Learn crypto with Jenn | Part 6 – what should my first memecoin purchase be?

I’ve been on a journey to learn crypto for the past five weeks, and I’ve learned a lot about cryptocurrencies, exchanges, and wallets.

In my last post, I explored crypto staking! One area of the cryptocurrency markets that I haven’t looked into, though, is memecoins. I feel like memecoins represent a whole new type of crypto community that I’m missing out on.

I know what a memecoin is in general, and I’ve heard of the popular ones like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu.

Besides that, I’m pretty unfamiliar when it comes to the memecoin market and whether or not I should invest in it. But what have you heard about them? Worth the risk??

In this post, I’ll be diving into the world of memecoins and exploring several coins I’m considering investing in.

Memecoins in the crypto community 

A memecoin is a type of altcoin based entirely on an internet meme or joke, and otherwise has no actual value tied to it. Many don’t even have their own blockchains or offer technological solutions to problems in the blockchain industry. These coins are created merely as a joke, and anyone can start their own.

This is because these coins can be run on top of an existing blockchain, so you don’t actually have to be a developer in order to make a coin. 

For example, the Shiba Inu coin is run on the Ethereum network. However, there are some coins, such as Dogecoin, which do have their own blockchain.

Memecoins are an important part of the crypto community because they represent a light-hearted way of building a community around a shared interest or joke. Some memecoins also play a more important role by participating in charity events and giving back to the community.

For example, the Samoyedcoin, the Solana network’s first dog-themed coin, donated $30,000 worth of SOL to the Dogs For Better Lives charity.

However, the fact that anyone can make a memecoin makes them riskier investments than other cryptos. To create a new altcoin, all someone has to do is pay a fee on the network they wish to run it on. 

This means these coins are more about the influencer or current event tied to the coin, and the focus is more on branding and trying to build up a community that supports the coin.

The risk of memecoins

Because anyone can create a memecoin, there is more risk of investing in scams or “pump and dump” schemes, especially for someone just starting to learn crypto.

This happens when the coin’s creators encourage everyone to buy their coin and then once the prices rise high enough, sell off their own shares to make a profit. This ends up destroying the coin’s value and leaving other investors with nothing left of their investments.

Another risk factor of memecoins is that they run the risk of being a passing fad since they are based on internet culture. Whereas a meme might be popular one day, it could just as soon be forgotten the next, which makes a coin based on it at risk of becoming worthless. 

To avoid schemes and assess the longevity of a coin, spend some time in the coin’s community and get to know the developers and team behind it.

• What are people saying about the coin?
• Are the developers active in the community? 
• Do they hold the largest share in the market, or is the distribution even among all of the coin’s holders?
• Does the coin have any high-profile influencers or celebrities behind it?

Why am I considering a memecoin? 

I’ve heard a lot about memecoins on my journey to learn crypto. I’m considering investing in a memecoin simply for fun, and not as a serious investment. As I mentioned before, I also want to be a part of the crypto community and experience it for all it’s worth! For these reasons, my investment goals are to not hold as long as I would for my other crypto investments. Ideally, I would make a small profit and then sell my shares. 

I’m also approaching this type of riskier investment with a lot more caution than I would have for other cryptos. 

I already have a preference for the memecoins that have more well-known reputations, like Dogecoin, because it seems less risky. Also, I don’t plan to invest very much at all in any memecoin, likely not anything over $20. 

Five memecoins I’m thinking of buying 

Dogecoin

Dogecoin is perhaps the most well-known memecoin out there, and the easiest to invest in for those just starting to learn crypto. Invented as a joke in 2013 by Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus, the coin was meant to be a satirical take on the cryptocurrency market and the crypto world in general.

However, over the years, the coin has seen steady growth and has evolved to become a legitimate company and blockchain platform.

In addition, Dogecoin is unique from other memecoins because it actually has its own blockchain, and the platform can be used to send and receive payments.

In 2020, the price of Dogecoin soared 20% after Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted about it multiple times.

At the moment, the price of Dogecoin is $0.7841 and its market cap is $10.9 billion. It’s also the eighth-largest cryptocurrency overall.

Shiba Inu

Shiba Inu is Dogecoin’s biggest rival and the second-largest memecoin by market cap. It began in 2020 as a copy of Dogecoin and by 2021, its price skyrocketed up thousands of times as the community grew. These large percentage gains caused the SHIBA coin to receive media attention, and to eventually get listed on several large exchanges, including Coinbase, Kraken, and Uniswap.

Shiba Inu is the largest ERC-20 token, which are tokens that run on the Ethereum network. The coin emphasizes decentralization and has created its own decentralized exchange called ShibaSwap. ShibaSwap is the best place to buy SHIBA coins, along with the other two coins in the “Shiba ecosystem”: LEASH and BONE.

Currently, the price of SHIBA is $0.000009934 and its market cap is $5.85 billion.

Dogelon Mars

Dogelon Mars is the fifth-largest memecoin based on market cap, though it comes nowhere near Dogecoin and Shiba Inu. It is also an ERC-20 coin, and was only created in April 2021. Since its initial creation, it has seen a price increase of 22,500%.

While the altcoin has gone up and down throughout 2021, in November 2021 alone, it saw an increase of 147%.

This growth made Dogelon Mars one of the top cryptos of 2021, and some are predicting it may reach $0.10 by 2026.

Currently, the price of one ELON coin is $0.00000026, and it has a market cap of $140.89M.

CateCoin

Many dog-themed memecoins have been created in the cryptocurrency market, but only recently have cat-themed coins started to catch up in 2021, but have since then fallen by the wayside. CateCoin is the third largest cat coin in the market, at one time the 8th-largest memecoin by market cap, it has since fallen to around the 57th memecoin by market cap.

CateCoin runs on the Binance Smart Chain. It seeks to provide actual value in a way that other memecoins don’t, which has attracted investors who could see it becoming a potential rival to its much larger dog competitor.

CateCoin creates value by serving as a platform for meme creators to earn money from their memes. They can do this by creating NFTs and then selling them on CateCoin’s decentralized network. In addition, the platform also offers staking with up to 15% APY, and a gaming and NFT marketplace.

While some are optimistic about CateCoin’s potential for growth, it’s worth noting that there is no whitepaper, and the developers are anonymous. 

However, on the coin’s website, they include an audit of the system conducted by a cybersecurity firm called Ether Authorities, as well as specify that the team behind the altcoin only owns 10% of the supply. 

Currently, the price of a CATE is $0.0000003951 and it has a market cap of $12.91M.

The top two memecoins I’m considering