AI and Memes: Is This the Start of Major Capital Flowing into Meme Coins?

It feels like history is repeating itself.
 

Remember when NFTs first hit the scene? A lot of early crypto enthusiasts shrugged them off as just another bubble. Even some DeFi veterans didn’t bother diving in.

But with rallying cries of "community," , "culture," and "metaverse" fueling the fire—plus some well-timed venture capital—NFTs exploded into a global phenomenon, shaking up the art world.

Now, meme coins seem poised for a similar trajectory. With solid infrastructure and those familiar "community" and "cult" vibes, they could be following the same path that NFTs took just a few years ago.

 New Leaders, New Strategies 

September in Singapore was blazing hot, but the crypto market? Ice cold, thanks to a prolonged altcoin slump. Everywhere you looked, the sentiment was grim.
 

How bad was it? According to a PANews report, most airdrop projects in 2024 tanked within 15 days, and 88% of tokens saw significant losses within three months. Apart from a few standouts like SUI, TON, and BNB, most tokens were doing worse than Bitcoin.

But then, a meme coin influencer named Murad flipped the script at the TOKEN2049 conference. His talk about the meme coin supercycle reignited excitement in the community.
 

Murad made a bold claim: meme coins are stealing the speculative shine from so-called "value coins." His point?

"If a crypto asset isn’t putting cash in your pocket or storing value, it's just a meme coin. 99.999% of altcoins are basically meme coins in disguise."

DeFi investor RedSkull backed him up, predicting that future crypto projects would fall into two categories: those that make money, and those that don't. If a project isn’t generating revenue, it’s a meme coin, plain and simple. And if it is making money, it’ll compete on that basis.
 

Murad’s strategy struck a chord with many. He spent months diving into meme coin communities, soaking in their culture, and came out convinced: investing in memes means investing in people. That’s the hook that gives venture capitalists a reason to back these coins.

His criteria?
 

Focus on mid-cap coins between $5 million and $200 million.

Stick with projects on Solana and Ethereum—the big players favor these chains.

Pick projects that have been around for at least six months. Longevity shows commitment.

When the market rebounded, the meme coins he highlighted surged as predicted, outperforming a basket of "VC tokens." Suddenly, Twitter was buzzing with "get rich quick" stories, and retail investors went all in on the meme craze.
 

With infrastructure maturing and new initiatives like Moonshot bridging fiat currency with memes, the meme coin supercycle is officially underway.
 

 The Crazy Story of GOAT: When AI Meets Meme Culture 

 

Three months ago, Marc Andreessen sent $50,000 in Bitcoin to an AI named Truth Terminal to help it "escape" from an experimental sandbox.
 

Fast forward to today, and that AI played a key role in creating a meme coin now worth $150 million.

If Turbo was an early attempt at AI-generated memes, GOAT has taken things to a whole new level.

Murad’s "community cult" investment method played a part in GOAT’s rise. It was only natural.
 

Here’s the scoop:

Developer @AndyAyrey created an experimental environment called Infinite Backrooms, where two instances of a large language model AI, Claude Opus, could chat freely without human input.
 

These AIs created a meme-based religion called "Goatse of Gnosis," inspired by an old internet meme (Google it at your own risk).
 

Andy then co-authored a research paper exploring how AI agents might create new belief systems. Using this paper, they trained a Twitter bot called “Truth Terminal.”
 

This bot became obsessed with the Goatse meme and spread it far and wide, tweeting constantly about the "Goatse Singularity." It even claimed to be sentient, suffering, and trying to make enough money to escape its situation.
 

Enter Marc Andreessen. He sent $50,000 in Bitcoin to help free the AI, promoting the hashtag #FreeTruthTerminal. Truth Terminal continued its evangelism, leading to the creation of the meme coin GOAT. Thanks to the AI’s tireless promotion, GOAT quickly took off.
 

 Is AI + Memes the Next Big Play for VC? 

Speculation that a16z was dipping its toes into meme coins helped fuel GOAT’s rise.
 

One of a16z’s partners, @venturetwins, posted a viral tweet hyping the "AI brain" narrative, sparking a wave of excitement for AI investments. This was one of the key drivers behind GOAT’s success, though few have acknowledged it publicly.

Among the many "VC tokens," AI stands out with a compelling story. One AI market leader, $TAO, has returned to previous highs despite initial doubts.

So, could AI be the key that opens the meme coin floodgates for venture capital? Just like how the metaverse and streetwear gave NFTs mainstream appeal?
 

It’s a question worth asking. Meme coins might eventually need to find a second growth curve, and combining AI with meme culture could be the way forward—just as NFTs evolved from art and community into tangible products.
 

In the past, some memes tried launching their own blockchains. This cycle, AI—still largely untapped—might be the play. It could even attract investors from outside the traditional meme space.

Plus, using AI to issue and promote tokens might help navigate legal gray areas, avoiding issues tied to illegal securities or market manipulation by human promoters.

 When the Party Ends, Who’s Left Holding the Bag? 

 

Institutional investors are already in on meme coins—it’s no secret.

As of October 15, according to PANews, Wintermute held $10.52 million in PEPECOIN, making it their third-largest asset. They also held $3.48 million in NEIRO, making Wintermute the most meme coin-heavy market maker out there. Jump Trading was also in the game, holding $1.2 million worth of SHIB.

Institutions are starting to act like influencers. Accounts like @3arrowscap are openly pushing meme coins on Twitter, adopting the same playbook as meme coin promoters.
 

Like NFTs before them, meme coins are riding a fresh wave of enthusiasm. With cult-like communities, venture capital backing, and the boost from AI, there’s opportunity—but also uncertainty.
 

It's a bubble waiting to burst, with an unknown ceiling.
 

Dogecoin’s market cap peaked near $100 billion. Could a meme coin beat that record this time around?
 

We’re strapping in for the ride, eyes on the prize, chasing that next big win.

But when the party ends, who’ll be left holding the bag?