MEMEAct: When 'internet culture' meets legal barriers – What future awaits meme coins?
In recent years, meme coins like Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, and PEPE have become indispensable symbols of the modern cryptocurrency world. From harmless jokes on Reddit or Twitter, they have risen to become real speculative assets, attracting millions of dollars and a large community. However, when the 'joke' starts having significant financial impacts, legal policies can no longer turn a blind eye.
That is when the name MEMEAct appears – a potential legislative proposal in the United States, promising to bring significant changes to how meme coins are issued, traded, and monitored.
MEMEAct – Not just a 'meme' name
Although the name sounds like a joke, MEMEAct is a practical proposal with serious content. This bill has not been officially announced, but according to leaked information from legislative sources in Washington, it is part of a larger effort to control speculative and manipulative activities in the digital asset market, particularly targeting cryptocurrencies that have no clear utility other than being 'shilled' and creating 'FOMO'.
The main goals of MEMEAct can be summarized in three pillars:
1. Enhancing transparency: Requiring meme coins when listed to clearly disclose information about the development team, token distribution, and project roadmap – similar to regulations applied to IPO stocks.
2. Counteracting market manipulation: Targeting behaviors such as pump & dump, wash trading, or creating false FOMO on social media to unsustainably inflate coin prices.
3. Stricter taxation on short-term speculation: Proposing to apply higher tax rates on meme coin transactions held for less than 30 days – similar to how short-term securities are taxed.
The meme coin market – Creative freedom or systemic risk?
What makes meme coins attractive is also what worries lawmakers: absolute freedom and an unregulated nature. Unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum – which have clear whitepapers, transparent development teams, and complex technical infrastructures – meme coins are mostly created quickly, sometimes in just a few hours, with the sole goal of… going viral.
Some examples:
• Dogecoin, which started as a joke in 2013, still ranks among the top 20 crypto assets by market cap.
• PEPE, which emerged in mid-2023, achieved a market capitalization of over $1 billion within weeks, despite having no practical application or official team behind it.
The rapid boom of these assets can create a ripple effect, impacting market liquidity and investor sentiment. When some 'amateur' investors lose everything in just a few hours by chasing trends, questions about the responsibility of trading platforms and the absence of a legal framework become increasingly pressing.
Potential impact of MEMEAct
If MEMEAct is passed, the first consequence will be widespread cleansing in the meme coin world:
• Projects that are not transparent or do not have a real team will find it difficult to be listed on major exchanges in the US.
• Exchanges will have to take greater responsibility for strict censorship, which may lead to mass delisting of meme coins in the short term.
• Retail investors may be restricted in their access to 'quick return' meme coins – but this comes with reduced risks of getting burned due to FOMO.
However, not everyone supports it. Some DeFi and Web3 experts argue that MEMEAct is 'politicizing meme culture' – trying to impose traditional financial standards on a phenomenon that was born from the free creative spirit of the internet.
Conclusion: Regulation or stifling?
MEMEAct is a clear reminder: the cryptocurrency world is entering a maturity phase, and with that comes increasing scrutiny from regulatory authorities.
The big question is not 'Will meme coins be banned?', but 'Can they adapt and thrive in a more stringent legal environment?'
If creativity can be maintained while ensuring transparency and fairness, meme coins could become a legitimate and attractive part of the crypto investment portfolio. But if they rely solely on crowd effects and trends, MEMEAct could mark the end of the golden age of 'junk coins'.
