Meme coins are highly volatile and unsuitable for stable everyday transactions.
CBDCs and stablecoins offer safer, regulated alternatives in the crypto market.
Meme coins thrive on hype but lack real-world acceptance and utility.
Meme coins are among the most discussed sectors of the crypto world. These tokens, frequently launched as jokes or meme-based, have become hugely popular over the past few years. Can you really trust them, and more importantly, use them like normal money to buy groceries, pay bills, or shop online? The answer is more complicated than it appears.
Fluctuating prices are the meme coins’ biggest problem. In 2025, during a worldwide crypto winter, certain meme coins, such as Gorbagana and Useless Coin, surged by 40% to 50% in a day. A different coin, Startup Coin, increased almost 9-fold in merely a month. These returns seem thrilling; they demonstrate how volatile meme coins are.
They go up and down very fast due to low liquidity, i.e., not a lot of people trade them regularly. A handful of big investors steer these cryptocurrencies. When they purchase or offload, the price shifts significantly. That sort of unpredictable action makes meme coins unsuitable for everyday use, where people want to know what they’re worth.
Almost every crypto investor has meme coins, particularly in the US. More than 80% of American crypto owners reportedly have meme coins in their wallets. Worldwide, meme coins are the fourth hottest category of crypto, trailing more earnest efforts such as Ethereum and DeFi.
Almost none of them use it to spend time on something tangible in real life. Most meme coin holders hold them as an investment, not as a payment. Meanwhile, central banks are announcing their digital currencies, including India’s Digital Rupee. These are accepted by merchants and interoperable with current payment systems, making them immensely more practical in real life.
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Which is why some memecoin creators are attempting to rebrand their tokens. For instance, one coin named Little Pepe is developing its blockchain. To make transactions less expensive, to protect against bot attacks, and to provide a launchpad for new crypto projects.
Other notable meme coins, including Shiba Inu and Floki, have similarly begun providing services such as NFT marketplaces and games. These initiatives demonstrate that the memecoin arena is evolving. Despite these innovations, most non-crypto people still regard meme coins as both risky and mystifying. Without merchant support or robust infrastructure, meme coins are not yet usable as money.
Governments and financial regulators worldwide are still trying to wrap their heads around meme coins. In the US, the SEC has indicated that most meme coins are not securities. They’re not subject to the regulations imposed on shares and debt. Yet, this creates a gray zone where consumers have scant protection.
Being political is yet another risk. In January 2025, US President Donald Trump released a memecoin that soared to a $27 billion valuation in 24 hours. Not long thereafter, allegations of abuse of power and litigation arose. A similar fate befell Argentina, with the president endorsing a memecoin that subsequently lost virtually all value. These incidents prove that not even executive backing can render a coin secure or reliable.
The worth of meme coins can be contingent on online buzz. Everyone on Twitter, Reddit, and TikTok is raving about them. Influencers and celebrities will occasionally endorse those cryptos, leading to brief price surges. A lot of these projects go south.
Certain meme coins are scams from inception. They get developers to launch them with hacked social media accounts or stolen names, get bought in and then vanish with the cash. These “rug pulls” leave investors holding the bag with valueless tokens. Internet forums and communities are rife with tales of individuals who lost tens of thousands to meme coins that tanked in a single night.
Stablecoins and CBDCs are a lot more reliable than meme coins. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that are backed by real-world currencies such as the US dollar or euro. They hold their value, making them so much more practical to use for regular purchases.
Governments, of course, are working on CBDCs too. India has already begun piloting the Digital Rupee. It lets consumers purchase things seamlessly via trusted apps and platforms. These central bank-backed digital currencies are legally backed and safer, and easier to use than meme coins.
A few meme coins give you explosive returns in a matter of days. For instance, Little Pepe secured 3 million+ in a presale and plans to expand that 100X with upcoming updates. During rallies, coins such as Useless Coin and Pudgy Penguin have drawn big investors.
These rewards usually carry big dangers. A lot of projects crash just as fast as they rise. Like in the Central African Republic, where government-backed meme coins flopped spectacularly, generating both national humiliation and loss of money. These instances demonstrate the volatility and riskiness of meme coins.
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Meme coins are entertaining, viral, and occasionally lucrative. They drive attention via memes and fast markets. A lot of new users come to the crypto market for these coins. As a practical day-to-day currency, they’re lacking in a lot of ways.
They’re too unstable, not embraced in the actual world, and frequently associated with reckless conduct. Developers are attempting to create utility and add more meaning to these tokens, but that path remains nascent. In the meantime, stablecoins and central bank digital currencies present more elegant answers for regular spending.
Until meme coins become less volatile, more regulated, and accepted, they’ll continue to be more of a bet than an actual asset. For now, they serve as novelty or entertainment notes, not as a regulated currency meant for daily use.