How does Merriam-Webster define Memecoin?

Written by Byron Gilliam

Compiled by: Luffy, Foresight News

Dawkins looks for a term in his concept of "cultural communication unit" At the time, "Meme" was chosen - a mixture of "Gene" (meaning the ability to reproduce itself) and "mimeme" (Greek, meaning "something that is imitated").

Dawkins coined the term as early as 1976, but it did not become popular until the emergence of Internet Meme. In 1998, Merriam-Webster Dictionary explained it this way:

Meme (noun, [ mēm]): A fun or interesting item (such as a captioned picture or video) or type of item that is widely shared online, especially through social media.

The next major evolution of the term came in 2013 with the emergence of Dogecoin - a cryptocurrency originally invented as a joke and later considered the first " Memecoin".

Merriam-Webster Dictionary has not yet recognized this groundbreaking term, which seems like a gross oversight, especially since they already recognize Meme stocks:

Meme stocks, noun, [ˈmēm ˈstäk]: A stock that experiences a sudden, temporary surge in popularity and price due to the coordinated efforts of small investors (such as a viral social media campaign).

I don't know how to explain this. I guess it's because Meme stocks are SEC approved and listed on the NYSE and NASDAQ, giving them legitimacy (relatively speaking), while Memecoin does not?

But Memecoin predates Meme stock by nearly a decade.

Moreover, Memecoin is superior in every aspect. Memecoin is more popular, more interesting, more valuable, and more plentiful than Meme stock.

They are also proven to be more durable. GameStop's stock price has been falling since the term "Meme stock" was coined in 2021, AMC's stock hit an all-time low of $3 today, and Bed Bath and Beyond's shares were delisted months ago.

In contrast, Memecoin is booming again.

What the ivory tower compilers of Merriam-Webster may not have noticed, however, is that Dogecoin’s market capitalization has returned to $27 billion ($7 billion more than GME at its peak in 2021), and dogwifhat ( WIF) has risen 25 times this year, and Cat in a Dogs World, which is only seven days old, is already worth $640 million.

They won't be able to pay attention to this quickly, so we can only do the work for them.

Memecoin Family Tree

Unfortunately, we cannot simply take Merriam-Webster’s definition of meme stock and replace “stock” with “coin”.

First of all, unlike the short mania of Meme stocks, Memecoin’s surge is not “temporary.”

Memecoin’s boom wasn’t always the result of “coordinated efforts” or just “small investor” enthusiasm, and they weren’t always pleasant.

There are many more types of Memecoin than Meme stock, so an adaptation of the latter's definition would not be sufficient.

To get better results, then, we must first construct a rigorously defined taxonomy of Memecoin, including a scientific naming convention consistent with Dawkins’ methodology for Meme.

Memecoin Category

Pure Meme: The purest way to tokenize a Meme, these tokens actually do nothing and their value is solely based on their ability to attract attention. (WIF, PEPE)

Productive Meme: These tokens are primarily related to a certain Meme (such as a picture of a dog), but also have fundamental value derived from the income earned through a certain function. (BONK)

Utility Meme: Most of the value comes from the currency of Meme, but it also has utility because they can be used to perform some on-chain activities. (FLOKI, SHIB)

Native Meme: A token that derives value from an idea, and is also the native token of the blockchain. (DOGE, BTC)

Fake Meme: Tokens that claim to have current or future profitability, but actually capitalize on people’s desperate desire for a trend to make money. (AI Token?)

De-facto Meme: The closest cousin to a meme stock, a token that has (or may have) real profitability or demand-driven, but at least 90% of its value is attributable to Related Meme. (WLD)

Currency Meme: The value of money depends on people’s unfalsifiable belief that it is money. (BTC, Gold)

Making Memecoin meaningful

Here are my submissions to the Webster Dictionary Editors:

Memecoin noun, [ˈmēm ˈkȯi-n]: Cryptocurrencies that derive some or all of their value from Memes.

After all the hard work we put into the taxonomy, this may seem like an oversimplification, but that's exactly the point.

The Memecoin ecosystem is far more diverse than its name suggests, so its definition needs to be broad enough to cover everything, even broad enough to include Bitcoin.

Memecoin is more than just pictures of dogs, cats, and (most recently) the President of the United States.

They are stupid, and it may be intellectually correct to dismiss them entirely, and it may even be directionally correct. But the risk is that if you don’t understand Memecoin, the cryptocurrency won’t make sense to you for a long time.

The Memecoin taxonomy should help make sense of it all.

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