The memecoin hall of shame: 10 tokens that defined 2025 wildest trades

The year 2025 saw memecoins become crypto's most visible and embarrassing corner, tracing a narrative arc from political monetization to late-cycle manipulation. Key tokens included TRUMP and MELANIA, which formalized political memecoins by monetizing political brand equity around Trump's inauguration, leading to massive crashes. LIBRA, endorsed by Argentina's President Milei, resulted in a sovereign scandal after an insider dump. FARTCOIN revived AI-linked mania with no utility, while PUMP financialized the infrastructure of meme token creation on Pump.fun. Celebrity tokens like YZY, launched by Kanye West, demonstrated massive wealth extraction with no accountability, contrasting with DOGE's crossover into regulated ETFs, signaling institutional legitimacy. The token 4 highlighted the multi-chain nature of meme seasons on BNB Chain, and MOTHER showed how celebrities could leverage controversial tokens for career advancement. Finally, PIPPIN exemplified the late-cycle trend of coordinated manipulation, where a few wallets controlled supply to engineer a comeback. The article concludes that memecoins are entrenched due to volume and attention, but their future hinges on whether they can exist without structural extraction and avoid becoming scams.

(Source：CryptoSlate)