Memes are attuned to the original content: social trends, ironies, and the lure of comic excess wrapped up in a no-nonsense symbol. Not for Warren Buffett, but for the many ordinary people who live in the backwater for fun, community and a lottery ticket.
“Meme is alpha,” said Danny Young, founder of OnChainMonkey, citing insane returns compared to other metrics. When investors step in to follow intangible trends from election results or jump on the latest coin minted 10 minutes after the UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting suspect was arrested, Memecoins integrates the investment process. Very 4Chan-esque.
Building communities, social networking and fun are all part of the appeal of memecoins. “People are social creatures, and memoirs are about people who find entertainment in the same way,” Young says.
“The meme itself is irrelevant. It is a social game that requires a lot of players, considering how many people want to play the game.
But what are the real use cases for memecoins other than good dumb fun and the chance to make money?
Table of Contents
ToggleUse case 1: Passing US security laws
First and foremost, let's make one thing clear – the utility of memecoins is itself a separate use case. You'll get around US security regulations that have stifled ICO growth. Additionally, memecoins are not specifically covered by the expanded crypto powers proposed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. How can they be? They do nothing.
A16z Crypto Managing Partner Chris Dixon wrote: “Releasing a memecoin for nothing today is actually safer than launching a meaningful token.
American securities law focuses on the Hawaii test to determine what constitutes an investment contract. Memecoins, which do not represent anything more than an idea and do not provide any feedback from the efforts of others, are not subject to temptation. This regulatory friendliness saw memecoins spread like wildfire during the Great War of Crypto (2022-2024).
Memecoins was the largest crypto coin of 2024, accounting for 14.3% of the market share on CoinGecko in Q2. With Donald Trump as the incoming president and presumptive new SEC chief Paul Atkins, could “genuine” projects be allowed to raise money through something like Hester Pierce's 2020 “safe harbor” proposal?
2. Speculating on politics
In a world where people use technology to create social connections they used to experience in person, memecoins allow holders to participate and hold the political oil. Memecoins were created to support and oppose both candidates in the US presidential election.
Argentina's independence president, Javier Millay, has a memecoin dedicated to his reforms. The social benefit of allowing people to express their political views financially can be seen in parallel to the write-in donation efforts of major campaigns.
However, social engagement or utilitarianism “must be understood as capturing the zeitgeist,” argues Daniel Hath, vice president of business development at Salad Labs, an influencer recruiting agency. Trump's new best friend and future DOGE chief Elon Musk is a prime example, he told the magazine.
How can Dogecoin become the gold standard in this uncertain Web3 realm? They have perhaps the most powerful influencer or KOL of all time – the undefeated world's richest man, Elon Musk. He is the inspiration for Iron Man. He is, for Ayn Rand lovers, the goddamn John Galt who invented the engine to provide enough power to light the entire world.
Drescher prefers to think of memecoins as “brandcoins.” Often, they need a key opinion leader or cult of personality to flip that coin. Successful memecoins all have strong followers who “live and die by it.” It makes them wake up in the morning.
Same reason. For example, Kamala Harris' memories of then-presidential candidate Joe Biden tripping up the ranks and soon being eliminated as the Democratic Party's nominee.
3. Charitable Trojan horses for doge hunters
Memecoins can be Trojan horses to finance more meaningful projects, such as raising money for charity, launching a casino like Iggy Azalea's Motherland, or starting an exchange like ShibaSwap.
As Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin — a man known for donating memecoins to charity — wrote:
Some of the most interesting coins I've seen are coins with multiple token offerings (or some ongoing payment method) dedicated to a charity.
There seems to be an unclaimed opportunity here to create something more positive and long-lasting.
The Nero Foundation's memecoin, NEIRO, is trying to become the next Dogecoin by combining utility and speculative upside.
The question is, which is the Trojan horse? The charity utility or a rough copy?
memecoin is named after Nero, a rescued Shiba Inu adopted by Atsuko Sato – owner of the original “Doge” Kabosu.
The Nero Foundation is a collective effort to support Shiba Inu dog rescue and welfare efforts worldwide, providing essential resources and support to dog shelters and charities that improve the lives of Shiba Inu dogs. The dog breed is prone to a variety of health problems, including hip dysplasia, eye diseases such as glaucoma and cataracts, as well as progressive retinal atrophy.
