What Is a “Shitcoin”?
A shitcoin is a slang term—and let’s be honest, kinda hilarious— used in the crypto world to describe a coin that’s basically all sizzle, no steak. These are the tokens your cousin swears will make you a millionaire… right before they crash 97% overnight. Usually launched with more meme than meaning, shitcoins have little utility, questionable roadmaps, and just enough buzzwords to hook in the degen crowd.
🔍 Origins of the Term
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The term started in online forums where early crypto nerds were trying to separate the Bitcoin from the bullsh*t.
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It blew up as altcoins flooded the market, each promising to be “the next Bitcoin” but most ending up in digital dumpsters.
Why It Matters
The rise of shitcoins is the messy, meme-y mirror of the crypto revolution. It reminds us that while innovation is real, speculation is relentless. For every ETH, there’s a thousand HAKTs. For every solid roadmap, there’s a whitepaper that’s just a Rickroll link.
But it’s not all laughs and laser eyes. Shitcoins can have real consequences:
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New investors get wrecked — FOMOing into the next rocket emoji coin only to crash into the meme graveyard.
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Veterans get exhausted — sorting real gems from junk takes time and sanity.
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There are over 20,000 active cryptos, but possibly 37 million tokens created to date. That’s a lot of noise drowning out the signal.
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Altcoin seasons just ain’t alt-seasoning like they used to—perhaps because too much capital’s been yeeted into ruggy nonsense instead of building cool stuff.
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Trust takes a hit — Every scam coin gives regulators more ammo and normies another reason to say, “See? I told you it was all fake.”
So yeah, the shitcoin storm may be part of crypto’s charm, but it also muddies the waters for real progress.
🔚 Bottom Line
The proliferation of shitcoins isn’t just a sideshow—it’s a drag on investor trust, regulatory acceptance, and resource flow into meaningful crypto innovation. At CryptoShitcoins.com, we shine a light on this dynamic—because crypto’s future belongs to real utility, not just hype.
The Gray Area:
Questionable Shitcoins or Emerging Tokens?
Some coins walk a fine line between meme and utility. While the crypto world debates their legitimacy, they’ve undeniably captured attention—and some wallets. Are they evolving or just well-dressed rug pulls waiting to happen? Time (and dev updates) will tell.
Key Characteristics
Minimal Utility or Purpose
Shitcoins are like those infomercial products you regret buying at 2 a.m.—flashy, confusing, and ultimately useless. Most don’t solve real problems and are made to ride hype trains until the wheels fall off.
Speculation-Driven and Highly Volatile
Volatility is the name of the game. A single tweet, TikTok trend, or Reddit post can skyrocket a shitcoin—only to plummet when early holders cash out.
Closely Tied to Meme Culture
Shitcoins and meme coins are often BFFs. They thrive on jokes, GIFs, and community memes. It’s like investing in inside jokes—with your savings.
Common Themes & Risks
Pump‑and‑Dump Schemes
You know the drill: hype gets built, FOMO kicks in, the price shoots up, insiders dump, and you’re left holding the digital equivalent of Enron stock.
Social Media Manipulation
If your favorite TikTok crypto bro is pushing a coin with dog ears and no whitepaper, maybe sit that one out.
Lack of Transparency and Development
If you can’t figure out who made the coin or the dev team’s Telegram hasn’t posted since 2022, maybe don’t go all in.
🚨 Notorious Shitcoins That Made (and Lost) Waves
This section is dedicated to the purebred shitcoins—the ones that existed solely to pump, dump, and vanish into the blockchain abyss. Fueled by TikTok trends, Instagram hype, crypto bros on caffeine, and influencer FOMO, these tokens were never meant to last—but boy, did they make some noise before crashing and burning.
Let’s pour one out for the tokens that walked so others could… rug-pull faster. These are just a few examples that immediately come to mind as we’re writing this article—but let’s be real, the list is far from complete. The shitcoin cemetery is crowded, and there’s always room for more.
💦 CumRocket (CUMMIES)
Yes, that’s the real name. Marketed as the adult industry’s crypto revolution, it mooned after a tweet from Elon Musk (of course), then promptly crashed like your hopes on Valentine’s Day. Despite its NSFW branding, CumRocket actually tried to create a platform for adult content—but ended up being more meme than mission.
🇳🇬 King of the Scam Jungle (Various Nigerian Rugpulls)
Nigeria’s crypto scene has some legit innovators—but also some epic shitcoins. A few infamous projects (we’ll keep names vague for safety and sanity) raised millions, then vanished like a politician’s promises. One even featured a whitepaper written in Comic Sans. No joke.
🐦 Hak Tui Token (HAKT)
Launched as a parody of parody coins, Hak Tui was inspired by the internet’s favorite spit-take sound. With a roadmap that literally just said “We ballin'” and tokenomics that made no sense, it still managed to get listed on obscure exchanges before evaporating into crypto legend.
