From Dogecoin to Shiba, Pepe, Bonk and WIF

Wonder

1. What happened when a memecoin sent half its supply to Ethereum’s co-founder?
2. Why would a new token give half its supply away for free?
3. What distinguishes a memecoin from a meme?

Explore

1. Dogecoin launched in December 2013 as a parody of the speculative cryptocurrency craze. It uses scrypt hashing and has no supply cap: since 2015 it has added about five billion new coins a year. While it mocked ‘serious’ projects, it adopted their core mechanics: a blockchain, a wallet, and a market. This established the template for all subsequent memecoins: value derived from social consensus rather than engineering complexity.
2. Shiba Inu (SHIB) launched in August 2020 on Ethereum via the pseudonymous ‘Ryoshi’. It was an ERC-20 token with a supply of one quadrillion. Ryoshi sent fifty percent of the total supply to Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s co-founder. The move borrowed the credibility of a famous name, without his consent, and put a huge block of supply in one wallet.
3. In May 2021, Vitalik Buterin donated about 50 trillion SHIB (roughly 10% of his holdings, then worth about $1.2 billion) to India’s Crypto Covid Relief Fund and, days later, burned 410 trillion, about 90% of the rest. The burn removed most of that block for good, and the donation turned a joke token into a headline about charity.
4. Pepe (PEPE) launched in April 2023 on Ethereum, reviving the ‘Pepe the Frog’ meme from internet culture. It showed again that a memecoin is a vessel for shared humor and identity, capable of drawing a large following through narrative alone.
5. Bonk (BONK) launched on Solana in December 2022, shortly after the FTX collapse. Half its supply was airdropped to Solana NFT collectors, developers and artists, rewarding the ecosystem’s existing community at a moment of deep distress. Bonk became Solana’s first breakout memecoin of the post-FTX era, establishing a foothold in a high-speed, low-fee environment.
6. dogwifhat (WIF) followed in November 2023 on Solana, featuring a simple image of a Shiba Inu wearing a hat. Its rise was driven by community momentum and exchange listings, with no plan or product behind it. Most memecoins lose nearly all their value; the survivors are rare, sustained by active communities, humor, and the attention of major exchanges.

Key facts

Exercise nine, six, three, one

Fact check

Dates, figures and claims checked against the published sources listed below.

• Shiba Inu Documentation ('Woofpaper')
• V. Buterin, public statements on SHIB donation (May 2021)
• Bonk announcement and airdrop details (December 2022)