Top 5 Memecoin Projects That Are More Than Just a Memecoin

Despite Dogecoin, the first memecoin, launching over a decade ago, the sector, characterized by its humorous branding, viral appeal, and community-oriented approach is finally getting its due recognition. Much like NFTs, memecoins reflect Web3’s fun and creative side and its embodiment of Internet culture, reflected through a project’s ability to cultivate and grow online communities. 

As the price of Bitcoin and numerous top altcoins began climbing in value earlier this year, interest in memecoins spiked as well. As more and more memecoins start flooding the market, let’s look at some of the leading memecoin projects that go above and beyond simply offering humorous branding and a viral appeal. 

Floki (FLOKI)

Branded as the “People’s Cryptocurrency,” Floki has witnessed unprecedented growth since March, making it one of the currently fastest-growing memecoins. With a market cap soaring toward $2 billion, Floki emphasizes strong community, utility, and charity. The Floki ecosystem, which uses FLOKI as a utility token, boasts nearly half a million community members as well as a 3D NFT metaverse known as Valhalla, DeFI utilities, Web3 education material, NFTs, and more. 

With charity serving as one of Floki’s central pillars, the project invests in making real-world impacts and has contributed to building several “Floki” schools in Guatemala, Ghana, Laos, and Nigeria. The Viking-themed memecoin project originally launched on Ethereum and has since expanded to the Binance Smart Chain, where holders can bridge their FLOKI tokens using top-tier exchanges like Binance, KuCoin, and ByBit.

Dogelon Mars (ELON)

Dogelon Mars is a witty spinoff of the OG memecoin while paying homage to Elon Musk and his eagerness to explore Mars—hence the ELON token ticker $ELON. With a comic book-themed narrative surrounding a space-exploring dog named Dogelon Mars, the project on its surface very much reflects memecoin culture and enjoys strong community backing. 

However, Dogelon Mars offers much more utility than your average memecoin project. After recently transitioning to a DAO, Dogelon Mars has been very active in forging ahead with exciting collaborations. Among its recent collaborations, Dogelon partnered with XSwipe to create the Dogelon Global Access debit card, which facilitates the use of crypto within retail environments. Furthermore, the project joined forces with Hello Moon to develop an advanced generative AI tool to mint NFTs on the Solana network. 

Book of Meme (BOME)

Unlike most memecoins, the recently launched Book of Meme touts a serious mission: To harness the power of decentralized technology to protect and perpetuate the ever-evolving meme culture. The self-branded “experimental” project aims to preserve and promote meme culture within a digital compendium—the Book of Meme—ensuring each piece is immortalized on the blockchain. It even provides a platform for users to generate their own memes and ensure they remain a part of digital history forever. 

In addition to honouring meme culture, Book of Meme’s core objectives include decentralized storage solutions and degen shitcoin trading and gambling. Inspired by the “Book of Mormon,” the Solana-based memecoin also boasts a decentralized social network app. Since its mid-March launch, the project’s BOME token has grown by an unprecedented 1110 per cent, making it the seventh largest memecoin by market cap.

Bonk (BONK)

Bonk launched on Christmas Day 2022 by airdropping 50 per cent of its overall supply as a gift to the Solana community, garnering recognition for its unique strategy to foster wider adoption and encourage community involvement. Created by Dexlan with its founders remaining anonymous, the Shiba Inu-themed Bonk aims to develop a more inclusive and distributed community support system, reducing the influence and centralization of venture capital. 

Bonk aims to support the development and function of the Solana ecosystem as opposed to simply being another speculative memecoin. As such, the BONK token is securely positioned inside the top 60 tokens with a market cap of over $1.6 billion. As a DAO, the Bonk community has a vote in all major decisions, including the project’s direction. BONK provides plenty of utility including participation in DeFi, access to NFT marketplaces, token swapping, and microtransactions, alongside several other features and integrations.

Optimus AI (OPTI)

AI’s rapid explosion and technological advancement have led the blockchain world to research and explore synergies between the two technologies. Enter Optimus AI, a unique memecoin project working to build the largest AI community in Web3 and helping provide exposure and resources to support AI adoption. 

Through the Optimus Venture Fund, developers can apply for grants to advance their innovative visions with the Optimus community serving as the primary determinator on which projects will receive funding. The Ethereum-based project honouring Elon Musk’s Optimus AI robot and the Transformers series leverages Musk’s cult popularity and passion for robotics to fuel AI growth both within and outside the blockchain world. Since late October, the price and market cap of the OPTI token have both more than tripled.

As memecoins grow in popularity while crypto adoption continues rising, expect these tokens to remain largely speculative. However, with more memecoin projects offering intriguing features and real-world utility, this combined with their humorous and lighthearted nature will cement the once discredited sector firmly within Web3’s ecosystem.