🧻 Save The Kids
Backed by influencers and promoted as a charity coin (how noble), this one ended in a full-on scandal. The kids didn’t get saved. Investors didn’t either. But influencers got paid.
🚀 Former Shitcoins Showing Promise
Sometimes, a token that starts out as a joke grows up into… well, a slightly more respectable joke with a cult following and maybe even some utility. These coins were laughed at early on, but now they’re forcing the crypto world to take them at least semi-seriously.
🐕 Dogecoin (DOGE)
Dogecoin was literally born as a joke. Created in December 2013 by Billy Markus (an IBM engineer) and Jackson Palmer (from Adobe), the idea came together in just a few hours. Palmer bought the domain and slapped the famous Doge meme on it in Comic Sans, while Markus forked Litecoin to spin up a functional but funny cryptocurrency.
Originally meant to mock the growing number of altcoins and the hype surrounding crypto, Dogecoin unexpectedly took on a life of its own. Thanks to its meme-worthy branding and some high-profile attention—especially from Elon Musk—it found itself moonwalking into relevance.
But Doge has evolved. It’s now accepted as a form of payment by several merchants, including some online retailers and even the Dallas Mavericks. It’s also used for tipping content creators, donating to charities, and facilitating microtransactions with extremely low fees. The Dogecoin Foundation has relaunched with a new advisory board (including Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin), signaling a push toward more structured development and long-term vision.
It’s still silly, but now it’s also surprisingly functional—and no longer just a punchline in the crypto world.
🐾 Shiba Inu (SHIB)
The “Doge Killer” has clawed its way into legitimacy after launching with pure meme energy in 2020. Initially dismissed as another joke token, SHIB exploded in popularity during the meme coin boom and surprised everyone by sticking around.
It now features a decentralized exchange (ShibaSwap), its own ecosystem of tokens (LEASH, BONE), and even plans for a metaverse. It’s also been used in various charity campaigns and has a passionate community pushing development forward. While its use cases are still evolving, SHIB has proven it’s more than just another internet meme.
🧠 Floki Inu (FLOKI)
Inspired by Elon Musk’s pet dog and the Viking spirit, Floki Inu rode the meme wave straight into headlines. But instead of fading into obscurity, it launched real-world projects like Floki University (a crypto education platform) and partnered with global charities.
Floki’s dev team has focused on utility-driven growth, including an NFT metaverse game (Valhalla), DeFi tools, and strategic marketing campaigns around the world. What started as a meme has evolved into one of the more ambitious community-backed crypto projects.
🌋 Pompeii Token (PMP)
Launched with volcanic branding and explosive promises, Pompeii Token erupted onto the scene but quickly cooled down. Yet, rather than fade into ash, some behind-the-scenes builders began adding actual use cases—like staking options and a decentralized exchange component.
It’s still very much in the underdog category, but with ongoing development and a rebranding effort underway, PMP could rise again… or at least become a less tragic monument in the crypto landscape.
🐸 Pepe (PEPE)
A late entrant in the meme coin arena, PEPE capitalized on the iconic meme frog and rapidly gained traction. Initially dismissed as pure hype, the community rallied to give it more staying power—launching NFT collections, meme contests, and liquidity rewards.
It’s still meme-heavy and speculative, but its active user base and continuous meme utility have helped it hang on longer than most expected.
These coins may never replace Ethereum or Bitcoin, but they’ve proven that in the world of crypto, a good meme and a little effort can go a long way.
Former Champions:
When Giants Fall
On the other hand, there are coins out there that were once titans of the blockchain world—projects that made it to the top 10, plastered across CNBC and Reddit moon threads—now reduced to cautionary tales in crypto history. These were the it coins, the prom kings and queens of the crypto prom, strutting across the stage with billion-dollar market caps and cult-like communities.
But just like MySpace and Blockbuster, not all giants stay standing. Whether due to fraud, failed tech, or plain old hubris, these former champions have slipped—some gracefully, others in a fireball of memes and margin calls—into what could arguably be called the shitcoin pile.
So before you bet it all on the next big thing, take a stroll down this memory lane of fallen stars. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you might just think twice before going all-in on the next algorithmic stablecoin.
🌕 Terra (LUNA) & TerraUSD (UST)
LUNA was once a top-10 coin and part of a “stablecoin revolution” that wasn’t so stable after all. When TerraUSD (UST) lost its peg, the entire Terra ecosystem collapsed—wiping out over $40 billion in market value. What was hailed as a DeFi darling became one of the most infamous implosions in crypto history.
💥 FTX Token (FTT)
FTX was a powerhouse exchange, and FTT was its flagship token. But when the house of cards collapsed in 2022 amid fraud charges and financial mismanagement, FTT went from blue-chip to bloodbath. A lesson in how even the most “trusted” players can fall.
