Why are useless crypto coins worth billions?

Inside the meme-driven madness, FOMO triggers, and degenerate psychology of the crypto markets

You’ve seen them. Coins with zero product, zero team, zero whitepaper – and somehow, a $3 billion market cap. You click on the website and it’s just a pixelated dog riding a rocket to the moon. The tokenomics? Lol. The roadmap? Nonexistent. Yet here we are.

Welcome to the upside-down world of crypto, where utility is optional, but hype is non-negotiable.

Let’s dig into why these “useless” coins keep raking in billions – and what it says about you (yeah, you with the open CoinGecko tab and $23.12 in “MoonDogeInuAI” tokens).

FOMO: The most valuable asset in crypto

FOMO isn’t just a meme—it’s the lifeblood of the entire market.

In a space where 1000x stories hit Twitter daily, missing the next big thing feels like a financial crime. You scroll past a coin at $0.0003, watch it hit $0.07 in two weeks, and swear you’ll never miss again. So when the next one pops up, you ape in without even checking if there’s, you know… anything there.

And the worst part? That strategy sometimes works. Which only reinforces the madness.

“It’s just a lottery ticket” logic

For many, throwing $50 at a sketchy new token isn’t an investment – it’s a scratch card. The downside? You lose $50. The upside? You turn it into $50K. These odds sound ridiculous – unless you’ve seen it happen.

This is the lottery ticket mentality, and it’s everywhere. People know the fundamentals are garbage. That’s not the point. The point is: “What if?”

This kind of thinking has led to billions being funneled into joke coins with ticker symbols like $TURD or $HODL, all because someone on TikTok said they’re “about to explode.”

(And don’t act like you haven’t watched those TikToks 👀)

The herd is always right… until they’re not

Humans are tribal. Crypto is just herd psychology on-chain. If a project trends on X, hits Reddit, and makes it onto some degen YouTube channel – it’s game on.

Even if no one can explain what the coin does, the fact that it’s going up is enough to validate it. Because hey, if everyone else is buying, they can’t all be wrong… right?

That’s how we ended up with coins based on frogs, emojis, and one guy’s dream about a potato with laser eyes.

Spoiler: They can all be wrong.

The meme economy: vibes over value

We’re living in the age of the meme economy, where narrative matters more than product. Coins like Dogecoin and PEPE gained traction not because they solved any technical problems, but because they were funny, shareable, and community-driven.

In this world, a good meme has more impact than a solid GitHub repo.

As Balaji Srinivasan once put it, “Memes > code.”
(He might be exaggerating, but… not really.)

👉 Pro tip: If the coin has a strong meme game and a cult-like community? That’s worth more than an actual roadmap. Sad, but true.

Degens just wanna have fun

Crypto isn’t just an investment class – it’s entertainment. Degens don’t just tolerate risk – they chase it. They live for 10x wins, exit scams, and the chaos of it all.

They meme their way through financial ruin, and somehow enjoy it.

Want proof? Look at Degen Score – a literal scoring system for how “degen” your wallet activity is. People flex their gambling habits like gym rats post their squats.

This isn’t your grandpa’s investing strategy. This is speculation-as-content, and coins with “no value” are just the main characters.

So… what does this say about the market?

Honestly? It says more about us than the coins.

These billion-dollar air balloons reflect a perfect storm of greed, dopamine, peer pressure, and terminal irony. The tech may be decentralized, but the behavior is purely human.

Will these coins survive long-term? Probably not. But will another wave pop up and do the exact same thing next cycle?

You bet your sweet wallet they will.

One last thought before you YOLO

Before you YOLO into the next useless coin with laser-eyed anime frogs on the logo, ask yourself:

Who’s behind it?
Is anyone building… anything?
Do I just want to feel like I didn’t miss out?

And hey – if you’re gonna play the game, at least do it with your eyes open.

🔗 External read: The Psychology of FOMO in Finance – Investopedia

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