Key Takeaways
- Unlike “serious” cryptocurrencies, meme coins aren’t meant to have any utility – they’re created as a homage to popular online memes and viral trends;
- The Cardano blockchain’s low transaction fees, heightened security, and scalable architecture make it an increasingly popular option for meme coins;
- Even though none of the Cardano meme coins are listed on major centralized exchanges yet, you can buy them on the Minswap DEX.
Meme coins are having their moment again – yet one blockchain with a rapidly growing selection is still missing from the conversation. When it comes to this type of cryptocurrency, Ethereum and Solana seem to be getting all the credit as the most prolific networks, but Cardano is swiftly catching up as a promising alternative. There are now over a dozen Cardano meme coins, just waiting to explode!
For most crypto enthusiasts, the first association that comes up whenever they see “Cardano” is a cryptocurrency of the same name, popular enough to be found on major exchanges like Bybit, Binance, and Kraken. However, fewer people are aware that, shortly after $ADA was introduced in 2017, Cardano became a full-fledged blockchain ecosystem in its own right. It’s characterized by a focus on sustainability, decentralized governance, and highly scalable architecture.
If you haven't had the chance to play around with any Cardano meme coins yet - now's your chance! Whether you're trying to discover the next Dogecoin-level hit or just broaden your palate and diversify your portfolio, there's no better place to learn about the top 10 best Cardano meme coins and where to buy them.
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Table of Contents
- 1. Top 10 Cardano Meme Coins to Buy Today
- 1.1. Snek ($SNEK): The OG Cardano Meme Coin
- 1.2. AdaDeng ($ADENG): The Most Promising Runner-Up
- 1.3. Hosky Token ($HOSKY): From Useless to Unstoppable
- 1.4. Nikepig ($NIKE): A Pet Project
- 1.5. BAG ($BAG): The Mysterious Newcomer
- 1.6. Pepeblue ($PEPEBLUE): A Daring Spin-Off
- 1.7. Sugar ($SUGAR): Sweet Success
- 1.8. Lobster ($LOBSTER): A Meme Coin With a Bite
- 1.9. ADA Peepos ($FREN): The Friendliest Meme Coin on Cardano
- 1.10. Bankercoin ($BANK): A Meme Coins That Means Business
- 2. How to Buy Cardano Meme Coins
- 3. Meme Coins: An Overview
- 3.1. A Brief History
- 3.2. Why are Meme Coins Popular?
- 4. Why is Cardano Great for Meme Coins?
- 5. Conclusions
Top 10 Cardano Meme Coins to Buy Today
One of the hardest things about being a fan of meme coins is having to pick one or a few favorites among the myriad of choices. In case you're feeling overwhelmed, let me help you out with this handy list of the best Cardano meme coins to buy today!
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Snek ($SNEK): The OG Cardano Meme Coin
Launched in May 2023, Snek is one of the older meme coins on this blockchain (that’s how young the Cardano meme coin scene is), and still the undisputed flagship. It’s marketed as “the chillest meme coin on Cardano” – yet things have been heating up lately! Snek’s X (formerly Twitter) account has recently announced an all-time high follower count of 49,989 and a record number of holders – 38,670.
Believe it or not, one key element to its success was… an energy drink. Unlike most other Cardano meme coins (or those on other blockchains, for that matter), Snek didn’t stay confined to the crypto sphere but snaked its way into other markets. The Snek Energy drink was a unique initiative, launched not by the coin’s creators but by the fan community itself in an effort to bridge the gap between the digital and physical worlds.
This humorous attempt at a marketing stunt was far from the only attempt at broadening the Snek ecosystem, however. Snek boasts 55 DeFi integrations and several other community projects, ranging from a meme coin generator called Snek.fun to Snek Ecosystem Fund that lends financial support to budding startups. This coin also comes with its own NFTs, called “Snekkies”.
Snek has a total supply of 76,715,880,000 tokens and a market cap of $517 million. It saw a notable jump in December 2023, going from $0.0003029 to $0.002129 over the course of the month. The coin’s more recent bull run raised the bar even higher – between the beginning of November and the first week of December, Snek exploded by a staggering 700%, reaching an all-time high of $0.009069 on December 5.
