Most Viral Crypto Memes of 2025: Year in Review

The most viral crypto memes of 2024: Year in Review

In 2024, the cryptocurrency community once again demonstrated its creativity and sense of humor by creating memes reflecting key events and market trends. Memes have become an integral part of cryptoculture, helping community members to make sense of what is happening and share their thoughts in an entertaining way.

In this article, we will talk about the most significant events of 2024, about which there were memes floating around the web or observed a heated discussion in the community. 

The saga of ETFs in memes

Waiting for approval

For several years now, there have been rumors about the imminent approval of BTC-ETFs, but nothing went further than rumors. And now, in early 2024, the news broke: the SEC approved the first BTC-ETFs, thus creating a new milestone for the crypto market - attracting more capital from an increased number of institutional investors. 

Market Reaction

The market reacted with growth, but a bit differently than everyone is used to. Various insights about the imminent approval of ETFs came out months in advance. As it happens, it was in those three months that bitcoin made all the gains: from about $27,000 to $43,000. At the time the BTC-ETF was officially approved, the major cryptocurrency was on a correction and was trading at $38,000, and after the news broke, it reached the $47,000 level. Therefore, the approval only solidified the recent quotes rather than pushing the price up.

SEC drama

Before the approval of the BTC-ETF, users were teasing the SEC, making the commission look like an evil teacher who doesn't want to let the main cryptocurrency into the ETF “party”. 

Now you can find mentions in the network that SOL and XRP (the next ETF contenders) are waiting for the same exciting “adventure” as BTC and ETH. However, there is one mitigating factor: soon the office of the president in the United States will be occupied by Donald Trump, who, in the current realities, has a positive attitude towards cryptocurrencies. He also promises to immediately fire the current head of the SEC, Gary Gansler: he was the main opponent of the BTC-ETF getting approval. 

Memes about price projections

Price predictions if the ETF is approved have also become a popular topic for memes. Some of them hyperbolically depicted bitcoin rocketing “to the moon” after approval, emphasizing the optimism of part of the community.

Given that bitcoin worked off its growth while the ETF was still in the pre-approval stage, that didn't happen. But thanks to this, a lot of new investors with big wallets came to the market, not without the help of which BTC updated ATH. 

Humor surrounding the Bitcoin hulking event

Expectations for the event

Bitcoin halving, an event that occurs every 4 years in which the reward for mining new blocks is halved, has traditionally caused a stir in the community. Expectations of this event in 2025 have generated many memes reflecting both optimism and skepticism of market participants.

The reality of halving

Essentially, it went the same way as the last halving. The reduction of the reward for mining blocks took place on April 20, 2024, and bitcoin set new ATHs as early as November 2024 - 6 months have passed. 

Community Reactions

Although this isn't the first time bitcoin halving has happened, the crypto community, for some reason, always expects an instant reaction from the BTC price. However, bitcoin's price rally almost always starts a few months after the halving. This time it came 5 months later and coincided with Donald Trump's election to the US presidency.

Memes about rising prices

Memes about the impact of halving on prices often portrayed bitcoin as an athlete preparing to jump, emphasizing the expectation of a sharp rise in value.

Token meme frenzy

The rise in popularity of tokens depicting dogs

In 2022, meme tokens such as Dogecoin, Shiba Inu and Floki continued to attract investor attention. The rise in popularity of dog tokens has been the source of many memes reflecting both enthusiasm and irony about such investments.

Online users have even formed a theory as to why dog meme tokens are so popular: 

• DOGE is the favorite toy of Ilon Musk, who pampers it at every opportunity. He'll buy a Tesla token for it, or he'll post photos of some dogs, or he'll come up with something else; 

• SHIBA is still an unprecedented example of creating a spontaneous community, the ecosystem around which continues to evolve; 

• FLOKI - was conceived directly as a meme-token, but in the end we see a lot of partnerships with well-known companies, a huge amount of marketing and development of the project as a whole.  

Meme-token performance

Aside from dog coins, there were plenty of other coins in 2024 that either brought their investors a lot of profit percentages or took everything away from them. The rapid development of the meme sector can also be credited to two platforms: Pump fun and SunPump. On the former, you can quickly and easily create a meme token on the Solana blockchain, and on the latter, you can create a meme token on the Tron blockchain. 

The irony around investing

In the crypto community network, those who have made a fortune on meme tokens are affectionately referred to as “survivor's error.” In fact, it is true: news resources mostly tell how one lucky person invested $100 and got $1 million, but none of them tend to tell about those who lost a lot of money on meme token investments. 

The Tap-to-Earn phenomenon

The hype around Tap-to-Earn games

In early 2024, applications with the tap-to-earn model entered the blockchain gaming arena. Essentially, the whole game was about constantly “tapping” the screen of a smartphone to earn in-game currency. In some apps, you could also perform simple tasks, such as leaving a comment on the project's social networks, giving a like, and so on. After some time, the project team had to hold an airdrop, in which the number of tokens received depended on how high the results in the game were. 

