What are meme coins for? A look into the infamous crypto category

What are meme coins? Meme coins are cryptocurrency projects that have no actual utility, usually released as a financial adjacent to comedic content found online - memes, created merely for fun.

Dogecoin, the first meme coin: Launched in December 2013, was created as a joke by a couple of software engineers. Based on the “doge” online meme, the developers sought to create a fun alternative to Bitcoin that could distance itself from the bad reputation that cryptocurrencies were getting at the time

What are meme coins for? The Shiba Inu case: Although meme coins are generally created with no utility in mind, their growth in popularity may lead developers and the community to steer the project in a new direction. That’s the case for Shiba Inu, which now amasses several DeFi platforms and even the upcoming creation of its own metaverse with NFT lands to purchase.

How to buy SHIB: Once you have created a Gate.io account, head over to the Trade section and select Spot Trading. You will be directed to Gate.io’s main trading hub. From the top-left corner, search Shiba Inu or Shib to see what pairs are available to trade from.

How to store SHIB: When assets are purchased in Gate.io, they are immediately provided with state-of-the-art custody which can be accessed through the Wallet menu on the top-right corner. Just head to Funds Overview and select the chosen account that you’d like to view your assets on.

How to stake SHIB: Gate.io offers staking options to thousands of cryptocurrencies, and that includes staking SHIB. To stake Shiba Inu, head to the Finance menu on the top toolbar, then click HODL & Earn. From there, click on the Flexible Term category to see what Shiba Inu staking options are currently available.


Meme coins - also referenced as meme tokens or meme cryptos - have grown tremendously in popularity over the past two years of cryptocurrencies’ latest bull run. A mania amongst investors, especially after the meteoric rise of Dogecoin (DOGE) in 2021, it has attracted crypto enthusiasts from all walks of life; from the regular holder looking to make a profitable investment to Elon Musk, by far the biggest mainstream supporter of DOGE.

Often disregarded as a mere joke by most of the digital assets market, meme coins yet continue to make headlines and rise in popularity. Are these investors seeing something we are not seeing? After all, what are meme coins for?

In this article, we discuss what meme coins are, their origins and how some projects have crossed the barrier from mere financial comedy to actual use cases.


What are meme coins?

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The most popular meme coins, with Dogecoin and Shiba Inu leading the pack.


To put it simply, meme coins are cryptocurrency projects that have no actual utility, usually released as a financial adjacent to comedic content found online - memes. Their developers and communities usually have no interest in developing the asset to become useful or valuable to holders, created merely for fun.

Meme coins have consistently grown in adoption and creation over the past few years as cryptos themselves have become easier to develop and share with crypto communities. When blockchain technology was still in its infancy, creating a new cryptocurrency required tremendous time, effort and programming knowledge.

As new projects and crypto networks started surfacing, especially those in DeFi, it paved the way to create cryptocurrencies in much easier ways. As of 2022, creating a new cryptocurrency can be shorter than a day-long task - one that won’t even require much understanding of computer science and software development. Therefore, creating a cryptocurrency just for fun is now a much more common practice - one that can even reap profits for developers and their communities.
Dogecoin, the first meme coin


Dogecoin is not only the first meme coin, it’s also one of the oldest cryptocurrencies still active in the market. Launched in December 2013, Dogecoin was created as a joke by software engineers Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus. Based on the “doge” online meme that was quite popular around that period, the software engineers sought to create a fun alternative to Bitcoin that could distance itself from the bad reputation that cryptocurrencies were getting at the time - of virtual assets involved in scams and fraudulent behavior.

Since then, Dogecoin and its DOGE crypto have continued to amass more investors and enthusiasts in the crypto markets. The project itself, however, has stuck to its roots and continues to not provide any real use case for its technology besides being a tradable asset that can be used for goods and services. Co-founder Jackson Palmer even left the project back in 2015 and since then has continued to state that crypto investors should not think about DOGE as a viable investment, saying he “can’t comprehend” why the cryptocurrency has become so wildly popular.

The second-largest meme coin, however, took a different route as it amassed more investors over the last couple of years. In Shiba Inu’s case, it went from being just a joke to a legitimate project.


What are meme coins for? The Shiba Inu case

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At first glance, meme coins don’t really have a utility. As mentioned previously, they receive this title for being created to simply grow in popularity online and hop on social media trends. In some ways, they also grow because the investors feel like they are in on the joke, “hyping” the currency as if it’s the next big project that will take over the world.

However, even if created with no use in mind, that doesn’t stop the project from turning itself around and heading towards a future with actual use cases. The best example of that is Shiba Inu (SHIB).

Created as a meme coin based on DOGE - therefore a meme coin about a meme coin - Shiba Inu was first introduced to the world in August 2020, comically nicknamed the “Dogecoin killer” as a reference to the countless crypto DeFi projects that were being branded as “Ethereum killers” at the time.

At first, Shiba Inu and its SHIB token didn’t really do anything; it existed simply because, as holders found it hilarious to say they had invested in Shiba Inu and it would eventually overtake the entire market. Albeit unrealistic, the comedic approach made the whole market aware of SHIB, until people started purchasing it as a viable investment solution and projects started being developed for the crypto.

First came ShibaSwap, a hub for traders to swap ERC-20 tokens based on SHIB. Then, staking pools started being developed across the Ethereum ecosystem, then liquidity pools. As other blockchains started taking notice of SHIB’s rise in popularity, they began to implement their own services related to SHIB. Soon enough, SHIB was all over the place, which culminated with Elon Musk’s official support of Dogecoin; while some found DOGE to be too expensive, they saw SHIB right around the corner and the crypto skyrocketed. So much so that SHIB’s value grew an unbelievable 45 million per cent (yes, you read that correctly) since its lowest value in November 2020.

Now worth approximately 14 billion dollars, the project takes another step towards legitimacy: the creation of a full-fledged, unique metaverse. It goes to show that, although meme coins may start as just memes, their future relies simply on where developers and the community want to take it. In Shiba Inu’s case, as the official website itself states, the asset went from a “meme token that evolved into a vibrant ecosystem.”
How to buy SHIB

Shiba Inu’s token SHIB can be purchased at Gate.io multi-services platform in several ways; from a cash deposit, crypto deposit, credit card and P2P trade.

Once you have created a Gate.io account, head over to the Trade section and select Spot Trading. You will be directed to Gate.io’s main trading hub. From the top-left corner, search Shiba Inu or SHIB to see what pairs are available to trade from - the most popular one being SHIB/USDT.

If your account already has the proper funds to pair with the trade, you are ready to execute your order!


How to store SHIB

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When assets are purchased in Gate.io, they are immediately provided with state-of-the-art custody which can be accessed through the Wallet menu on the top-right corner. Just head to Funds Overview and select the chosen account that you’d like to view your assets on.
How to stake SHIB

Gate.io offers staking options to thousands of cryptocurrencies, and that includes staking SHIB. To stake Shiba Inu, head to the Finance menu on the top toolbar, then click HODL & Earn. From there, click on the Flexible Term category to see what Shiba Inu staking options are currently available - with new opportunities potentially added at any time. The same format applies to any other asset available on the platform. Browse around and see what investment options interest you!



Author: Gate.io Researcher: Victor Bastos
* This article represents only the views of the researcher and does not constitute any investment suggestions.
*Gate.io reserves all rights to this article. Reposting of the article will be permitted provided Gate.io is referenced. In all other cases, legal action will be taken due to copyright infringement.