While Snek isn’t listed on any major exchanges yet, the developers have revealed plans to bring it to Binance sometime soon, which is likely to drive the prices up even further – so, if you decide that, among the top Cardano meme coins, Snek is the best choice, you’d better stock up right away!
AdaDeng ($ADENG): The Most Promising Runner-Up
While Snek might be on its way to becoming a classic among the Cardano meme coins, there’s one other contender that could very well steal that spot! Meet AdaDeng – another meme coin inspired by an adorable animated animal meme. With a pink hippo mascot inspired by the Moo Deng meme and the slogan “Let's Make Cardano Fun Again”, AdaDeng is all about spreading joy and fostering an inclusive and decentralized community.
The first thing you need to know about this meme coin is its unique presale model. In contrast to the usual first-come, first-served model, the final price of the token will be decided by the total amount of $ADA raised during the presale. This approach is in line with the coin’s strong emphasis on the community – the creators wanted to have a fair launch with a fully democratic process.
The presale launched on December 5, 2024, with 70% of the total token supply of 100 million $ADENG on the menu. Once the presale concludes, 20% of the total $ADENG supply will be paired with the raised $ADA tokens and used to provide liquidity on Minswap, Cardano’s main decentralized exchange.
The stats are definitely looking good so far – early bird investors have already raised 75,756 $ADA, and the project now boasts over 1,500 active members across platforms like Telegram and Discord – if that’s not a sign of an impending boom, I don’t know what is!
Hosky Token ($HOSKY): From Useless to Unstoppable
Launched in 2021, Hosky is actually the oldest one among Cardano meme coins – and it seems like it’s finally getting its time in the sun after all the years! Who knew self-deprecation could be a winning strategy?
Meme coins often go for an ironic, tongue-in-cheek tone, but Hosky takes it to another level by proclaiming itself to be a “low-quality sh*t coin”. Armed with nothing but raw honesty and dog-related puns, this token, whose name was likely a combination of the Cardano creator’s last name and the word “husky”, seems to be taking the crypto scene by storm.
Hosky didn’t have much luck for most of its run, but the tables started to turn in the later half of November when its price went from $0.0000000200 to $0.000000358 by December 4 – an incredible 1690% growth. Currently, its market cap is $45,179,697. Even though the current price is down to $0.000000198, the community sentiment is still running high.
Hosky’s tokenomics look a bit unusual and skewed at first glance. Out of the total supply of 1 quadrillion Hosky tokens, one half was distributed to Cardano's founder, Charles Hoskinson, while the remaining half is in circulation, with 40% of that portion still unallocated. The absurdly high total supply and the lack of burn mechanism underscore the token’s commitment to being “worthless” and meant purely for entertainment purposes.
Which makes it all the more hilarious when you find out that Hosky has, in fact, been used for charitable causes – so much for being useless! The community has collaborated with the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to raise money for refugees through the WRFGS Cardano Stake Pool. There’s more to this whimsical Cardano meme coin than meets the eye, despite its “brown paper’s” claims to the contrary!
Nikepig ($NIKE): A Pet Project
Meme coins can be born of absolutely anything – including, apparently, the picture of Charles Hoskinson’s pet pig. One casual tweet by the founder of Cardano was all it took to spark a new idea. Within hours of launch, Nikepig’s price surged by an unprecedented 60.2%, reaching $0,00089.
The coin’s website is quite bare, featuring nothing more than the picture of the pig in question and a basic description of $NIKE’s tokenomics. But such is the power of cute pets and the crypto community’s insatiable thirst for new projects to rally behind. Nikepig has a total supply of 1 billion tokens, 90% of which is currently in circulation and 10% already burned.
As of writing this, Nikepig costs $0.005995 per token and has a 24-hour trading volume of $222,848 – however, only two months ago, it was trading at $0.001172, which earned it a spot among the top 10 best Cardano meme coins.
While some traders have expressed concerns about the number of whales in the community potentially causing market manipulation[2] (the largest $NIKE token holder commands 19.37% of the total supply), the fact that it’s attracted investors of this scale still bodes well for this meme coin – so, keep tuned in for a change, or take the opportunity to buy the dip!
