popular. They have brought many small retail investors into the market for high ROIs. Some meme coins, especially the largest ones based on market cap, have seen considerable innovation in use cases and have evolved to offer a utility that could further support their adoption and use.