Last November, something strange happened: I became a cryptocurrency. Several, actually.
I was alerted by a stranger online that a memecoin called Dork Nerd Geek ($DNG) had been minted, using a photo of my face. It had a market cap of $29,000. Twenty minutes later, it was $100,000. An hour later, it topped $800,000.
I didn’t understand what was happening. But I did recognize the nickname—“Dork Nerd Geek”—as a jab from Andrew Tate, who’s spent years targeting me for reporting on human trafficking allegations made against him.
Out of curiosity, I tuned into one of his livestreams. That’s when I witnessed firsthand the explosive, unregulated chaos that is the memecoin market.
Over the span of 10 minutes, dozens of new coins referencing me were created: “Disgraced News Gatherer,” “Matt Shea is a faggot,” “Take My Wife Tate (CUCK)”—some even used photos of my fiancée pulled from Instagram. Every time Tate mentioned one of these coins, their market value surged, sometimes by millions, before crashing minutes later.
He could pump a coin’s value by simply insulting me—“F**K MATT SHAE ” skyrocketed the moment he said the phrase aloud. He promised to pump it more “after taking a piss,” and it rose again while he was off-screen.
In total, about $2 million was poured into memecoins mocking me in a matter of hours. Hundreds of millions more were spent on other coins Tate mentioned. By the time the stream ended, nearly all of them had returned to zero.
The Illusion of the Joke
To Tate’s followers, this was entertainment—a wild game they thought they were winning. But most lost money. The few wallets that profited, including one that netted $240,000, were likely insiders.
Crypto investigators like Coffeezilla and bored2boar have shown Tate’s apparent involvement in pump-and-dump schemes—where coin creators artificially inflate prices, dump their holdings at a profit, and leave late investors with worthless tokens. Tate’s team refused to comment on the allegations.
But even after watching this play out in real-time, I still had questions: What exactly are memecoins? Are they all scams?
What Is a Memecoin—Really?
“Basically, literally, yes,” said David Gerard, author of Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain, when I asked if every memecoin was a scam.
He explained that memecoins are essentially pretend financial instruments. “You print your own Monopoly money,” he said, “and people buy it from you with real money.”
At their best, memecoins were born as satirical, internet-native jokes—Dogecoin being the original. But even the humor, said Gerard, quickly gave way to exploitation.
“There’s no utility,” said Sander Lutz, a journalist who covers the crypto beat at the White House. “Memecoins are just stocks in a cultural moment—except they acknowledge their own worthlessness.”
Unlike more “serious” crypto tokens that claim to be part of a decentralized future or digital economy, memecoins don’t bother with such pretenses. That honesty has a certain twisted appeal. “All crypto is bullshit,” said Lutz, “but memecoins are consciously bullshit.”
The Attention Economy's Dark Side
Memecoins are designed to capture attention—and monetize it. The more controversial the figure, the more value their memecoin can gain. That’s why memecoins tied to Andrew Tate, Elon Musk, Logan Paul, and Donald Trump rise quickly. It's not about the coin’s fundamentals—there are none—it’s about viral spectacle.
In some cases, developers have gone to horrific lengths to promote tokens, including livestreamed stunts involving animal abuse or fake suicides.
As Chase Herro, co-founder of Trump’s crypto venture, bluntly put it: “You can literally sell shit in a can, wrapped in piss, covered in human skin, for a billion dollars if the story’s right.”
How the Scam Works
A memecoin scam follows a familiar script:
A coin is created. Its supply is arbitrary, with most of it owned by the creator and their associates.
The creator hypes the coin, often using influencers or celebrities.
As more people buy in, the price rises.
The insiders sell at the peak—the rug is pulled.
Everyone else is left holding worthless tokens.
Sometimes the scheme uses an existing coin—called a pump and dump—but the result is the same: money flows from the many to the few.
“It’s provably negative sum,” said Gerard. “The only way you get money is by other people losing money.”
The Same Winners—Always
While a few Cinderella stories circulate online—like the “Moo Deng whale” who turned $800 into $10 million—those are extreme outliers. On Pump.fun, one of the leading memecoin platforms, only 0.4% of users have made more than $10,000. A mere 0.002% have made over $1 million.
And those rare winners? Usually insiders in private group chats or early buyers with deep pockets and connections.
Crypto culture encourages belief in the illusion that you, too, can outsmart the system. “A whole bunch of people think they’re smarter than the last scammer,” said Gerard, “but they usually aren’t.”
Some investors are invited into so-called “insider” Telegram or Discord groups, thinking they’re getting a head start—when in reality, they’re the targets.
A Generation Misled
Despite the risks, memecoins remain popular, particularly among young men. According to Pew Research, 42% of men aged 18–29 have used or invested in crypto, compared to only 11% of men over 50.
For Lutz, this trend reflects a broader disillusionment. “These young people feel excluded from traditional paths to financial security. They see memecoins as a rebellion against a broken system.”
The same alienation feeds into the appeal of populist influencers like Trump and Tate. “It’s all coming from the same frustrations,” said Lutz. “Disillusionment, anger, nihilism.”
Even after getting scammed, some memecoin buyers shrug it off. “It’s part of the culture,” Lutz said. “Someone gets rug-pulled and they just say, ‘Good for him. On to the next one.’”
There’s No Safety Net
Unlike regulated financial gambling, there’s no support infrastructure for people who lose their savings to memecoins. No “no-play” lists. No Gamblers Anonymous equivalent.
Some coins pretend to offer more than speculation, attaching promises of games, roadmaps, or off-chain value. But these almost never deliver. $Batman coin promised a gaming ecosystem. Logan Paul’s $ZooToken never worked.
The Presidential Pump
And then there’s $Trump, launched by Donald Trump himself on 17 January 2025. Unlike most memecoins, it offered something tangible: a dinner and White House tour for top holders.
That utility drove its market cap to over $2.5 billion.
Only 20% of its supply is in circulation. The rest is controlled by Trump and his partners, with restrictions on when they can sell—restrictions they invented. “They own the fake money,” said Gerard, “but they also control the rules.”
According to CNBC, 58 wallets tied to insiders have made over $10 million each from $Trump, totaling $1.1 billion. Meanwhile, over 764,000 smaller investors have lost money.
And Trump profits from the fees on every transaction—already earning $100 million.
Crypto Capture
Trump’s influence extends into regulation. After launching $Trump, he replaced the head of the SEC with a pro-crypto figure. The agency has since dropped all lawsuits against major crypto firms and now hosts weekly roundtables with the industry.
Trump also supports two pro-stablecoin bills—“The Stable Bill” and “The Genius Bill”—that would allow federal payments to be made in stablecoins. His own company, World Liberty Financial, stands to benefit massively if they pass. His family would take 75% of net revenues from any token sales.
Gerard is blunt: “This is open slather now. It’s going to be terrible. People will get skinned.”
The Bottom Line
Despite the noise, Gerard believes most people are staying clear. Trading volumes on Coinbase are down 17% since Trump’s memecoin launch. The real crypto economy is shrinking, not growing.
Even Tate fans may be realizing the scam. After the stream, I got an email from one of his followers titled: “MATT SHAE WE NEED YOUR HELP.” He and others had created a new coin, $RRT (Real Rugger Tate), and wanted me to help publicize it—to warn others, ironically, through the same memecoin playbook they’d just fallen for.
So, is every memecoin a scam?
Almost always, yes.
And even when it’s not, it might still be one tomorrow
