The meme coin market, once dominated by viral hits like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, is facing a new challenge in 2024: the rise of pump-and-dump schemes masquerading as community-driven fun.
These events, organized on social media platforms, encourage participants to collectively buy a meme coin, inflating its price before early investors quickly sell, leaving many with heavy losses.
While pump-and-dump schemes are not new to crypto, 2024 has seen them take on a new form in the meme coin space, branded as “fun events” or “pump parties.” Communities treat these schemes as a kind of joke, with memes about losing money or rockets crashing back to Earth, softening the blow of financial risk. However, this emerging trend has begun to erode trust in meme coins.
Meme coins, by nature, thrive on internet culture, hype, and community sentiment. Their value is rarely tied to any real utility, making them particularly susceptible to manipulation. As more pump-and-dump schemes surface, many fear that investors, especially newcomers, may begin to associate all meme coins with high risk and fleeting value.
This shift could mark the beginning of the end for the meme coin craze. Established tokens like Dogecoin may survive thanks to their strong communities, but lesser-known meme coins may struggle to gain traction as pump-and-dump events increase skepticism.
The future of meme coins depends on whether the community can move past these schemes and find more sustainable ways to build value—or risk being seen as nothing more than a fleeting, high-stakes game.