BitConnect (BCC)
The OG of shady crypto schemes, BitConnect promised astronomical returns through a mysterious trading bot. Instead, it became a textbook Ponzi scheme and shut down in 2018—leaving investors broke and meme history forever enriched.
📉 Internet Computer (ICP)
Launched with massive hype and an eye-watering market cap, ICP was pitched as the blockchain to replace the internet as we know it. Backed by the DFINITY Foundation, it promised to run dApps at web speed without centralized cloud providers. But after its debut, the price tanked over 90% and developers complained of poor tooling and centralization. It’s still alive—but it’s gone from a messiah to a meme in many circles.
🐢 SafeMoon (SFM)
Launched in early 2021, SafeMoon climbed to a jaw-dropping $17 billion market cap at its peak. Promoted as a community-focused DeFi token with innovative tokenomics, it instead became the poster child for overhyped vaporware. With lawsuits, fraud allegations, and its eventual bankruptcy in 2023, SafeMoon now serves as a grim reminder that catchy names and FOMO aren’t a substitute for substance.
💰 $TRUMP Meme Coin
Launched on January 17, 2025, $TRUMP surged to an eye-popping $27 billion market cap within 24 hours of its ICO. Backed—unofficially or otherwise—by Trump-related entities and supporters, it promised patriotism, memes, and maybe a ticket to Mars. But with most of the token supply held by insiders, and a rapid price crash followed by ongoing debates over its purpose, $TRUMP became more of a political stunt than a blockchain revolution.
🧱 EOS
Once hailed as the “Ethereum Killer,” EOS raised over $4 billion in its year-long ICO—the largest in history at the time. Its Delegated Proof-of-Stake model promised faster and more scalable smart contracts. But over time, governance issues, slow development, and centralized control drew heavy criticism. Its token price plummeted, and EOS slowly faded from relevance.
🌐 NEO
Dubbed the “Ethereum of China,” NEO was once a top-10 contender during the 2017 bull run. It had big plans—smart contracts, digital identity, and regulatory compliance baked in. But development slowed, excitement fizzled, and it never quite delivered on its promises. It’s still around, but far from the powerhouse it aimed to be.
These projects once stood tall—and now serve as cautionary tales. Some were hyped beyond reason, others were fundamentally flawed, and a few were straight-up scams. All have earned their place on the CryptoShitcoins.com watchlist.
🧾 Final Thoughts
So… what even is a shitcoin, really?
Sure, we’ve pointed out the pump-and-dumps, the vaporware tokens, and the meme-fueled madness—but let’s be honest: today’s shitcoin might just be tomorrow’s breakout success (or at least a decent tipping token).
But that also begs a deeper question—who defines utility? Does a coin need to power decentralized finance, enable cross-border payments, or launch NFTs to be useful? And with technologies like quantum computing, AI, robotics, and nanotech reshaping everything we know, can any crypto claim to truly offer utility yet?
Our definition of a shitcoin might be as fluid as a Twitter thread on airdrops. After all, history is full of examples of people once labeled as fools who later changed the world. Galileo was condemned for claiming the Earth revolved around the sun. Nikola Tesla was dismissed as eccentric. Even Darwin caught flak for suggesting we share DNA with apes. What was once madness is now mainstream science.
In the same way, today’s so-called ‘shitcoin’ might just be laying the groundwork for the decentralized tech of tomorrow. What the world labels worthless today could be the infrastructure of tomorrow’s digital economy.
Here at CryptoShitcoins.com, we’re not here to hand out definitive labels or act like crypto gatekeepers. We’re here to ask the messy, meme-filled, moon-chasing questions. Because at the end of the day, shitcoins are part of what makes crypto culture chaotic, creative, and—occasionally—kinda brilliant.
This article is just the first swing at defining what a shitcoin truly is. We’ll be updating it as new coins launch, old ones implode, and more projects fight their way out of the meme zone into actual utility. Look out for follow-up pieces where we explore what really defines crypto utility in a rapidly evolving tech landscape.
Until then: DYOR, hold your memes close, and keep your private keys closer.
This article has explored how the internet generally defines a shitcoin—but what do we at CryptoShitcoins.com think a shitcoin really is? Honestly, it’s all of the above… and then some.
To us, a shitcoin is any coin that may lack true utility, transparency, or sustainability—yet could still make waves. But beyond the labels, we’re curious about whether these coins contribute to the original crypto narrative: financial freedom, decentralization, user sovereignty, and censorship resistance. If a token doesn’t help move those ideals forward, then yeah… maybe it’s a shitcoin.
That said, we’re here to figure that out in the most entertaining, community-driven way possible. Through the articles, debates, and feedback we gather here, we’ll continue to refine and evolve what qualifies as a shitcoin. And we hope you’ll join us for the ride.