How does Merriam-Webster define Memecoin?

Words: Byron Gilliam

Compiler: Luffy, Foresight News

When Richard Dawkins was looking for a term for his concept of a "unit of cultural transmission," he chose "meme"—a mixture of "gene" (for the ability to reproduce oneself) and "mimeme" (Greek for "something to be imitated").

Dawkins coined the term back in 1976, but it didn't catch on until the advent of the web meme, with Merriam-Webster Dictionary explaining it this way in 1998:

Meme, noun, [ˈmēm]: An interesting or interesting item (such as a captioned image or video) or type of item that is widely disseminated online, especially through social media.

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

Merriam-Webster's lack of recognition of this seminal term seems to be a gross oversight, especially since they have acknowledged meme stocks:

Meme stocks, noun, [ˈmēm ˈstäk]: Stocks that have temporarily spiked in popularity and price as a result of a coordinated effort by 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 approved by the SEC and listed on the NYSE and NASDAQ, have legitimacy (relatively speaking), while Memecoin doesn't?

But Memecoin predates Meme stock by nearly a decade.

In addition, Memecoin is superior in every way. Memecoin is more popular, more interesting, more valuable, and more numerous than Meme stock.

They also prove to be more durable. GameStop's stock price has been falling since coining the term "meme stock" in 2021, with AMC's share price hitting an all-time low of $3 today, while Bed Bath and Beyond's shares were delisted a few months ago.

Memecoin, by contrast, is thriving again.

However, the ivory tower compilers of Merriam-Webster's dictionary may not have noticed that Dogecoin's market cap has returned to $27 billion ($7 billion higher than GME at its peak in 2021), dogwifhat (WIF) has risen 25-fold this year, and cat in a dogs world, which is only seven days old, is already worth $640 million.

They're not going to notice that anytime soon, so we'll have to do the work for them.

Memecoin Family Tree

Unfortunately, we can't simply take Merriam-Webster's definition of meme stock and replace "stock" with "coin".

First of all, unlike the bearish frenzy of Meme stock, Memecoin's surge is not "temporary".

Memecoin's boom is not always the result of "coordinated efforts" or merely the enthusiasm of "small investors", and they are not always pleasant.

There are many more varieties of Memecoin than Meme stock, so adapting the definition of the latter is not enough.

Well, in order to get better results, we must first construct a tightly defined Memecoin taxonomy that includes a scientific naming convention consistent with Dawkins' methodology for memes.

Memecoin classification

Pure Meme: The purest way to tokenize memes, these tokens actually do nothing and their value depends entirely on their ability to attract attention. （WIF、PEPE）

Productive Memes: These tokens are primarily related to a meme (such as a photo of a dog), but also have a fundamental value derived from revenue earned through a certain function. （BONK）

Utility Memes: Most of the value is derived from the meme's currency, 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, which is also the native token of the blockchain. （DOGE、BTC）

Disguised Meme: A token that claims to have current or future profitability, but actually takes advantage of people's desperate desire for a certain trend to make money. ( AI Token?)

De facto meme: The closest cousin to the meme stock, with (or may have) an actual profitability or demand-driven token, but whose value is attributed to at least 90% of the meme in question. （WLD）

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

Make Memecoin Meaningful

Here are my comments to Merriam-Webster's lexicographers:

Memecoin noun, [ˈmēm ˈkȯi-n]: A cryptocurrency whose value is derived in part or in whole from Meme.

After a lot of effort into the taxonomy, this may seem overly simplistic, but that's the point.

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

Memecoin is more than just a picture of a dog, a cat, and (recently) a US president.

They are stupid, and intellectually it may be right to refute them completely, or even in direction. But the risk is that if you don't know Memecoin, cryptocurrencies won't make sense to you for a long time.

The Memecoin taxonomy should help make sense of it all.