With the rising popularity of Bitcoin (BTC-USD) currently stabilizing its trading price around the $70,000 mark, many crypto investors have started to look at meme coins again. While meme coins can be a hilarious and entertaining way to invest in crypto, they present some of the riskiest possible opportunities. That’s because meme coins, as the name suggests, are a byproduct of a larger social media trend or running joke, intended to quickly derive value from popularity. When the hype eventually dies down, there are some meme coins to avoid in order to protect your money while still getting in late on a dying trend.

Moreover, many investors new to the crypto industry may hear the popular phrase “do your own research,” and then subsequently fall victim to a meme trend. This article is intended to warn against trends which aim to take advantage of a popular internet moment and the naivety of investors. As a general disclaimer, I do not endorse any of these coins or investing in meme coins in general.

PEPE Coin (PEPE-USD)

Popularized by its use of the semi-controversial web cartoon “Pepe the Frog,” PEPE Coin (PEPE-USD) represents a classic pump-and-dump scheme. Aside from its characteristically funny icon, the coin does not provide any real value to its holders. In fact, from what I’ve been able to derive from my research, most of the coin’s movement comes from a dedicated group of followers, continuously communicating on X and other social media platforms to build hype and interest around the coin during periods of rising crypto popularity.

This kind of behavior is not only disingenuous but also dangerous for those who trust what they hear from others in forums and comment threads. I would also steer clear from PEPE Coin simply because it’s just another attempt at recapturing the magic that Dogecoin originally brought to the crypto market.

Floki Inu (FLOKI-USD)

You may hear popular phrases like “the people’s coin,” or “a coin of charity” when talking about Floki Inu (FLOKI-USD). The reality, however, is that this coin, despite catching the attention of major publications like Forbes Advisor, still does not have any real backing or basis for its value other than the conversations people have about it. What’s more, its original formulation as an offshoot of Shiba Inu (SHIB-USD) means that it is a third-generation copy of Dogecoin (DOGE-USD), since Shiba Inu itself is an iteration of the Dogecoin project.

No matter what other people might say about the coin’s potential, its market capitalization is so low that it doesn’t even rank among the top 50 coins available on crypto trading platforms today. The coin had its heyday immediately after the hype surrounding Shiba Inu as essentially the second wave of a pump-and-dump scheme. As such, this is one of the meme coins to avoid at all costs, regardless of the fear of missing out or what an influential person may post online.

Jeo Boden Coin (BODEN-USD)

A pure scam, through and through, very little information exists online about the actual purpose or utilization of Jeo Boden (BODEN-USD) coin. Similar to Trump Coin (MAGA-USD), BODEN simply aims to capitalize on the conversation surrounding the president of the United States. 

Moreover, the coin’s ticker on exchanges, BODEN, relies on people searching for the president’s last name and accidentally misspelling it by hitting the “O” key instead of the adjacent “I” key. As such, we see by the name alone that this coin intends to deceive and confuse those who may lack knowledge about the purpose of meme coins.

The only reason I even mention this coin is due to its popularity in the top 10 most-traded meme coins, which could give false hope to crypto investors and the wrong idea about the coin’s value.

On Low-Capitalization and Low-Volume Cryptocurrencies: InvestorPlace does not regularly publish commentary about cryptocurrencies that have a market capitalization less than $100 million or trade with volume less than $100,000 each day. That’s because these “penny cryptos” are frequently the playground for scam artists and market manipulators. When we do publish commentary on a low-volume crypto that may be affected by our commentary, we ask that InvestorPlace.com’s writers disclose this fact and warn readers of the risks.

Read More: How to Avoid Popular Cryptocurrency Scams

On the date of publication, Viktor Zarev did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.