Memetics are cryptocurrencies inspired by Internet and social media meme or jokes. DOGE is the first meme coin in history. Dogecoin was launched in 2013 as a parody inspired by the popular Shiba Inu meme.

The SHIB and DOGE memes may have started as joke pictures, but they are still two of the most ubiquitous and heavily invested cryptocurrencies. One surprising fact is that compared to cryptocurrencies, which are considered to be more serious representations of digital assets and the blockchain era, memecoins have held up fairly well in value and even have their own ecosystem.

Why is memetics so popular?

While it is difficult to pinpoint the exact reason, some believe that retail investors' desire to hedge against inflation during the coronavirus pandemic has driven the cryptocurrency market's rapid growth. Meme coins also rise rapidly by the hype momentum, with market value soaring and new products emerging one after another.

However, in May 2021, Elon Musk publicly teased Dogecoin on television, a comment that many saw as the trigger for the subsequent price drop. Some traders then moved on to other memes in the market, such as Shiba Inu, the "dogecoin killer". At the same time, retail investors are afraid of missing the opportunity to invest in memecoins and dream of getting rich overnight, which eventually leads to the rise in the price of memecoins.

Another reason retail investors have embraced memetics is that they often cost just a few cents or less to invest. Strictly speaking, the low price doesn't mean much, because the supply of these tokens is huge. Still, holding millions of memes is a very different experience than holding a fraction of Ether or bitcoin. Traders can acquire thousands or even millions of dogecoin, Shiba or AKITA coins for just a few dollars.

In addition to potential revenue, meme craze is also driven by the sentiment of the respective communities. As mentioned earlier, meme coins are inspired by popular memes on the Internet and are meant to be funny, sometimes just "inside jokes" from the community. To some extent, buying meme coins expresses their support for the community. After the GME stock market saga, memecoin traders, inspired by the Reddit group SatoshiStreetBets, have launched a "David versus Goliath" war against mainstream cryptocurrencies. As a result, the cryptocurrency market in 2021 has been flooded with various community-driven memes.

Memetics after the avalanche in the coin circle

Memetics is a cryptocurrency based on Internet memes. The two most popular memes are DOGE, which is based on the God annoying dog, and SHIB, which features the Shiba Inu dog. The 2022 DOGE and SHIB monthly market capitalization rankings show that SHIB's market capitalization has even remained within the top 15 for quite some time.

From January 1 to July 24, DOGE's market capitalization dropped from $24 billion to about $8 billion and SHIB from $11 billion to $5 billion. Still, both memetics have held their own. We all know that in previous crypto market avalanches, most of the counterfeit coins were no longer around.

There are many reasons for SHIB and DOGE's performance this year. One is that the price movements of cryptocurrencies have a lot to do with Bitcoin. In addition, Bitcoin has a four-year price cycle, and every four years the price of Bitcoin goes on a roller coaster ride. 2022 is a pivotal year, with historic monetary tightening.

On May 7, 2022, another major event in the crypto bear market occurred: the LUNA crash. This incident brought a great impact to the crypto market, and also added fuel to the arguments of blockchain opponents and skeptics, making the market more fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD). The incident sent bitcoin down more than 11% in a week, with other cryptocurrencies in the cryptocurrency market following suit.

Fundamental analysis

Despite all the bad news in the market, SHIB and DOGE's underlying indicators have been performing well. According to CoinGecko, DOGE's investor community has been on a roll in 2022, with steady growth in Twitter followers and Reddit subscriptions. Interestingly, meme coins are not only surviving the crypto winter, but their community is also thriving. The same goes for SHIB. Despite the market decline, SHIB's social media presence is expanding powerfully. For most of 2022, Reddit and Twitter saw their user numbers climb. It's also worth noting that SHIB is much younger than DOGE, having only appeared in 2021. Next, we can look at the number of addresses on the SHIB chain in three months. We've seen the number of wallets of SHIB holders multiply. In April 2022, the number of wallet addresses was less than 1 million. But fast forward to July 2022 and we can see that the number of wallet addresses reached 1.2 million. In three months, SHIB added 200,000 new addresses. The increase in the number of addresses on the chain is another fundamental metric in addition to social media presence, and the data suggests that SHIB remains a popular crypto asset for investors.

Conclusion

With new memecoins coming to market every day, traders are looking forward to replicating the success of Dogecoin and Shiba Inu and earning high profits. Before investing in memetics, do your own research (DYOR). Note that memecoins are fickle compared to other digital currencies. The high risks lurking in trading or investing in cryptocurrencies cannot be ignored. Meme coins are largely community driven and can suffer unexpected crashes.