[News Terms] From Dogecoin to Pepecoin... What Is a 'Meme Coin'?

Frog Model 'Pepecoin', Dog Character 'Dogecoin'
Coins Created for Fun... Soaring with Trends
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Amid reports in the media about various cryptocurrencies due to former Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Kim Nam-guk's alleged virtual asset (coin) investments, attention is also being drawn to 'meme coins,' separate from Kim's coin investment portfolio. 'Meme coins' refer to cryptocurrencies bought and sold like a trend without any specific purpose.

Pepe Coin utilized the frog character "Pepe," which appeared in the 2005 comic "Voice Club," as its coin character. [Image source=Yonhap News]

'Meme' refers to content and culture that spread widely on the internet. The term was first used in the 1967 book "The Selfish Gene" by British biologist Richard Dawkins. The author explained that cultural transmission requires an intermediary similar to genes, and he called this form of information a meme. The term was derived from the Greek word 'mimeme,' meaning imitation.

Although originally used in an academic context, since the spread of the internet, the term has come to encompass new forms of cultural transmission. It refers to the spread and popularity of content such as text, photos, and videos online. This meme phenomenon has started to appear in the investment market as 'meme coins' and 'meme stocks.'

Dogecoin symbol (left) and Elon Musk (right) [Image source=Yonhap News]

A representative 'meme coin' is Dogecoin. Dogecoin was developed in December 2013 by software engineers Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus. It was created as a kind of joke coin to satirize the cryptocurrency market craze. Therefore, it was operated mainly for experimental and entertainment purposes.

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, began drawing attention to Dogecoin in April 2019 by tweeting, "I like Dogecoin, it seems cool." In July 2020, when he said, "Dogecoin will conquer the world financial system," the number of investors buying Dogecoin started to increase. The coin, developed with a 'meme coin' character, surged in value, attracting many investors, and a coin originally made to satirize the coin craze became a coin whose value skyrocketed like other cryptocurrencies.

Another recently notable 'meme coin' is Pepe Coin. Pepe Coin uses the frog character Pepe the Frog from Matt Furie's 2005 comic "Boy's Club." The Pepe Coin development team even described it on their official Twitter account as "the most meme-like meme coin in existence."

Like Dogecoin, Pepe Coin was created without any specific purpose but gained popularity after appearing on a coin exchange on the 16th of last month. According to data from Etherscan, a site that investigates investors' wallets and contracts, more than 10,000 individual investors have already participated, and the coin has risen over 21,000% since its launch. According to the Pepe Coin whitepaper, its market capitalization is currently around 918.3 billion KRW.

As such, coins with no intrinsic value are soaring, attracting investors, which has raised concerns. Zhao Changpeng, CEO of Binance, emphasized on his Twitter, "Meme coins (and all cryptocurrencies) are highly risky, and no one should be forced to buy them," adding, "You must study on your own and take responsibility for your actions."