Some of the best performing meme coins in 2023 so far, have been the likes of Pepe, Tamadoge and Floki. Even in a bull market, several meme coins have made incredible gains. But it’s exactly this volatility that makes meme coins a risky investment for crypto traders.

Meme coins have been a significant part of crypto culture since Dogecoin first blew up in 2013. Although they’re often created for fun, when meme coins capture the imagination of the crypto community, they can garner massive support and make considerable market gains.

While many meme coins come and go quickly, some have made a significant impact on crypto culture and become valuable investments. And for crypto traders and investors, finding the best performing meme coins in 2023 can mean the difference between a portfolio in the red or the green.

‍

Top meme coins in crypto history

Dogecoin

Arguably the best known meme coin in crypto. Dogecoin was created in 2013 by Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus as a joke based on the viral meme featuring a Shiba Inu dog. Despite its humorous origin, Dogecoin has gone on to become a highly valuable cryptocurrency, reaching a total market capitalization of more than $88 billion in May 2021 and having a current market cap of nearly $11 billion in April 2023.

During the peak of the 2021 bull market, DOGE was trading over $0.70, which was a meteoric increase of more than 20,0000% from its initial token value of $0.00026. Although the value of DOGE has declined since then, its current value holds around $0.07, and it’s still a popular meme coin that’s often in the top 10. 

‍

Shiba Inu

Similar to Dogecoin, Shiba Inu is another meme coin based on the popular internet meme featuring a Shiba Inu dog. It was created in August 2020 by an anonymous developer known as ‘Ryoshi’, and it quickly gained popularity among cryptocurrency investors. 

In May 2021, Shiba Inu reached a market capitalization of over $11 billion, making it one of the most valuable meme coins in the market. At its peak, Shiba Inu was trading at over $0.00003, which represented an increase of over 32,000% from its initial value of $0.00000001.

These are the gains that make meme coins a popular choice. But they should be part of a more varied portfolio, and typically only get allocated minimal capital. Remember to do your own research when trying to find the best performing meme coins in 2023. And never risk more capital than you can afford to lose.

‍

SafeMoon

SafeMoon was created in March 2021. It quickly gained popularity among some corners of the cryptocurrency community due to its seemingly unique features, such as a 10% transaction fee that is split among holders of the coin. 

In May 2021, SafeMoon reached a market capitalization of over $4 billion, making it one of the most valuable meme coins in the market at the time. At its peak, SafeMoon was trading at over $0.000014, which was an increase of over 1,400% from its early value of $0.000001.

However the project soon came under criticism for being a ponzi scheme, where early investors only made profit thanks to incoming investors who expected to make the same rate of return. SafeMoon drew further negative attention when the wider community claimed it was a pump and dump scheme. Several lawsuits have been filed against the project, demonstrating the need to research before investing any money. 

‍

HogeFinance

Hoge Finance is a meme coin that was created in February 2021. It built strong support among crypto investors thanks to its deflationary features, such as the 1% transaction fee that is burned to reduce the total supply of the HOGE coin. 

In May 2021, Hoge Finance reached over $130 million market capitalization. At its peak, Hoge Finance was trading at over $0.00053, which represented an increase of over 2,000% from its initial value of $0.000025.

The project fair-launched on February 7, 2021, and no tokens were allocated to the team. The initial HOGE supply was 1,000,000,000,000 with half (500 billion) permanently burned at launch.

‍

Best meme coins of 2023 

If you want to find the best performing meme coins in 2023, it takes diligent research and a good understanding of market cycles. Below we have listed a collection of some of the top performers so far this year. 

Volt Inu

Volt Inu is a deflationary DeFi project with built-in token burns and buy back options as well as a suite of products, including:

1. A play-2-earn (P2E) racing game called VoltiGames, which offers its players generous rewards plus burns and buy-back, all integrated with Volt’s ‘volted’ NFTs. 
2. A DEX called VoltiChange that automatically lists any PancakeSwap or Uniswap projects deflationary for free. 
3. An NFT collection called Volted Dragons Sailors Club (VDSC), that grants owners access to unique gaming integrations, exclusive rights and additional revenues. 
4. A new DeFi utility called VoltiEco, which harnesses smart contracts, automation and A.I. to collect airdrops for its users.
5. A mystery product called VoltiFlex that was launched in late 2023.
6. Their prepaid crypto card called VoltiCard, which allows users to send crypto directly from their DeFi wallets to then be used for purchases.

‍

Floki

Created in 2021 and named after Elon Musk’s dog, Floki started as another meme coin but has gone on to offer a variety of NFT and decentralized finance-focused products. 

• FlokiFi - including the FlokiFi Locker so users can secure their digital assets. 
• Floki Prepaid Cards - load Floki tokens onto your VISA or Mastercard. 
• Floki Places - An NFT and merchandise marketplace.
• Valhalla - a Play to Earn metaverse where users can battle, raid and farm. 
• University of Floki - a crypto education platform. 

Although Floki originated as a meme, the project has grown to offer some real use cases. Floki now centres around three core pillars; community, utility and charity, and has considerable support from its users and fans worldwide. 

‍

Pepe

Pepe is one of the best performing meme coins in 2023. Based on the Pepe the Frog meme, the token launched on April 17, exploding onto the market and swiftly making some serious gains. 

One lucky meme coin investor traded 0.125 ETH, worth about $250, for a staggering 5.9 trillion PEPE tokens. And as the project’s popularity skyrocketed, the value of those PEPE tokens increased to approximately $1.8 million in just a few days, accruing a potential return of about 4,500 times the trader’s initial investment. 

As with many cryptocurrencies, the prospect of finding one of the best performing meme coins in 2023 drew in thousands of other investors. This in turn helped the value to further increase and was the reason PEPE saw just incredible highs in such a short period of time. 

‍

Tamadoge 

Launching in September 2022, Tamadoge combines virtual pets with NFT trading. Users gain TAMA tokens for the successful breeding and nurturing of their digital pets, battling with other players, and competing for crypto prizes in the Tamadoge metaverse.

Every digital pet is an NFT and it can be bought, sold or swapped on the Tamadoge NFT store. By fusing ideas such as NFTs, the metaverse and play-to-earn (P2E) games, the team’s developers want Tamadoge to become the ‘meme king’ of crypto.

‍

Frequently asked questions

Will 2023 be a good year for meme coins?

2023 has already been a strong year for meme coin performance. Despite being in the midst of a bear market, some projects, such as Pepe, have reaped huge returns for some investors. Meme coins tend to capture the attention of investors quickly, create a sudden cultural phenomenon within the crypto community, and then fade from the limelight, with their price declining too. 

‍

What is the least volatile meme coin to buy?

Meme coins are volatile by their nature and due to their internet origins. Almost all noteworthy meme coins have shown drastic price action both up and down in their history on the market. Because meme coins typically center around a trend or a funny internet joke, the majority do not have any particular underlying utility. The value of meme coins is mostly driven by community support, celebrity endorsements, and speculation.