Although Dogecoin, the first memocoin, was launched more than a decade ago, the sector, characterized by its brand of humor, viral appeal, and community-oriented approach, is finally getting its due recognition. Like NFTs, memecoins reflect the fun and creative side of Web3 and its embodiment of internet culture, which is reflected through the project’s ability to nurture and grow online communities.
As the price of Bitcoin and several major altcoins began to rise earlier this year, interest in memecoins also rose. As more and more memecoins start flooding the market, let’s take a look at some of the pioneering memecoin projects that go beyond simply providing brand humor and viral appeal.
Floki (Floki)
Floki, which has been labeled a “popular cryptocurrency,” has seen unprecedented growth since March, making it one of the fastest growing meme currencies currently. With a market capitalization of $2 billion, Floki emphasizes a strong community, benefit, and philanthropy. The Floki ecosystem, which uses FLOKI as its token, includes nearly half a million community members as well as the 3D NFT metaverse known as Valhalla, DeFI tools, Web3 educational materials, NFTs, and more.
With philanthropy being one of Floki’s core pillars, the project invests in real-world impacts and has helped build several Floki schools in Guatemala, Ghana, Laos and Nigeria. The Viking-themed memecoin project originally launched on Ethereum and has since expanded to include the Binance smart chain, where holders can stake their FLOKI tokens using high-profile exchanges such as Binance, KuCoin, and ByBit.
Dougillon Mars (Elon)
Dogelon Mars is a clever spin on the OG memecoin while paying tribute to Elon Musk and his eagerness to explore Mars – hence the ELON token $ELON. With a comic story centered around a space-exploring dog named Dogelon Mars, the project on its surface largely reflects meme culture and has strong community support.
However, Dogelon Mars offers much more benefit than a regular memecoin project. Having recently moved to the DAO, Dogelon Mars has been very active in moving forward with exciting collaborations. Among its recent collaborations, Dogelon partnered with XSwipe to create the Dogelon Global Access debit card, which facilitates the use of cryptocurrencies within retail environments. Furthermore, the project collaborated with Hello Moon to develop an advanced generative AI tool for minting NFTs on the Solana network.
Book of Meme (BOME)
Unlike most meme currencies, the recently launched Meme Book promotes a serious mission: harnessing the power of decentralized technology to protect and perpetuate the ever-evolving meme culture. The self-branded “pilot” project aims to preserve and promote meme culture within a digital compendium – the meme book – ensuring every piece is immortalized on the blockchain. Rather, it provides a platform for users to create their own memes and ensure that they remain a part of digital history forever.
In addition to honoring meme culture, Book of Meme’s primary goals include decentralized storage, currency trading, and gambling solutions. Inspired by the “Book of Mormon,” the Solana-based memecoin also boasts a decentralized social network implementation. Since its launch in mid-March, the project’s BOME token has grown by an unprecedented 1,110 percent, making it the seventh-largest memocoin by market capitalization.
Bonk (bonk)
Bonk launched on Christmas Day 2022 by airdropping 50 percent of its total supply as a gift to the Solana community, garnering recognition for its unique strategy to promote broader adoption and encourage community engagement. Created by Dexlan with its founders remaining anonymous, the Shiba Inu-themed Bonk Program aims to develop a more inclusive and distributed community support system, reducing the influence and centralization of venture capital.
Bonk aims to support the development and functionality of the Solana ecosystem rather than being just another speculative memcoin. As such, the BONK token is securely placed within the top 60 tokens with a market capitalization of over $1.6 billion. As a DAO, the Bonk community has a vote in all major decisions, including the direction of the project. BONK offers a lot of facilities including participation in DeFi, access to NFT markets, token exchange, microtransactions, along with many other features and integrations.
Optimus Artificial Intelligence (OPTI)
The rapid explosion of artificial intelligence and technological advancement has led the blockchain world to research and explore the synergies between the two technologies. Enter Optimus AI, a unique memecoin project that is building the largest AI community on Web3 and helping provide exposure and resources to support AI adoption.
Through the Optimus Venture Fund, developers can apply for grants to advance their innovative visions with the Optimus community serving as a primary selector of which projects will receive funding. The Ethereum-based project honoring Elon Musk’s Optimus AI robot and Transformers series is leveraging Musk’s popularity and passion for robotics to fuel the growth of artificial intelligence both inside and outside the blockchain world. Since late October, the price and market cap of the OPTI token have more than tripled.
As meme coins grow in popularity while adoption of cryptocurrencies continues to rise, we expect these tokens to remain largely speculative. However, with more memecoin projects offering interesting features and real-world utility, this combined with their humorous and playful nature will strongly boost the discredited sector within the Web3 ecosystem.