Once considered a joke in the crypto world, meme coins have now become a speculative battlefield that cannot be ignored. They not only influence capital flows and trends on social media, but even politicians have started issuing their own tokens to ride the hype.
Brands use them for marketing campaigns, and hedge funds test the waters of high volatility with small positions—meme coins are no longer just fringe toys. The data speaks for itself, so let’s take a look at what this wild, fast-growing market really looks like.
The Truth Behind the Market Boom
In 2024, the total capital in the meme coin sector surged more than fivefold, directly leading to a frenzy at the beginning of 2025 as people withdrew from mainstream coins and rushed into various alt-meme coins. This year, the US SEC directly classified most meme coins as “collectibles” rather than securities, meaning there is basically no regulatory protection.
On January 17, $TRUMP burst onto the scene, reaching a market cap of $27 billion in less than 24 hours. The result? Within a few weeks, 7 more appeared...

Something pretty surreal happened in May 2021—a "joke coin" that was created back in 2013 actually broke into the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap.
This surge in Dogecoin left even veteran crypto users baffled. People outside the crypto world were even more shocked: How could something with a Shiba Inu as its logo be worth tens of billions of dollars?
The answer is actually pretty well hidden. It’s in every "To the Moon" comment, in the flood of meme shares, and, most of all, in the energy created by millions of holders coming together on their own.
Today, let’s break down how meme coins work, and why spreading culture is more reliable than constantly watching the charts and hoping for a pump.
From joke to #5 in market cap: how did Dogecoin defy the odds?
The story starts in 2013. Programmers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer were fed up with the rampant speculation in crypto at the time, so they decided to create an "anti-crypto"...

A Polish Trader’s Shocking Moment
When Barry first saw a token labeled in Chinese reach a market cap of over $20 million, he was stunned.
As the co-founder of WOK Labs, this Polish trader runs a European crypto community with hundreds of members. That day, he realized something: is this really how conspiracy coins work?
By the time that token soared to $60 million, and even surpassed $100 million, his Discord group had exploded. A bunch of people were frantically depositing into the BSC chain, having no idea why the price was rising—just knowing that it was skyrocketing.
This wasn’t an isolated case.
On-chain data shows that on October 8th, BSC’s trading volume surged to $6.05 billion. This number has returned to the levels seen during the mechanism coin frenzy of 2021. But this time, the leaders weren’t DeFi projects, but a wave of Chinese meme coins.
That day, over 100,000 people…

Musk has sparked attention again by announcing that SpaceX plans to send Dogecoin to the moon, stating that "the time has come." This mission will be led by Geometric Energy Corporation and will use DOGE as payment, making it the first space project to rely entirely on cryptocurrency. Although the market response has been lukewarm, the practical significance of DOGE has increased, demonstrating the potential of cryptocurrency in the real economy. The launch is scheduled for December 2025 and will serve as a key technology test.

Lately, I’ve been bombarded with questions: What on earth are $PING and $PAYAI doing? The price isn’t moving, but there sure seem to be a lot of changes.
One is clearly a MEME coin but insists on launching a Launchpad; the other should be focusing on building tools, but suddenly wants to migrate and change pools. For those not in the loop, it almost looks like they’re planning an exit scam.
But if you think about it, the choices these two projects are making actually make a lot of sense.
Why all the fuss?
$PING’s dilemma is obvious—being a pure MEME means it relies entirely on consensus and sentiment. Without real use cases, it’s just a castle in the air, ready to collapse at any moment. Sparking the x402 narrative track was a good start, but relying solely on concepts like “chat-to-mine” just can’t hold up in a bear market.
So pivoting to Launchpad is a smart move. Becoming a platform token means every new project launch is a new empowerment opportunity. Even if the first few projects flop, as long as there’s a…

The market has entered a bear phase, liquidity has dried up, buy orders have decreased, and both developers and token holders are leaving. Although MEME coins briefly provided a solution against high FDV coins, they lack long-term value. Exchanges are gradually becoming more internalized, making self-rescue increasingly difficult. Projects are facing a survival crisis, and the crypto industry urgently needs technological innovation to revitalize the sector.

$PING and $PAYAI are facing challenges in their strategic adjustments. $PING is attempting to transform into a Platform Token through Launchpad to enhance its long-term value, while $PAYAI is undergoing token migration to expand to the protocol layer. Although the market has reacted lukewarmly to these changes, the adjustment logic for both is not fundamentally flawed; the key lies in the execution effectiveness and changes in the market environment.

A certain platform offers contracts for Chinese assets, boosting market confidence. The research and investment in memes emphasizes improving win rates through study, reflecting market psychology. Although short-term fluctuations are influenced by emotions, the author is optimistic about its long-term value, believing that success comes from patience and understanding of the market.

A button that had been asleep for 27 years was awakened by AI.
In 1997, the HTTP protocol reserved a status code: 402.
The name is quite straightforward – "Payment Required". However, because reliable online payment methods were hard to find back then, this thing has just been sitting in the protocol library gathering dust.
By 2025, the situation has changed. Stablecoins have matured, L2 has reduced transaction fees, and more importantly: AI Agents have started to run all over the world, needing to spend their own money to purchase services.
So a leading exchange tapped this dusty button and came up with the x402 protocol. The core logic is very simple: when an AI or a person accesses paid content, there is no need to register, no need to redirect, just directly transfer USDC on-chain to complete the transaction.
Sounds like a small feature of "automatic payment"? But behind it is actually a whole ecosystem that is being reorganized - from protocol standards to the basics.

Mr. KEY, a long-term thinker, does not chase memecoins but focuses on the value ten years down the line. He emphasizes the importance of in-depth research, following smart money, and the significance of belief, asserting that wealth requires patience and understanding of the market. The essence lies in a clear thinking pattern, and success stems from mindset.