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BAG ($BAG): The Mysterious Newcomer
This coin is so fresh off the anvil that it’s not even listed on the popular coin trackers yet – aren’t you curious to find out if it’s worth a chance?
BAG presents itself as “a fun and easy way for Web3 onboarding” and promises to make the crypto community more welcoming and exciting. One of its more unusual characteristics is decentralization and a fair launch taken to an extreme: 95% of the total supply of 1 billion tokens is allocated to the liquidity pool, with only the remaining 4% being used for marketing and exchange listings, and the last 1% given to the creators.
In fact, BAG doesn’t even have a formal team or a roadmap! In the video on the coin’s official website, its anonymous creator confessed to launching the coin using instructions provided by ChatGPT and adding an AI-generated logo (even if it wasn’t exactly to his standards).
Despite these humble beginnings, $BAG already has a few notable accomplishments to flaunt – such as the fact that it saw 50,0000% gains right upon the launch. Savvy traders are invited to support the coin by buying merch. What’s more, there’s a BAG board game coming up. It seems like, despite not having much of a following yet, BAG is already punching above its weight when it comes to ambitious goals.
Pepeblue ($PEPEBLUE): A Daring Spin-Off
The original Pepe coin on Ethereum has become so iconic it keeps inspiring countless spin-offs. Pepeblue is Cardano’s answer to this frog-themed cult classic. According to the official website, it’s meant to “capture the essence of the internet’s playful spirit” while leveraging Cardano’s efficiency and sustainability.
Despite competition with other Pepe-inspired coins, such as Pepe Unchained, $PEPEBLUE has been doing quite well lately: it’s had two recent price surges, one at the end of November and another in the first days of December when it hit the all-time high of $0.000000001323.
Aside from its distinct, Cardano-esque color scheme, Pepeblue stands out by offering NFTs, too. As of writing this, 4,200 NFTS are sold out, and the official website claims that staking is coming soon.
Sugar ($SUGAR): Sweet Success
The last few contenders on this list of top 10 best Cardano meme coins are a bit more hazy – but no less promising! Sugar is one of the more mysterious Cardano meme coin projects with a compelling narrative. The coin claims to embody “the opulent and slightly degenerate world of wealth and wackiness”.
With zero buy/sell taxes and a renounced contract (meaning that the original creator has relinquished their control and administrative privileges over the smart contract), Sugar seems to be in line with the decentralization trend seen in many Cardano meme coins.
Sugar’s max supply is 10 billion tokens, and the community sentiment is going through the roof at 91%. Currently trading at $0.00990, this coin seems hell-bent to prove that it’s not just cute animal memes that get all the love.
Lobster ($LOBSTER): A Meme Coin With a Bite
You’ve heard of Charles Hoskinson’s pet pig – get ready for its number one rival, a pet lobster! I’m only half-kidding – while the creator of Cardano doesn’t actually own a domesticated crustacean, Lobster’s whitepaper humorously uses this fictitious relationship as a claim to legitimacy. That, and a sense of competitive rivalry with $HOSKY.
Lobster has a total supply of 1 quadrillion tokens, out of which 830 trillion (83.1%) are currently in circulation, 155.5 trillion (15.5%) are burned, and 13.8 trillion (1.4%) are staked. This is a much more stripped-down distribution compared to the V1 of Lobster’s tokenomics where a sizable portion went to marketing, team, and giveaways, and half was allocated to a Liquidity Bootstrapping Event.
When it comes to the trading valuation, Lobster seems to be on a rising tide lately: it already had a notable surge at the beginning of the year, rising to $0.000000002163, and just a week ago, it kicked off with another bull run, with the price going up by more than 235% and reaching a new all-time high of $0.000000003314. If you want to boost your collection of Cardano meme coins with this little red guy, now’s your chance!
ADA Peepos ($FREN): The Friendliest Meme Coin on Cardano
Yet another player among Cardano meme coins inspired by $PEPE, ADA Peepos is all about the power of friendship… and scarcity. Released in December 2023, this coin successfully climbed up the charts by offering the early birds 5 $ADA tokens for free. Since then, however, the creators have enacted various incentives to get $FREN’s total supply of 420 billion tokens down – and the price up.
