The Rise of Meme Coins: Are Meme Coins Ponzi Schemes?

Dogecoin was started as a joke but it is no longer a joke, it is being promoted by influential people and social media. The success of dogecoin gave birth to a number of “joke” currencies. Shiba Inu was started as a dogecoin killer. But the currencies gain media attention when Buterin, Ethereum co-founder burned shib coins worth billions of US dollars.

Dogecoin Vs. Shiba Inu

Dogecoin was launched as a meme coin in 2013. However, the cryptocurrency became so popular that just within a year, its market cap reached 60 million. Currently, Doge is priced 19 cents, has a market cap of just about 24 billion USD and ranks 9th in market capitalization.

Shiba Inu was launched in 2020 as a spinoff of Dogecoin. It is named after Shiba Inu, the Japanese dog breed. The cryptocurrency has become so popular that people are calling it Doge killer.

Shiba Inu became popular after the creator of the meme coin sent 50 percent of the total shiba inu coin in circulation to Vitalik Butrein, the founder of Ethereum. Butrein burned 90 percent of what he received and donated the remaining 10 percent to India’s Covid relief. This created a sensation in the crypto world and the coin once shoot up to prominence.

Shib Coin vs. Dogecoin: Which is More Profitable Investment?

Ever since it was launched in August 2020, Shib Coin has picked a bone with Dogecoin. Look at the irony here. Dogecoin is named after a dog and uses Shiba Inu dog as the mascot, whereas Shib Coin is named after Shiba Inu dog.

Hailed as Dogecoin killer, Shib Coin gained prominence when Elon Musk tweeted about the coin. Interestingly, Dogecoin sprang off when the same guy started promoting through his tweets.

Well, it is true that Shiba Inu is a spinoff of dogecoin, however, unlike the price correlation of Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, the price movement of these two dog-themed coins does not actually correspond to each other.

Baby Doge Do, Do, Do, Do

Baby shark do, do, do, do is a popular children's song. Recently, Elon Musk tweeted “Baby Doge do, do, do, do,” referring to the shark song “baby shark do, do, do, do.” I went to Google to see what exactly baby doge was. To my surprise, it came out to be a coin that calls itself the child of dogecoin. Can you believe someone can start a coin calling itself the baby of the already existing coin?

Mama Doge

Then there is another coin called Mama doge. This mama doge is not the mama of baby doge but the mama of dogecoin that is according to the official site of mama dogecoin. I came to learn about the mama doge through an ad on a forum I visit regularly.

Baby doge and mama doge, or even shib inu, just like doge coin, use shib inu dog in their mascot.

Dogecoin coin was started as a joke and it is no longer a joke. That was fine! Now these coins... Shib coin, baby doge, mama doge! Are we being fooled?

Floki Inu Token

These whole breeds of shb inu dog breed coins do not stop here. There is another coin that uses the name inu and uses the shib inu picture as the mascot. This is called Floki Inu. I came to learn about this Floki inu token while browsing a website. I would have never clicked the ad unless I had not seen “The only official Floki Inu Token Presale – supported by Elon Musk” written on the ad.

I am not particularly a fan of Mr. Musk and I do not take a cue from his statement to make decisions on crypto investment, but I follow him on Twitter and he is surely an influential figure in our time. If you see something like “supported by Elon Musk” you would surely take interest in this item if you are a fan of Musk or take his advice on crypto investment. Floki Inu shoot up when Musk tweeted his photo of his Inu dog.

Are Meme Coins Ponzi Schemes?

When bitcoin came it was certainly a boon for the global financial system. When a blockchain platform like Ethereum was launched, it became easier to create a token. But looks like this whole cryptocurrency market is playing with people’s emotions by operating like get rich quick scheme.

First published on Forum Coin in author's name