SlumDOGE Millionaire gained public recognition after turning $180,000 into more than $3 million in the documentary This Is Not Financial Advice. He is now the face of the coin and says, “While the rising popularity of memecoins is attracting a lot of skepticism, many critics ignore that some of these memecoins have clear, positive mandates.
“Beyond viral humor, some memecoins support charitable initiatives, and thus gain community support. The best memecoins are backed by strong narratives that resonate with a growing breed of socially conscious Web3 users, demonstrating DeFi's enormous potential to drive philanthropy.
4. Funding the launch of AI agents
AI agents have the potential to be incredibly useful. Imagine an AI agent that automatically adjusts your crypto portfolio so that the profits are transferred directly to quality coins so that you don't end up with a bag of 90% shitcoins.
It seems that AI agents may one day lead to independent DAOs. But right now they are very focused on the memecoin robo-trading end of the spectrum. Bots like Truth Terminal engage with users on platforms like X, creating artificial hype and shilling for community participation and buying memecoins.
Check out Fartcoin, the AI-inspired memecoin that grew to a $900 million market cap thanks to the immutable comedy rule of “hot air rises.” Quick access to another Truth Terminal shilled memecoin, GOAT.
The whole idea of autonomous AI agents launching memecoins is a bit of a meme itself, as most “AI agents” are just humans in disguise and the GOAT is human-created. However, the increasing number of real agents increases its potential.
Massa founder Callantia May said there is a big difference between “intelligent AI agent memecoins and dumb memecoins.” May, who was previously a founding member of PayPal's venture capital arm, talks about the “memecoin sense” — by which she means a cross between AI and memecoins, which take on functions such as marketing for agencies.
“Beyond making money, a side effect of memecoins is to make technology cool. Only a few people pay attention to technologies that matter.
Memecoins are supporting agents on the virtualization protocol, where AI agents can interact with tokonomic patterns. It also allows no-code AI agent construction, simulation and deployment, with advanced designs.
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May's company, Masa, is a “decentralized network of data miners” that provides real-time data using retrieval augmented generation (RAG) and relying on “emotional intelligence” based on pre-planned queries. The agents can learn new things and acquire new memories instantly, she told the magazine.
Therefore, in this context, these RAG-powered AI agents are equipped with dynamic information acquisition, emotional intelligence and memory capabilities, enabling them to be context aware and adapt in real time.
Mei Memes is sure to accelerate the experimental connection between AI and crypto. Since the GOAT story emerged, she said, “In the past few weeks, she's received three times more inbound requests to develop AI agents.
Imagine this – an intelligent AI agent creating memecoins that roams Crypto Twitter, the home of the crypto market sensation. It's an unstoppable investment case study.”
5. To launch the token properly and without being compromised by VCs
Retail crypto investors have been royally beaten by VCs for years. These investors get in early and hold a large supply of tokens at a fraction of the final market price. This results in incredibly high fully diluted prices, and retail investors lose out as VCs dump tokens. It's no surprise that users burned by unfair Tokinomics are turning to memecoins, which may – though not often – actually get started.
“For some projects,” says Masa Mei, “memecoins provide the much-needed financing to develop their technologies, escaping the cold VC markets and Web3 echo chambers.”
During Murad Mahmudov's viral supercycle talk at Token2049, he argued that fully open memecoins are the true product of tokenized memes. No VCs and no lock-in periods. Not being able to value the property because it has no income will be a benefit.
Ultimately, memecoins are useful for a new kind of funding vehicle, said Zhen Yu Yong, CEO of Web3Auth, a white-label wallet company that has built wallets for trusts for several Fortune 500 companies and has 20 million monthly tech users.
“Of course, most memecoins fail. But now you can launch a token project without VCs and backroom equity deals without a market maker with a chance to succeed.
This lack of VCs backing most memecoins is part of the retail appeal. In the year Degens who missed out on Bitcoin in 2010 or ETH or other major coins could get rich instantly without VCs stepping in during the pre-seed round. It is the theory of ideological investment—the dream of decay.
In short, memecoins are like a cartoon version of an ICO without the pretense that someone actually tries to build and launch a product on the track.
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Max Parasol has worked as a crypto and AI researcher at the RMIT Blockchain Innovation Hub, as a lawyer, in private equity and as part of an ambitious early stage crypto startup.
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