---
title: Memecoin
ticker: None
category: Culture
written_by: Unknown
status: draft
updated: 2026-10-31
---
# Memecoin
A memecoin is a cryptocurrency associated with an internet joke, character,
cultural trend, or online community. The label describes a social and
market identity rather than a single technical design. The US SEC's
February 2025 staff statement described typical meme coins as speculative
assets whose appeal centres on entertainment and community participation;
that description was part of a specific legal analysis.[^staff]
| | |
|---|---|
| Also written | Meme coin |
| Early example | Dogecoin, launched in December 2013[^doge] |
| Example launch platform studied by researchers | pump.fun on Solana[^research] |
| Defining feature | Association with memes, trends, or communities[^staff] |
## Origins and culture
Dogecoin's project history credits Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer with
creating it as a joke in 2013. It dates launch to 6 December and describes
its inspiration as the Doge meme featuring a Shiba Inu. The same account
records its use for tipping on Reddit. These social uses help explain how
a coin can acquire a community beyond the original joke.[^doge]
Later token-launch platforms made creating new coins a repeatable process.
A 2026 research paper on pump.fun examined coins created on [Solana](solana.md)
between January 2024 and January 2026. Its description of the platform
shows creators supplying a name, symbol, and image, with optional descriptions
and social links. The cultural packaging and the onchain token are related
but distinct components.[^research]
## Trading and manipulation
The CFTC's 2018 advisory describes pump-and-dump schemes in thinly traded
cryptocurrencies: organisers accumulate an asset, encourage buying through
promotional messages, and sell into the resulting demand. Later buyers
can be left with losses as prices fall. The advisory predates many current
memecoin platforms and concerns a trading practice, not a finding that
every meme-themed token is fraudulent.[^cftc]
The pump.fun study identified patterns it classified as wash trading,
creator-address obfuscation, coordinated selling, copycat coins, and
social-media manipulation. These are the researchers' findings from a
specified dataset and detection methods, not court findings about every
coin or participant on the platform.[^research]
## US regulatory debate
On 27 February 2025, SEC corporation-finance staff stated that transactions
in the kinds of meme coins it described generally did not involve
securities. The statement expressly excluded disguised securities and
said it had no legal force. It also noted that other authorities could
pursue fraud. Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw criticised the category's
vagueness and argued that individual economic arrangements required
analysis.[^staff][^response]
In March 2026, the SEC issued a broader interpretation separating categories
such as digital collectibles, commodities, tools, stablecoins, and securities.
Its announcement also distinguished an asset from an investment contract
involving that asset. This later framework is relevant context; a token's
marketing label alone does not resolve the treatment of a particular
transaction.[^interpretation][^staff]
## See also
- [Non-fungible token](nft.md)
- [Smart contract](smart-contract.md)
- [Uniswap](uniswap.md)
- [CLARITY Act](clarity-act.md)
## References
[^doge]: Dogecoin. *The history of Dogecoin*.
[^staff]: SEC Division of Corporation Finance (27 February 2025). *Staff statement on meme coins*.
[^cftc]: CFTC (2018). *Customer advisory: beware virtual currency pump-and-dump schemes*.
[^research]: *Meme coin factories: uncovering large-scale manipulations on pump.fun* (September 2026). Research preprint.
[^response]: Crenshaw, C. (27 February 2025). *Response to staff statement on meme coins: what does it meme?*.
[^interpretation]: SEC (17 March 2026). *SEC clarifies the application of federal securities laws to crypto assets*.