A lot has changed over this one year in the world of cryptocurrencies. Being a die-hard crypto fanatic, I had to keep tabs on the trends between Bitcoin and Ethereum. Indeed, they have done great, where Bitcoin has gained as much as 168.23% while Ethereum has soared by 109.43%. The most surprising thing, however, has been the rise of meme coins. These are funny and usually parodic digital currencies that take the market by storm. It is fascinating as well as bewildering to watch.
I read about meme coins when they first came out and brushed them off as a joke- quite literally. Parody coins like Dogecoin seemed more about internet culture than actual investment. The past year showed that these coins aren't all laughs. Some of these, like the presidential meme token TRUMP, are skyrocketing in value. TRUMP rose an astonishing 122,000% over the past 12 months. That means that if you invested just $10 in TRUMP a year ago, you now would be looking at over $12,000. That's mind-blowing.
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Another thing is that another meme coin-the Dogwifhat-has grown by an astonishing over 58,000%. Next in line is BOME with 17,000% gains, BONK with over 10,000%, and MOG and TURBO grew over 8,000% and 4,900% respectively. These numbers are mind-boggling and clearly show the massive behavioral change in the crypto space. It looks like humor, and novelty is as good as the tech behind the coins.
While their rise is very much fun to watch, simultaneously, one questions the sustainability of these investments, traditional coins such as Bitcoin and Ethereum have firm grounds carried by sound technology and mass adoption. Meme coins do not enjoy that very same technical grounding and are more community-driven through internet trends rather than anything else, which makes them very volatile and a risk. The massive gains are tempting, but they come with the possibility of equally dramatic losses.
Speaking of losses, not all coins were winners in the past year. For instance, Wormhole's token W fell 59%. RPL of Rocket Pool dropped by more than 51%, and APE by more than 49%. The resulting losses shouldn't be forgotten as some kind of signal showing that the crypto market is volatile: as much as some coins rise high, others can fall, and you should be cautious about investing and do research before the investment.
As I reflect on these trends over the past year or so, one thing that I feel is very important to highlight in terms of their popularity trend partially driven by meme coins is the role social media and online communities played. If you were into those, then Reddit, Twitter, and TikTok were the places that would enable you to spread the word and garner, collect, and rally the support needed. A strong, dedicated community is a powerful tool when working with cryptocurrency. It can create buzz, drive prices up, and sustain interest even when traditional indicators might suggest otherwise.
But, being just an enthusiast of dabbling in the dynamics of this crypto market, I find this rise of the meme coins fascinating. So, this is a cultural wave and a communal one rather than a technological investment. This may be a shift signaling the overall change in how we approach digital currencies and relate to them.
But I also feel that investors need to be very careful with this. Meme coin hype, for me, is impulsive, and there are substantial monetary risks involved. The pendulum has to swing the other way to indeed weigh each coin's actual worth and prospect. It is fun to belong to a community and then ride a specific trending coin; it is equally fundamental to have some protection in one's investments and not to get caught in all that frenzy.