The cultural soul of the Meme coin

Author: Neso

Let's clarify this from the beginning. On the one hand, memecoins – they are eclectic. Born in the collective heartbeat of Internet culture. On the other hand, shitcoins – they are short-lived, speculative, and soulless. Confusing the two is not only a semantic error, but also a cultural dissonance. Calling tokens like $TRUMP or $LIBRA "meme coins" is as ridiculous as mistaking a shadow for the moon.

"Memes are like viruses that travel from one brain to another." —Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene (1976)

From Dawkins' basic theory of defining memes as "cultural units" to the birth of Dogecoin in 2013, meme coins have become the crystallization of the intersection of online culture and decentralized finance. But the key is to distinguish true meme coins – cultural artifacts that stem from community humor, shared values, and organic transmission – from shitcoins, whose sole purpose is to capitalize on speculative frenzy. Confusing the two is not just a semantic blunder; It weakens the cultural foundations of meme coins as a fascinating phenomenon. Meme coins are stories that are traded as assets, and their value is a by-product of collective beliefs.

Memes are not static images or jokes: they are cultural genes that mutate and spread through human interaction. In his 1976 metaphor, Dawkins described memes as "selfish replicators" vying for dominance in the attention economy. Meme coins like DOGE or PEPE exemplify this evolutionary process:

A meme, such as DOGE, mutates into a token that gains financial utility while retaining its cultural DNA.

The community acts as an ecosystem that amplifies memes that resonate with shared values (humor, rebellion, nostalgia).

Blockchain infrastructure accelerates replication, spawning more than 40,000 meme coins every day.

Unlike shitcoins, which lack cultural adaptability, meme coins thrive by embedding collective memory. They also connect the two eras of internet culture: Web2 and Web3.

In Web2, memes are centralized commodities. Platforms like Reddit and Twitter monetize viral content through ads, but creators rarely benefit financially from it. Memes are spread through platforms like Reddit or Twitter, but their monetization is isolated (e.g., the platform's ad revenue, not the creator's income). Dogecoin's rise in 2013 is a case in point: its community funded philanthropy but lacked ownership of the financial value of the meme.

Web3 transforms memes into self-sovereign assets, and communities monetize their cultural labor. Memes become tradable stakes that are managed by a decentralized community rather than a corporate algorithm. This shift is actually revolutionary, as memes go from ephemeral content to lasting cultural capital. For example, PEPE reclaimed the Pepe meme from Web2's appropriation, enabling holders to "own" a piece of the internet's history.

This shift transforms memes from ephemeral content to lasting cultural assets, managed by decentralized communities rather than corporate algorithms. True meme coins follow a Darwinian trajectory:

• Birth: Memes are tokenized, often in the form of irony.
• Growth: Communities use humor and nostalgia to build social capital.
• Maturity: Successful meme coins develop quasi-social utility (holders invest not only for profit, but also for identity).
• Legacy: Meme coins either disappear (mostly) or evolve into cultural symbols/folklore. For example, Dogecoin's longevity stems from its philanthropic mythology.

Shitcoins bypass this life cycle. They are financial zombies – lacking narrative and copying only through predatory tactics and pull-and-smash. Their lack of cultural support dooms them to ephemerality.

Meme coins actually archive internet subcultures into the blockchain and function as a 21st-century folklore. Shitcoins, on the other hand, lack this emotional resonance and fail to generate community loyalty. They exploit trends without contributing to the cultural narrative, detaching the crypto space from its countercultural roots. There is a difference between memes and meme parasites.

The real challenge now is to maintain cultural integrity. Confusing meme coins and shitcoins threatens the cultural potential of the crypto space (trust erosion due to exploitative tokens, low-quality clones stifling innovation and diluting creativity, complete volatility and scams incurring harsh regulation that jeopardizes creative freedom, etc.).