As of writing this, 30% of the total supply is already burned, while 38% has been sold in the presale. If you swap your $ADA coins for $FREN, 0.1% of the transaction fee goes to burning the remaining tokens and decreasing the overall supply.
The jury is still out on whether this tactic will be enough to bring ADA Peepos to the moon – but this Cardano meme coin seems to be doing pretty well for itself these days. In the first four days of December, the price had a 278% increase, reaching $0.00002011. While this still doesn’t come close to the all-time high of $0.00004462, this newfound upward trend definitely looks promising.
Bankercoin ($BANK): A Meme Coins That Means Business
Just because meme coins are for fun doesn’t mean they can’t be ambitious. That’s the motto the creators of Bankercoin live by, at least. The coin’s name was inspired by the board game Monopoly where the Banker holds all the money and plays a major role in the game. That’s exactly what the $BANK developers have set out to do: create a Monopoly-themed Web3 game on the Cardano blockchain.
Created by a team of NFT enthusiasts, Bankercoin aims to bring the fragmented NFT industry together by fostering partnerships with other projects. It wasn’t just an empty promise – as of today, $BANK already has over 30 collaborations! Their tokenomics goals have been pretty successful, as well: the presale has raised over 2.1 million $ADA, with another 1.2 million in locked liquidity.
Bankercoin’s road to success has been a bumpy one so far, but things are looking up once again. This Cardano meme coin had an admirable 222.5% boost at the end of November, hitting $0.00000101. While $BANK hasn’t caught up or surpassed its all-time high of $0.000003675, the current bull run might just see the holders laughing all the way to the bank.
How to Buy Cardano Meme Coins
While $ADA is a mainstream cryptocurrency you can find on every major centralized crypto exchange, such as Bybit, Binance, or Kraken, none of the Cardano meme coins are listed on CEXs yet. The only way you can get your hands on them is through Minswap – a DEX built on the Cardano blockchain, specifically meant for swapping Cardano-based coins.
Here’s how to do it:
Step 1: Get a crypto wallet that’s compatible with Cardans coins, such as Ledger or Trezor.
Step 2: Go to the Minswap website and click “Connect wallet”.
Step 3: Click “Trade” on the top menu bar.
Step 4: Adjust the slippage settings.
Step 5: Select the tokens you want to swap to and from – you’ll find all the available Cardano assets here, including the meme coins mentioned in this article.
Step 6: Click “Swap”.
Step 7: Click “Confirm Swap”.
That’s it! Now that you know how to buy Cardano meme coins, the only thing left to do is choose which ones you want to invest in.
Meme Coins: An Overview
Meme coins are a type of cryptocurrency inspired by internet memes, pop culture, or viral trends. In contrast to traditional crypto coins like Bitcoin or Ethereum, designed with legitimate use cases and real-life applications in mind, meme coins are inherently “frivolous” – they’re driven entirely by their own viral appeal and the community of fans they’ve resonated with.
A Brief History
The first meme coin (and the most iconic one to this day), Dogecoin, was launched in 2013 by Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer as a joke based on the popular "Doge" meme featuring a Shiba Inu dog. Despite its humorous beginnings, Dogecoin ended up attracting a dedicated following over the years and gained appreciation for its use in numerous charity projects and tipping.
In recent years, especially during the crypto bull runs, the meme coin market exploded with new tokens like Shiba Inu, Bonk, and countless others inspired by the latest viral trends that hit the cultural zeitgeist on the head. High-profile endorsements from figures with a massive online presence played a role, too – Elon Musk alone has been responsible for getting Dogecoin to trend a number of times just by randomly mentioning it.
- Very low trading fees
- Exceptional functionality
- Mobile trading app
- Very competitive trading fees
- An intuitive mobile app
- Up to 100x leverage available
- A very well-known crypto exchange platform
- More than 500 different cryptos available
- Two-factor authentication
- Over 500 different cryptocurrencies available
- Strong security
- Small withdrawal fees
- Fully reserved and transparent
- Multiple tradable asset classes
- Early new token support
- 265 supports cryptocurrencies
- Secure & transparent
- Fully reserved
Why are Meme Coins Popular?
