Trump, Jenner and the inevitable rise of meme coins

Meme coins — a type of cryptocurrency — are easy to make, easy to buy. They cost between a fraction of a paise and ₹15 per unit.

They’re a bit like the novelty T-shirts one buys on impulse; the kind that say “Here for #RishGotHerMan” or “Family Trip Survivor”.

Meme coins — a type of cryptocurrency — are easy to make, easy to buy. They cost between a fraction of a paise and ₹15 per unit. They are churned out, sometimes as an in-joke and sometimes by celebrities, to build on a sense of fandom or community.

And yet… Presidents are now launching them; billions are being made.

In January, US President Donald Trump launched $Trump, so fans could show their support, “celebrate our win and have fun”. People have collectively paid more than $350 million for these tokens, since mid-January.

US First Lady Melania Trump launched a meme coin, Melania, as a “digital collectible intended to function as an expression of support”. Influencer and one-time Olympic gold-winning decathlete Caitlyn Jenner has one, named JENNER. So do singer Jason Derulo ($JASON), rapper Cardi B (WAP) and Australian rapper Iggy Azalea (MOTHER).

The tokens, as Trump’s website states, are not “the subject of, an investment opportunity, investment contract, or security of any type”.

And yet, the industry has ballooned to a market capitalisation (the total value of all the meme coins in circulation) of nearly $49 billion, according to cryptocurrency tracker CoinMarketCap.

And, in February, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, President of Central African Republic launched $CAR, in an “experiment” to draw investors and boost its economy. (The coin has had a rocky start, but still currently represents $15.56 million.)

How did we get here?

It all began, of course, with Doge, which was launched as a joke.

In 2013, software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer created the world’s first such token, named for the meme about the confused-looking Shiba Inu dog.

If Bitcoin (launched in 2009) could be considered real money, they demanded, why not this crypto coin based on a meme?

It too had to be developed using coding and blockchain.

If enough people bought in, could it be considered legitimate currency as well?

The joke backfired almost immediately. Doge became trendy, as “a community-driven digital currency, particularly for tipping and charitable donations,” says David S Krause, a blockchain researcher and emeritus associate professor of finance at Marquette University in Milwaukee.

By the end of that year, Doge was worth nearly $8 million. Then Elon Musk invested in it, and began to accept it as payment for Tesla accessories. More recently, the US government helpfully named the cost-cutting squad Musk heads the Department of Government Efficiency. All this has helped raise Doge valuations to about $25.5 billion.

Meanwhile, millions of other meme coins now sit around, uselessly, across the ethosphere.

There’s one named for Pepe the Frog of the Boy’s Club comics (Pepe). Another named after a favourite condiment (GRLC). Even nicher ones play on interests in scatological humour, pornography, and sheer silliness (PINEOWL, for a wished-for hybrid of a pineapple and an owl).

There has been a boom since January 2024, when the cryptocurrency launchpad Pump.Fun made it possible to create a meme coin with a few clicks (in exchange for a 1% fee on each trade, and further charges as a coin gets more popular).

Mint condition

Meme coins currently account for about 1.79% of the total cryptocurrency market (which is worth an estimated $2.74 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap).

They exist in a dense regulatory grey area.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in February stated that, in its view, they are collectibles rather than securities, and as such cannot really be monitored or governed.

They “typically are purchased for entertainment, social interaction, and cultural purposes… have limited or no use or functionality… do not generate a yield or convey rights to future income, profits, or assets of a business. In other words, a meme coin is not itself a security,” the SEC website states.

It’s like Monopoly money, if Monopoly money were to suddenly become tradeable.

Rates are determined, incidentally, by trading volumes on crypto exchanges such as Binance, Coinbase and Kraken.

These trading volumes are driven purely on speculation, hype cycles and the actions of whatever community “buys in on the joke”, says Kashyap Kompella, who researches and consults on artificial intelligence, blockchain, automation and emerging technologies.

This makes them uniquely risk-laden.

The $Trump coin, for instance, has seen valuations rise from less than $10 to $70 and