It so happened that somehow spontaneously games with a tap-to-earn model got an incredible hype. It is understandable: all the user needs is a smartphone and the Internet. As a result, only lazy people started to play various tap-playing games, and tap-to-earn games started to attract a multimillion audience. 

Reality-expectations

For 2024 there were enough apps with a new model of in-game earnings, but only two can be singled out: Notcoin and Hamster Combat. 

Notcoin is an app on the TON blockchain, with 40 million users at its peak. The Notcoin airdrop took place in May 2024. The project distributed 80.2 billion NOT tokens, which at that exchange rate amounted to $2.274 billion. The amount of payouts was really impressive, and those who showed good results in the game received extremely generous rewards. For example, Nigerian Tola Joseph Fadugbagbe earned $9 million. However, Notcoin is unfortunately almost a unicorn among tap-to-earn games.

Hamster Combat is also a clicker game on the TON blockchain, releasing in March 2024. Hamster Kombat's airdrop took place on September 22, 2024. According to various surveys on the network, it became clear that the average reward per user was 2,000-3,000 HMSTR. At the time of listing, the token was worth $0.014, and even with its quick sale, a user would have received no more than $45. At the same time, the peak audience of the project exceeded 150 million users.

Disappointment of users

There are many projects of a smaller scale, but the same projects where people spent months of time on “tapping”. The disappointment of users in the unfulfilled promises of earnings was reflected in memes depicting players who realized the futility of their efforts.

Lessons for the community

Lessons for the community about the need to carefully analyze projects before participating were presented in the form of memes urging caution and skepticism. What's important to remember: 

• The rule of thumb still works: free cheese is only in a mousetrap. Just because you got lucky once in one airdrop doesn't mean you'll get lucky in another; 

• If you do decide to play some such game, you should not expect to earn money from it. If suddenly airdrop turns out to be generous, you will be pleasantly surprised, not upset by the lost time. 

The drama surrounding the HBO documentary

The buzz around the topic of Satoshi's identity being revealed

On October 9, 2024, the documentary Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery was released on the streaming service HBO Max. In it, the creators of the movie promised to reveal the mystery of the creator of bitcoin - Satoshi Nakamoto. In their opinion, they did a great job: it is a Canadian developer Peter Todd. However, the programmer rejected these arguments. Moreover, Todd said that because of the false statements of the author of the movie, he has to go into hiding and fear for his life.

Reactions of the crypto community

Social networks and media write that HBO's theory is not convincing. Viewers pay attention to the inconsistency of timing: during the years of bitcoin development, Todd was trained in a specialty that in no way relates to cryptocurrency. In addition, the developer, judging by the chronology of his activity in the crypto community, began to be interested in bitcoin only in 2014 - much later than the launch of the network of the first cryptocurrency and Satoshi's going offline.

After the movie's release: reactions and memes'

Some memes about the HBO documentary about Satoshi Nakamoto:

• “Satoshi Nakamoto goes to top HBO executives after watching a movie about himself”;

• User @esatoshiclub joked that Satoshi Nakamoto is Vitalik Buterin, with an image of a young man;

• Another user @Goltra suggested that perhaps Satoshi was actually Albert Einstein. 

What's next for cryptomemes?

It is quite difficult to make any predictions about the meme sector, for one reason - meme tokens are extremely unstable. Today they can show good dynamics, and projects start to develop from ordinary memes into a really worthwhile product. But tomorrow, the price for them goes plummeting downwards, leaving their investors with nothing. At the same time, in 2025, the crypto community expects an alt season, so the meme segment can still surprise us. 

Conclusion

Cryptomemes of 2025 were not only a tool for expressing emotions, but also an important element of cryptoculture. They reflected key events of the year, including ETF approval expectations, bitcoin hulking, the rise in popularity of meme tokens, the Tap-to-Earn phenomenon, and the hype surrounding the HBO documentary. Memes serve as a powerful means of communicating and uniting the community, helping market participants make sense of what's happening and share opinions in an entertaining way.

FAQ

What makes cryptomemes go viral?

Cryptomemes go viral because of their ability to quickly and wittily reflect current events, trends and the mood of the community. Their humorous and lighthearted style makes them accessible and understandable to a wide audience.

How do memes affect the mood of the crypto market?

Memes can influence the perception of events and the mood of market participants by creating optimism or panic. For example, memes about rising or falling prices can reinforce corresponding investor sentiment and behavior.

What role do memes play in the crypto industry?

Memes help foster a sense of unity within the crypto community, reducing tensions during crises and helping participants make sense of difficult market situations through the lens of humor.