Memecoin Risk Assessment Tool
Is This Memecoin Safe?
Based on the article's research of 9,000+ memecoins, this tool evaluates critical risk factors. Only use money you can afford to lose.
There is no such thing as a cryptocurrency called MEMECOIN. Not on CoinGecko. Not on CoinMarketCap. Not on any blockchain explorer. If you searched for "just memecoin" expecting to find a real token with that name, you’ve been misled - probably by a scam site, a YouTube ad, or a viral TikTok post. The term "memecoin" isn’t a coin. It’s a category. And understanding that difference could save you thousands.
Memecoins Are Internet Jokes That Became Financial Wildfires
Memecoins started as jokes. Dogecoin, the first one, was created in 2013 by two software engineers who were poking fun at Bitcoin’s seriousness. They picked the Shiba Inu dog from the "Doge" meme - the one with the broken grammar and the confused look - and turned it into a cryptocurrency. Nobody expected it to go anywhere. But then people on Reddit started using it to tip each other for funny comments. It became a digital inside joke. And then it exploded.
Today, Dogecoin (DOGE) is worth over $12 billion. Shiba Inu (SHIB) is worth nearly $7 billion. Both have no real use case. No team building software. No business model. No roadmap to adoption. Their value comes from one thing: memes. Viral tweets. Elon Musk posts. TikTok trends. Reddit hype.
That’s why "just memecoin" isn’t a product. It’s a mindset. You’re not buying a currency. You’re buying a cultural moment. And moments fade.
How Memecoins Actually Work (And Why They’re So Dangerous)
Technically, most memecoins are built on top of existing blockchains. Dogecoin runs on its own network. Shiba Inu lives on Ethereum as an ERC-20 token. Newer ones like Bonk and Pudgy Penguins run on Solana. The code to create one is simple. You can launch a memecoin for under $50 using open-source templates. No coding skills needed.
But here’s where it gets scary:
- Uncapped supply: Dogecoin prints 5 billion new coins every year. That’s inflation on steroids.
- Quadrillions of tokens: Shiba Inu launched with 1,000,000,000,000,000 tokens. Half were burned immediately - but the rest? Still floating around.
- Zero utility: No major store accepts DOGE or SHIB. No app uses them. They don’t power anything. They’re digital collectibles with price tags.
And the volatility? Insane. In January 2025, a Solana memecoin called BONK jumped 19,000% in two days - then crashed 92% a week later. That’s not investing. That’s gambling with extra steps.
Why 99% of Memecoins Die Within 90 Days
Over 9,000 new memecoins launched on Ethereum in 2024. Only 47 lasted longer than six months. That’s a 0.5% survival rate.
Why? Because most are scams.
Here’s how it works: Someone creates a token, pumps it with fake social media buzz, gets influencers to shout about it, and then - boom - they sell everything. This is called a "rug pull." The developers drain the liquidity pool, vanish, and leave investors holding worthless tokens. In March 2024, a memecoin called EthereumMax was drained of $11 million in one day. The SEC filed charges. The devs? Gone.
Even "legit" ones like Pudgy Penguins - which had cute NFT art and a loyal fanbase - collapsed 88% after its founder settled an SEC case for $2.1 million in October 2025. The lesson? No matter how fun the meme, if the team is shady, your money is gone.
Who’s Buying These Things? And Why?
Most memecoin buyers are under 34. Median income? Under $45,000. They’re not finance professionals. They’re students, gig workers, people who saw a TikTok video saying "Turn $100 into $10,000 with SHIB!"
Charles Schwab’s 2025 investor study found that 68% of young memecoin traders treat them like lottery tickets. They buy a few thousand tokens for a few dollars, watch the charts like a sports game, and hope for a miracle. The average holding time? Less than 72 hours.
It’s not investing. It’s entertainment. And like any form of gambling, the house always wins. In 2024, over $417 million was lost to memecoin scams, according to CryptoScamDB. That’s not a typo. Four hundred seventeen million dollars.
What’s the Difference Between a Memecoin and Real Crypto?
Bitcoin and Ethereum aren’t memes. They’re networks.
