Meme coins are cryptocurrencies that trace their origin to internet memes and satirical characters. Dogecoin, released in 2013, is considered the first meme coin. Though it was released primarily as a joke, demand for Dogecoin spiked and gave it a valuation of billions of dollars.
We now have many other meme coins, and this article will list the best ones to consider buying in 2023. They include
1. ApeCoin (APE)
This coin was released in March 2022. It is based on the Bored Ape Yacht Club, a popular non-fungible token (NFT) collection. At the peak of the NFT market, single Bored Ape NFTs sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars. The NFT market has cooled, but tokens from the Bored Ape collection still sell for tens of thousands of dollars.
ApeCoin was created by Yuga Labs, the company behind the Bored Ape collection. It is the official token of the APE ecosystem. Owners can vote on decisions concerning the APE ecosystem. They can also stake their tokens to support the operation of the APE ecosystem and earn more as a reward.
2. PepeCoin (PEPE)
PepeCoin is one of the newest meme coins. It was released in April 2023 and became viral shortly after. This token now commands a market capitalization of over $200 million despite having little to no utility.
PepeCoin is based on Pepe the Frog, a popular humanoid cartoon character depicted by an anthropomorphic frog with a humanoid body. This token is built on the Ethereum blockchain.
However, Pepecoin has its shortcomings. In August 2023, one of the anonymous founding members of the token claimed that three other team members stole Pepecoins from the designated multi-signature wallet and sold them for $16 million on crypto exchanges. The three members were accused of abandoning the project, leaving it in control of the sole member making the accusation.
Nonetheless, Pepecoin remains in high demand, so there’s an opportunity to profit from it.
3. Dogelon Mars (ELON)
Dogelon Mars is a token inspired by Dogecoin, the original meme coin, and Elon Musk’s idea to colonize Mars with humans. Elon Musk is a famous billionaire entrepreneur known for founding Tesla, an electric carmaker, and SpaceX, an aerospace company.
Dogelon Mars grew by viral marketing even though the creators remained anonymous. After launching the token, the creators sent 50% of the supply to Vitalik Buterin, the famous co-founder of Ethereum. The gift generated initial buzz, and Buterin later donated his tokens to the Methuselah Foundation, an American nonprofit organization focused on human lifespan extension research.
Dogelon Mars has a total supply of 1 quadrillion. 545 trillion tokens, or over half of the max supply, are currently in circulation. You can stake your Dogelon tokens to support the network’s operations and earn more as a reward.
4. Shiba Inu (SHIB)
Shiba Inu is one of the most popular meme coins. It was inspired by the popular Shiba Inu Japanese dog breed. A fun fact is that SHIB’s popularity led to a massive increase in demand for the Shiba dog breed.
SHIB is one of the most popular meme tokens, with a market capitalization of over $4 billion. Daily trading volume runs into tens of millions of dollars, which indicates high demand. You can buy SHIB and profit from a potential price uptick.
5. Dogecoin
Dogecoin is the biggest meme token by market capitalization. Unlike the other tokens on this list, Dogecoin’s creators are known to the public. It was created by Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, two software engineers, to mock the volatility of the crypto markets. Ironically, their token grew viral and exploded in value.
Dogecoin has a market capitalization of over $8 billion (as of writing) and a daily trading volume of nearly $200 million. This token has very high demand, making it one of the best to buy in 2023.
