Previously, meme projects were intended to be utility-less projects with strong communities that believed in and built alongside the project. Take a look at alpha meme projects like Doge; they do not even fit the narrative of what modern-day memecoins are.
Somehow, I had the impression that if there were more solid meme projects with strong communities, the narrative or tags we typically use in meme projects would differ.
Now, there are people who are taking advantage of the meme concept to launch coins with no utility; I am not even opposed to this. In fact, I believe that a utility-less coin is intended to be one way to attract no-coiners, particularly because it is not a complex concept.
Memes as onboarding coins?
Consider this: web3 is difficult with complex use cases and ways of interaction, so memes can easily onboard people in a positive way while gradually easing them into the real deal; projects with great concepts, solving real-world problems, Blockchain that creates solutions and rewards for interactions, and so on, but unfortunately, the simplicity of memes is now being used for the sole purpose of rugpulling and scams.
2021 Vs 2025
In 2021, I do not think anyone was scared of the Shiba inus of the world; after all, people could easily go in, learn one or two things from interacting with these projects, and then move on to the cool stuff.
In fact, memes in 2021 did not sell profit schemes; instead, they sold community vibes and participation. However, I am not sure whose idea it was to start using memes as a scam.
For instance, two or three Nigerian celebrities recently launched meme coins. Now, these guys have no idea how crypto works.
I am sure they had a crypto bro running the show, but I am sure they all heard they could make money by creating coins and went for it.
One of them even claimed that his coin was for charity, but according to tokenomics, he only gave 5% to charity and 95% to himself, and people rushed in to buy, thinking they would be riding lambos in no time. The guy removed liquid, leaving people with a 99% loss.
Now most people actually didn't know what crypto was, that was actually supposed to be their first crypto investment and they got rugpulled in the first attempt. It was both hilarious and sad.
These guys are all over Twitter, texting influencers to create a coin, shilling it to their followers, and then pulling the rug after their followers have invested, with the influencer returning after a few hours to say their account has been hacked.
I mean, we have seen a lot of influencers say their accounts were hacked in the past, and perhaps if Kanye West had not revealed this format, a lot of celebrities/KOLS/influencers would have continued to take these deals, only to claim they were hacked, and then this completely exonerates them.
You have to be concerned about the industry's future if things continue as they are.
see the official tweet
However, we must also blame greed and the desire to make quick money. Crypto requires a significant amount of time and consistent involvement before it can be rewarding.
CRYPTO prints cash all day
However, there is an external illusion that crypto prints cash at any time. I believe that this constant illusion is associated with a money doubling concept, which is why newbies are seriously scammed.
Influencers promote scams, and people buy the narrative, believing it to be true, only to lose money. They fail to seek their own knowledge, instead relying on KOLS to do it for them, unaware that scammers are using KOLS to defraud potential onboarding candidates.
Memecoin in 2025 is far more toxic to crypto; 2021 was different, there were fewer scams, and the narratives were different, and I believe that today, people like Donald Trump may have simply given potential scammers the narrative they need to scam people.
I understand that $TRUMP was just for the culture and all that, but then, the money generated from this coin alone will make potential scammers venture into the business of creating memes for sake of scams. Memes should be top 10 ways to be rekd in crypto, and honestly no one is talking about this enough.
Interested in some more of my works
Is it Easy To Make Money?
Nigeria: A Unique Business Market & Industry
Virtual Bank Apps In Nigeria: An Experience Of Gamification
How To Find The Next "BIG" Meme Coin
Personal Finance: Achieving Intentional "Saving" Goals
Playing The Survival Game: Human Nature In Introspection
"Un-PAYING" The Debt You Owe
Interested in some more of my works
Is it Easy To Make Money?
Nigeria: A Unique Business Market & Industry
Virtual Bank Apps In Nigeria: An Experience Of Gamification
How To Find The Next "BIG" Meme Coin
Personal Finance: Achieving Intentional "Saving" Goals
Playing The Survival Game: Human Nature In Introspection
"Un-PAYING" The Debt You Owe
Memes were a little easier to play back then than they are now, there was always risk but if you were smart you usually didn't get burned too badly. Today's seem more of a pump and dump more than anything with no real strong community or even a hope of a purpose for the tokens. I haven't played any memes this time around, there are just too many and to profit you need to be: "in the know". I sadly, am not in the know for any of them!
!hiqvote
There aren't strong communities anymore because anyone can just print memes for the purposes of just dumping them. I saw rugpulls on Twitter on a steady and one of the reasons why it's even popular is because of tweets like
"I made $500k with just 500$"
People hop on trends like this and completely forget to do research because of greed and the urge to make quick money.
It's a great way to lose $500, that's for sure!
For sure. I saw tweets like these regular on crypto Twitter and honestly the people in the comment sections wants to quickly dive in
Unfortunately, meme coins have become an easy tool for fraud, as their simplicity is exploited to attract inexperienced investors and then liquidity withdrawals repeatedly.
I belong it has. Well it was different in 2021. Despite the obvious scam, a lot of people still go ahead to put in money.
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Memecoins still make money, but it's heavily examined now. Especially so if an influencer does so. It reminds me of how Hawk Tuah girl probably made millions, but she is trying to erase all of it now that a lawsuit might come. I guess Trump coin might be one of the few exceptions that didn't have as much blowback.