Let's take a look back at history. Created in 2013 by Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, Dogecoin began as a parody for Bitcoin and a nod to the Doge meme. The whole project is full of self-deprecating humor. However, it is this irony that has helped it stand out in the increasingly serious and competitive crypto space. Within a few months, a loyal community (you could call it a cult) quickly formed, funding causes such as sponsoring the 2014 Winter Olympics Jamaican bobsled team and fundraising for the Clean Water Project. These early philanthropies revealed a community spirit that transcended speculation. According to Susan Blackmore's The Meme Machine (1999), the success of a meme depends largely on its ability to resonate with a shared cultural context. Meme Coin achieves this by using humor as a Trojan horse; People gather around the comedic premise, but they stay because of a sense of belonging. Whether it's posting ridiculous memes or fundraising for wacky causes, these communities turn the "attention economy" into tangible economic value. The community has created countless memes, retweets, and Discord channels that amplify the cultural dynamics. Digital cross-propagation happens so quickly that the value of meme coins often soars not because of their intrinsic utility, but because of endless humor-driven hype. Over time, if a meme resonates widely enough (as Doge does), the token can transcend its original joking status and become a cultural symbol of its own.

In contrast, Shitcoins lack any meaningful cultural foundation. They exist purely as speculative tools, and their creators utilize viral marketing and FOMO (fear of missing out) without contributing anything real to the broader crypto or cultural ecosystem. The value of meme coins is emotional; The value of Shitcoins is transactional. The crypto market – especially on chains like SOL where transactions are fast and cheap – can be overwhelmed by the mushrooming of tokens that have sprung up on platforms like pump.fun. But not all fungi are edible. As Coindesk reporter Brady Dale wrote in a 2021 article about Dogecoin imitators, "The real difference isn't in the code, it's in the narrative." "Shitcoins lack narrative depth. They don't have a spark of comedy, no philanthropy, and no sense of collective engagement that goes beyond speculation. How the so-called PolitiFi tokens that emerged last year (such as $MAGA Coin, $BODEN, or $KAMA exemplifies shitcoins exploit culturally divisive topics (in this case, politics) to accelerate speculation. Instead of connecting communities, these tokens weaponize political fanaticism for quick profits. Instead of celebrating a shared inside joke, they become chips in digital casinos, shrouded in orchestrated pull-and-smash events. In 2022, a journalist has already written in The New York Times that "politically branded tokens exploit real-world tensions to gain short-lived market momentum, leaving behind a group of disappointed investors." "We've all seen how it's developed this year. A token's ability to go viral doesn't fundamentally give it the status of a meme coin. Meme coins make use of cultural references or collective nostalgia. Shitcoins simply parasitize on the same viral mechanism and lack a deeper story. As a result, they will soon be phased out.

"They're economic flash mobs," Noelle Acheson said in a Decrypt interview (2021). "A spectacle that disappears as quickly as it forms, leaving no lasting cultural imprint."

"Memes are in the DNA of our culture. They are living, ever-changing codes, disseminated through collective imitation and re-creation. —Susan Blackmore, The Meme Machine (1999)

Conflating meme coins with shitcoins poses a real threat to the legitimacy and art style that real meme coins bring to the crypto space. Meme coins have historically been an entry path for newbies into the crypto space, who may be intimidated by more complex financial instruments. When viewers see the realm diluted by exploitative tokens that have no cultural soul, it can erode trust and enthusiasm.

Meme coins reflect the collective psychology of internet subcultures – Reddit posts, Twitter memes, Discord channels. Shitcoins hollowed out the concept of memes, reducing them to "viral". The result is a market awash with digital junk that obscures projects that really add color to the creative tapestry. True meme coins activate internet culture and build emotional resonance in global communities. DOGE's initial success was because it was fun, inclusive, and reflected the lighthearted core of internet humor. Tokens like PEPE continue this tradition. Shitcoins lack this kind of community magic. They are launched by individuals who have little understanding of brand perception (or meme references). They do not "belong" to a community, but exploit it.

That's why calling a shitcoin a "meme coin" is like calling a billboard tagline high art. The superficial similarity masks a huge chasm between authenticity and purpose. Meme coins aren't just jokes. They are mirrors that reflect the true self of Internet culture. Shitcoins, on the other hand, are a twist in a haha mirror – only the surface, not the substance. Conflating the two is a misunderstanding of the two. Culture is fragile. Don't let it fall. In the words of Richard Dawkins, memes are "units of culture." Let's respect this definition and remember why we got into crypto: not just to make money, but to belong.