- Bitcoin is digital gold - a decentralized store of value.
- Ethereum runs smart contracts - powering DeFi, NFTs, and apps.
- Dogecoin is a dog with a hat.
Bitcoin processes 7 transactions per second. Ethereum handles 30. Solana does 65,000. Dogecoin? 28. That’s barely enough for a coffee shop. But it doesn’t matter - because no one uses DOGE to buy coffee. They use it to send tips on Reddit or gamble on Twitter.
Real crypto has utility. Memecoins have vibes.
Should You Buy a Memecoin? The Hard Truth
Here’s the honest answer: Only if you’re okay with losing it all.
If you’re thinking of buying a memecoin because you heard someone made money - stop. That person likely got lucky. Or they were part of the pump. Or they sold before the crash.
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler called memecoins "gambling tokens." Nouriel Roubini compared them to Beanie Babies. Charles Schwab’s chief strategist said they’re "cultural artifacts, not currencies."
There’s no future in memecoins unless you’re betting on internet culture never changing - and that’s a risky bet.
But if you still want to try it? Here’s how to do it without getting wrecked:
- Only use money you can afford to lose. Like, $10, not $1,000.
- Never invest based on a tweet or a YouTube video.
- Use a self-custody wallet like MetaMask or Phantom - never keep coins on an exchange.
- Check the liquidity lock on Etherscan or Solscan. If the devs can pull the funds, walk away.
- Don’t fall for "staking rewards" on new memecoins. Those are almost always traps.
What’s Next for Memecoins?
The market is cooling. In late 2024, over 200 new memecoins launched every day. In Q3 2025, that number dropped to 43. People are getting burned. Regulators are stepping in. The EU now requires a 30-day cooling-off period before retail investors can buy memecoins. The SEC has filed 17 cases since 2023.
Only two memecoins have any staying power: Dogecoin and Shiba Inu. Even those are hanging on by a thread - mostly because Elon Musk still tweets about them. But even that might not last. His influence is fading. The culture is moving on.
Memecoins aren’t going to revolutionize finance. They’re not the future of money. They’re the last gasp of a generation that turned finance into a game show.
So if you’re wondering what "just memecoin" is - it’s not a coin. It’s a warning.
Is there a cryptocurrency called MEMECOIN?
No. There is no official cryptocurrency with the ticker symbol MEMECOIN. This is a common misunderstanding. "Memecoin" is a category of crypto tokens inspired by internet memes - like Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB). Any website or ad selling a token called "MEMECOIN" is likely a scam.
Why do people buy memecoins if they have no value?
People buy them because they’re fun, viral, and sometimes make quick money. Memecoins thrive on social media hype - a single tweet from Elon Musk can spike a token’s price overnight. But that’s speculation, not investment. Most buyers treat them like lottery tickets: low cost, high risk, big dream. The problem? The odds are stacked against you.
Can you make money from memecoins?
Some people have. A few early Dogecoin holders turned $100 into thousands in 2021. But those cases are rare. For every winner, there are thousands who lost everything. Over 99% of memecoins crash within months. The only guaranteed winners are the developers who dump their coins before the public buys in.
Are memecoins safe to invest in?
No. Memecoins are among the riskiest assets in crypto. They lack fundamentals, have no regulatory protection, and are easy targets for rug pulls. The SEC and EU regulators classify them as high-risk or even unregistered securities. If you’re looking for safety, avoid them entirely.
What’s the difference between Dogecoin and a new memecoin?
Dogecoin has a 12-year history, a real community, and cultural staying power - even if it’s just a meme. New memecoins have none of that. They’re built overnight, promoted by paid influencers, and often vanish within weeks. Dogecoin survives because people still use it to tip each other. New ones? They exist only to be sold.
How do I avoid getting scammed by a memecoin?
Check the token’s contract on Etherscan or Solscan. Look for a locked liquidity pool - if the devs can withdraw funds, it’s a rug pull waiting to happen. Avoid tokens with no GitHub, no website, and no team info. Never trust a Discord server full of bots. And if someone says "this is the next Dogecoin," run. It’s never the next Dogecoin.
memecoins are just digital confetti tbh