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HODL has been the time-honored philosophy of Bitcoin (BTC) holders. Rather than spending their growing wealth, those who own the biggest cryptocurrency have chosen to ‘hold on for dear life’ with an evangelistic zeal. Nevertheless, while Bitcoin, the king of crypto, continues to capture the headlines, the cryptocurrency space is in a very different place now from where it was just a few years ago.
Dogecoin (DOGE) may have been launched in 2013, but it is currently in the cycle of an explosion of interest in memecoins. While this market has unfortunately been prey to scams and pump-and-dump schemes, the growth and increasing significance of meme coins is an undeniable fact.
Meanwhile, the architecture and payment rails of the space have also changed dramatically. In the past, Bitcoin holders who chose to sell their holdings and off-ramp rather than HODL often had to rely upon shady intermediaries, exorbitant fees, and snail-paced processing times. Now, holders of cryptocurrency have a variety of options for off-ramping, with payment specialists in the web3 space forming partnerships with giants from the TradFi space, such as Mastercard. Off-ramping from digital tokens into a fiat currency can now be done in a seamless and secure way with low fees and charges.
Meme coin frenzy
In the current bull market cycle, which has seen Bitcoin pierce a new all-time high above $97,000, the market capitalization of meme coins has skyrocketed from $56 billion to $118 billion following Trump’s re-election and a subsequent crypto bull run.
Originally created as a joke based on the ‘Doge’ meme featuring a Shiba Inu dog, DOGE is the biggest and most recognisable meme coin. Many meme coins are also named after endearing animals, one example being Moo Deng (MOODENG), the baby pygmy hippopotamus living in a Thai zoo.
Elon Musk’s appointment to President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet as head of the new Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, has fueled DOGE’s ascent, with the digital token now having a market capitalization of $58 billion. We’re now witnessing tens of thousands of meme coins attempting to emulate DOGE’s success being created each day on Pump.Fun, a Solana-based tool that removes technical barriers to developing the tokens.
Crypto traders are FOMing into newly launched meme coins, often for just a few dollars, in the hope that the token will capture a cult-like following and soar in value. Non-custodial wallet Phantom, which provides users with an array of opportunities to bet on meme coins, has been propelled to the second spot on the charts in the utility section of the Apple App Store in the US. Those who make winning bets on meme coins often swap the tokens into established cryptocurrencies such as Solana to lock in profits and as a bridge before converting their holdings into a fiat currency.
End of creaky payment rails
The cryptocurrency space has evolved to a point where it is almost unrecognizable from where it was a decade ago. Notably, Mastercard and Visa have now entered the web3 ecosystem. Mercuryo’s Mastercard crypto debit card, Spend, bridges the gap between non-custodial crypto wallets and traditional payment methods. Spend is a plug-and-play solution that can be quickly integrated into a non-custodial wallet and rolled out to users who can add it to their Apple Pay or Google Play wallet. Spend is available to use online and in-store across Mastercard’s 100 million-plus network of merchants, providing users with a seamless, low-cost means of off-ramping their crypto holdings. Holders of the Spend card benefit from a level of consumer protection on a par with a traditional debit or credit card.
The cryptocurrency space is continually evolving. The growing significance of meme coins has partly been driven by Generation Z’s dominance of social media channels such as Instagram, TikTok, and X. These social channels provide a public forum for newly launched meme coins to go viral and obtain a cult-like following.
At the same time, we are witnessing the emergence of new payment products that provide crypto traders with an accessible and low-cost means of spending their trading profits. While the philosophy of HODL still resonates strongly with Bitcoin evangelists, newcomers to the web3 space arguably have more of a ‘live-for-today’ philosophy. Driven by a belief that life is short and crypto profits should be spent, these consumers are taking advantage of payment products that facilitate the off-ramping of cryptocurrency at a low cost. While it is pure speculation to guess how long the current crypto bull market will go on, what’s certain is that the market is continuing to evolve at a breakneck pace. This is reflected in a somewhat comedic fashion with the meme coin mania that we’ve been witnessing but also in the increasing sophistication of payment products in the space. These off-ramping services have levels of compliance and protection that are on par with payment products from traditional finance and enable people to spend their newfound crypto wealth in the real world.
