Memecoins broke trying to be more than memes. DOGE has been a cultural index since 2013. The handful of memes that have held up alongside it all came from real internet culture. A capped index of the top 20 memes (excluding DOGE and SHIB) is down about 75% from its January 2025 high. No emerging memecoin in the 15 months since has been strong enough to pull the index back. Much of the rest was driven by bundled supply, sniping bots, and influencer pumps. Memecoins are markets for cultural attention, but the model only works when that attention is authentic.(Delphi Digital)