Meme coins have dominated the crypto narrative in 2024, for better and for worse. With a market cap of $55 billion, they now represent more than 2% of the entire crypto market. This is a notable feat, especially for leading tokens like DOGE and SHIB, which started as merely speculative digital currencies spread and traded just for fun.
Despite the amazing achievements of such tokens, meme coins are still plagued with a lack of long-term sustainability and utility. Unlike other major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, most meme coins haven’t found their ground in providing wider DeFi functionalities. This is largely because such tokens were not designed with utility in mind. Most meme coins are still being developed to capture viral trends and memes. As a result, most tokens also die out when the related trend or hype is over.
This is a concerning trend, which is positioning meme coins as mere pump-and-dump tokens and not value-driven assets.
Less Focus on Speculation, More on Building an Ecosystem
For meme coins to be seen as a sustainable asset within the crypto market, developers must rethink their approach. As we’ve seen time after time, developments driven solely by viral marketing and hype fade out really quickly. Instead, meme coins developers need to emphasize utility, building a complete DeFi ecosystem where their tokens can be leveraged to achieve value-added services – for instance, staking, liquidity provisions, gaming, NFTs, and payment services.
The primary focus of every meme coin developer should be to create a community-first strategy. Tokens must have a viable real-world use case and objective to build a strong and engaged community. Members must find a practical use for their assets instead of simply holding the token and sitting on it until the price goes up.
The next step should be to explore partnership opportunities. One of the biggest issues with meme coins today is the lack of credibility. Scams, rug pulls, pump-and-dump mechanisms, and fake endorsements have notably impacted the meme coin community’s trust. Prominent figures like Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin have expressed concerns in this regard.Â
This is why developers need to establish long-term partnerships with other brands and projects across the industry. Partnerships reflect a token’s long-term ambitions and represent the industry’s overall trust in the project. At the same time, such tokens need to have a charitable angle. Meme coins are all about the community, and there must be strategic initiatives to give back to society.
Considering these features in a meme coin’s development cycle can really help to create an ecosystem where users can enjoy the fun and speculative side of these tokens while also receiving real-life value for their investments. And it’s not just a conceptual idea. New tokens such as LAIKA are already making significant progress with an ecosystem approach.
Learning from LAIKA’s Ecosystem Approach
Laika is the latest Solana-based meme coin to enter the market, completing its TGE earlier in June. However, unlike most Solana meme coins, LAIKA has launched with a vast ecosystem, which allows its community to attain various DeFi services.
The meme coin’s ecosystem includes seven core elements. First, there’s the LAIKA token, which is currently listed on CEXs – Bitget and MEXC – and leading DEXs, Jupiter and Raydium. Then, there’s the LAIKAVERSE, a fully immersive Web3 metaverse platform that allows users to choose an avatar and generate rewards through in-game resources. There’s the LAIKA WALLET, a multi-chain Web3 crypto wallet that supports transactions for 100+ coins. The wallet is already available on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.Â
LAIKA also has an upcoming free-to-play Moon Mission mobile game, which will support NFTs and different GameFi mechanics. The developers are further planning to introduce Laika’s own exclusive blockchain network.
While focusing on these ecosystem elements, LAIKA has also developed a viral marketing campaign to create engagement among its community. Earlier this year, the developers announced the Moon Mission, sending a toy dog to the Earth’s lower orbit. This initiative paid homage to the token’s name and was live-streamed on their YouTube channel.
Final Thoughts
LAIKA is a perfect example of how meme coin developers can focus on building a robust community and ecosystem. It allows users to capitalize on different Web3 and DeFi features with their assets. It shows that meme coins can retain their fun, humorous, light-hearted traits while also driving wider utility across the market. It’s also equally important for users to identify tokens that have long-term objectives, rather than ones that only bet on speculative trading.
