We all want to believe in a world that is fair, just, and builds prosperity for all – but in today's market that just isn't the case and the younger generations are waking up to it.

What is Financial Nihilism?

One of the most prevalent movements today is ‘financial nihilism’ — which is essentially the belief that the standard “American Dream” is dead. With the costs of living soaring, housing prices seemingly out of reach (the average house costs 7.5x an annual salary), and governments excessively printing your hard-earned cash out of existence, the younger generations are struggling to find a way out of the financially repressive spiral they find themselves in.

Simply put, they are in search of a financial lotto ticket.

Over the last couple of years it’s been pretty clear that, among the millennial generation and lower, cryptocurrencies have been their financial lifeboat of choice. The likes of Bitcoin, Ethereum and others have served as great places for the next generation to invest their funds and offer them a way to financial freedom. These assets were easily accessible, offered the potential of excessive returns and were housed in a world they understood - the digital world.

Just as everything started to look up, COVID-19 arrived. This singular event turned the game of financial repression up to elite mode, as governments around the world began printing money out of thin air like it was nothing — ironically that is exactly what it has become, nothing. 

And once again, the younger generations were stunted and on the lookout for an investment that could offer them a way out.

Enter Memecoins

What initially started out as a viral internet joke, this subsector of the cryptocurrency market offered such excessive returns that the younger generations saw it as their ticket to financial freedom.  Subsequently, this subsector of cryptocurrencies is no longer just a lotto ticket, but a cultural movement that embodies financial nihilism.  

What is a Meme Coin?

The term “meme” is derived from Richard Dawkins’ 1976 book “The Selfish Gene.” Where Dawkins described a genetic meme as a gene that copies and proliferates itself throughout a species by way of Darwinian natural selection. Similarly, a cultural meme is a behaviour or idea that spreads throughout a culture even faster. If I share a joke with you and you share it with your friends, we create a ripple effect until the joke is known on a collective level, changing the species forever.

In the cryptocurrency market, meme coins are a subsector that centres around popular internet memes, pop-cultural references, and viral online trends. Unlike other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) — which primarily serves as a digital currency and store of value — developers often create memecoins as a form of expression or art.

The Cultural Impact of Meme Coins

With monetary printing seemingly out of control and no signs of slowing down, your fiat currency is simply worthless. While this is nothing new – the dollar has devalued over -95.00% since 1913 – accelerating beyond comprehension in recent years.

So the natural belief becomes, ‘when the government is acting crazy, you might need to do something crazy in response’.

This is why we have seen the rise in financial nihilism around the world. In response to fighting the system and getting out of financial repression, cultural movements with the idea of finding financial lotto tickets are everywhere.

• We saw the rise of WallStreetBets – where the movement of the everyday person managed to soar previously ‘dead stocks’ like GameStop and Blockbuster to extreme highs and lock in massive profits.
• Corporate gambling revenues are at all-time highs.
• Sports betting revenues are at all-time highs.
• Zero Day Options trading is rising at an unprecedented rate.

And the list goes on…But one movement in particular has overwhelmingly taken centre stage. Memecoins have found their place in the market as a cultural movement and have outperformed the likes of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) since the start of the 2023/2024 bull run.

As seen above, memecoins such as Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Pepe (PEPE) have outperformed Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), over the last 3 and 6-month timeframes, while PEPE has been the standout performer outperforming BTC and ETH by over +1,650% on a 12-month basis. 

In previous crypto bull markets, meme coins would usually only start to rally near the top or end of the market cycle as euphoria crept in, never at the beginning. This leads to the possibility that due to the rise of financial nihilism this cycle, memecoins could be set to outperform everything else.

If there is one thing history has shown us it's that nothing is more powerful than a movement – could the meme coin be the movement of this cycle? We will need to wait and see.