Memecoins are a ‘Trojan horse’ of cryptocurrencies, says Messari

Memecoins have emerged as the standout phenomenon of 2024 within the cryptocurrency industry, gaining significant appreciation and visibility. They are digital assets without technological innovation, but with names and images linked to internet memes.

Within this ecosystem, Dogecoin (DOGE) was the first memecoin to appear on the market and, to this day, leads the sector with the highest market value. However, since the memecoin boom of 2020-21, it is no longer “the darling” of the market.

Although criticized for their lack of practical use, cryptocurrency analysis firm Messari suggests that these coins may have benefits. Maartje Bus, vice president of research at Messari, noted during a recent conference that memecoins have been attracting people to the cryptocurrency world by monetizing attention through memes.

“Cryptocurrencies are often criticized for not having use cases for the average person, and that is a fair comment. But, memecoins have been consistently successful in attracting people to the on-chain world,” he said.

Memecoins can be useful

In this way, Messari highlights that memecoins are “stealing” the status of Bitcoin and Ethereum as a gateway to the crypto world and, in this way, are becoming investors’ first contact with the blockchain ecosystem.

Despite the risks, Messari takes a more open view towards investing in memecoins, comparing it to low-cost speculative stocks. Maartje considers memecoins to be like a “Trojan horse”, opening the doors of the crypto ecosystem to many new investors.

However, these statements are not without controversy. Many investors believe that memecoins are a quick path to riches, but end up losing money. Furthermore, some argue that Bitcoin, with its resistance to censorship and scarcity, does not need memecoins to promote itself.

Despite differing opinions, as CriptoFácil reported, memecoins continue to attract interest and investment, as evidenced by the recent ‘boom’ of these tokens on Solana that helped boost the network’s revival after the problems with FTX.