The enigma still remains, though: what is it about meme coins that makes the global crypto community choose to spend their hard-earned money on assets that seem to have no tangible value? Here are some of the reasons why meme coins stay relevant:
- Low barrier of entry: Most meme coins start at a very low price, giving inexperienced investors an opportunity to buy large quantities of these coins.
- Speculative gains: Many investors are drawn to meme coins for the prospect of massive returns, as seen with early adopters of Dogecoin and Shiba Inu.
- Viral marketing: Meme coins can quickly gain popularity by leveraging the right trends and online memes at the right time, as well as using social media and influencer advertising.
- Community-driven appeal: Meme coins harness our longing for a close-knit community dedicated to a single cause or goal.
- Fun factor: Meme coins bring a lighthearted and playful vibe to the crypto scene, which attracts even people who aren’t interested in finance or investing under normal circumstances.
As you can see, the crypto community’s enduring fascination with meme coins is quite multi-faceted – it would be more accurate to say that every trader has their own reasons for choosing to invest in one meme coin or another.
Why is Cardano Great for Meme Coins?
If you’re interested in Cardano meme coins, you’re probably wondering what makes Cardano well-suited for this type of cryptocurrency, especially compared with the more popular blockchains like Ethereum and Solana.
Cardano was created by Charles Hoskinson and Jeremy Wood after they left Ethereum because of a dispute with other co-founders. They were determined to launch a next-generation blockchain to overcome major issues faced by other popular networks, such as limited speed, lack of scalability, and security flaws.
Whether or not they succeeded is still up for debate, but Cardano does have a few advantages up its sleeve. One of them is its superior proof-of-sake consensus mechanism called Ouroboros – according to the creators, it’s the first PoS protocol with rigorous security guarantees.[1] Meme coins often lack the credibility and trust of “serious” cryptocurrencies, so the added security can help improve their reputation as worthy investments.
The PoS mechanism is not only safer but more sustainable and efficient, too, which makes it perfect for meme coins known for their sudden and extreme fluctuations in trading volume – nothing can ruin a coin’s flight to the moon like scalability issues!
Unlike Ethereum, whose tokens rely on smart contracts, Cardano supports its tokens natively at the protocol level, which reduces complexity and transaction fees for meme coins. High gas fees are a never-ending complaint from Ethereum fans, which is why many predict it’s about to lose its edge when it comes to meme coins.
Despite all these advantages, however, it’s not all smooth sailing. Compared to the more mature networks, Cardano is still a relatively new player, which is reflected in the size of its community and the amount of resources available. Not to mention, Cardano comes with its own programming languages like Plutus and Marlowe, which can be more challenging for developers used to Ethereum’s Solidity.
Finally, there’s the hurdle of perception: Cardano’s partnerships with various academic institutions and the Ouroboros protocol that’s based on scientific research are a bit of a clash with the inherently playful and casual image of meme coins. This is likely one of the reasons why meme coin developers still tend to overlook Cardano – although the winds are already starting to turn!
Conclusions
Cardano meme coins are still a very niche category, but it’s rapidly starting to gain traction. Snek has already proved that any meme coin on this blockchain could get big enough to rival those on other networks, and the list of potential rising stars is only growing longer.
Despite not being as established as Ethereum or BSC, Cardano offers a number of advantages for meme coin creators: its strong emphasis on security and scalability makes it perfect for giving meme coins everything they need to survive an unexpected bull run, while the low fees and high transaction speed help keep the market flowing at a viral pace.
One of the biggest obstacles for Cardano meme coins is the lack of availability: as of writing this, none of them are listed on major exchanges like Bybit, Binance, or Kraken (even though a few are on the verge of achieving this milestone). If you’re looking into how to buy Cardano meme coins, the best way is through Minswap, a Cardano-based DEX.
The content published on this website is not aimed to give any kind of financial, investment, trading, or any other form of advice. BitDegree.org does not endorse or suggest you to buy, sell or hold any kind of cryptocurrency. Before making financial investment decisions, do consult your financial advisor.
Scientific References
1. Mellentin, F.: 'Ouroboros: Cardano's Proof-of-Stake Consensus Protocol';
2. Long, S., Xie, Y., Zhou, Z., Lucey, B. M., and Urquhart, A.: 'From Whales to Waves: The Role of Social Media Sentiment in Shaping Cryptocurrency Markets'.