Memecoins were born from the Internet culture. While your classic crypto projects aim for technical utility and solving real-world problems, memecoins are about community buzz and social media hype. The original memecoin that started it all is Dogecoin (DOGE). 

DOGE was created as a joke by Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus in 2013, inspired by the Shiba Inu meme. It accidentally became useful. Nowadays, people use it for small online payments, such as peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers. The DOGE network enables fast transactions with low fees, which is exactly what urges people to buy Dogecoin. 

The celebrity factor shouldn’t be ignored in memecoins. Elon Musk’s tweets sent the DOGE price to the moon. Celebrities with a huge following could attract unprecedented numbers of new investors with one post online. However, just riding a hype wave isn’t enough.

New memecoin projects, such as Shiba Inu (SHIB) coin, aim to build ecosystems. They develop their decentralised exchanges and layer-two chains. In 2023, a PEPE coin based on the Pepe the frog meme appeared, which stirred the industry. 

Memecoins are going strong in 2025. In this article, you will learn about how memecoins work, what drives their value, and what legal aspects you should be aware of. 

Over 13 million memecoins were launched in 2024 across various crypto networks. There are over 10 Solana memecoins alone. However, the most famous ones, such as Dogecoin, have their own networks. 

Users who invested $470 in DOGE in late 2014 would end up with over $1.9 million by 2024. Holding a joke coin for 10 years can turn out to be a life-changing investment. For example, Glauber Contessoto used $250,000 to buy DOGE in 2021. Now, he has over $2 million in Dogecoin investments. 

The speed at which people are gaining millions and losing them with memecoins is terrifying. An investor took $8,000 and invested it in SHIB in 2021. His fortune is worth over $5.7 billion now. It’s an ultimate lottery ticket fantasy. However, the whole sum is theoretical. 

Liquidity stops those memecoin millionaires and billionaires from cashing out their investments. The market can’t handle someone selling that many SHIB coins. If a user tried to sell them, the selling pressure would crush the price of that coin, destroying 99% of its total value.

The big two memecoins are DOGE and SHIB. Their tokenomics involve:

DOGE is an inflationary asset. It uses proof-of-work consensus like Bitcoin. This means miners validate transactions and get rewarded with new DOGE tokens. New coins are made every minute. 

Dogecoin has no maximum supply cap, which means DOGE coins are infinite. However, it means DOGE always needs new buyers just to keep its price from falling.

SHIB is a deflationary asset. They burn SHIB tokens every day. It means tokens are sent to dead-wallet addresses. Nobody can access those addresses. Those coins are permanently removed from circulation. This creates scarcity and boosts value. 

Shiba Inu has a 103.8 million supply. Its maximum supply is set at 589.5 trillion tokens. The total value of circulating coins is $6 billion. 

The act of selling a memecoin can destroy its value. The value of a memecoin lies in its buyers. The fundamental point is that memecoin’s value is speculative. It’s driven by virality, luck, and timing. By the time you hear about the next big memecoin, the big gains will be gone. The best advice you will get is not to invest in memecoins more than you can afford to lose. 

Clear communication about tax allocation helps build trust and avoid scam accusations. Most memecoins fall under the cryptocurrency asset qualification. Here is how those assets are treated legally, depending on the region:

Before investing in a memecoin, you should do your research. You should find out if the asset is legit and can be legally traded in your region. 

Here is a step-by-step guide on how you can invest your money into a memecoin asset: 

With secure and legal exchange platforms, such as Paybis, you have to register first. You will be asked to complete the sign-up process with Know Your Customer (KYC). You will need to provide your ID and take a selfie.

The exchange platform will ask you to choose your preferred payment method. For example, you can do a credit or debit card transfer, a bank transfer, or a PayPal transfer. 

The third step is straightforward. You should pick your memecoin and exchange currency.

After pressing the “Confirm” button, you will need to send a specified amount of money to the exchange. Then, you will receive your memecoin tokens in your wallet in under 30 minutes.

Let’s take a look at the return on investment (ROI) of the four most popular memecoins.. 

As you can see, most of the memecoin ROI came from investing in it early.

The best memecoin is the one that brings you the biggest ROI. It should be secure and legal in your region. If you consider the market data, SHIB would be the best memecoin investment you could have. 

For tokens with those massive supplies, it’s unlikely to reach a significant price, such as $1. Unless a sustained number of token burns raises its price, a memecoin won’t reach the value of $1. 

You can find memecoins on most crypto exchange platforms, such as Paybis. 

Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin is a crypto token associated with Donald Trump. It was introduced in January 2025. Its all-time high price was over $60.

Memecoins are risky investments. Some users gained millions of dollars by being early investors. However, most well-known memecoins didn’t show positive ROI growth over the last year. You should invest no more than you can afford to lose.