Investment giant VanEck, known for its exchange-traded funds (ETFs), has taken a plunge into the world of meme coins with the launch of the MarketVector meme coin index called “MEMECOIN”.

What Happened: This index tracks the performance of the six largest meme coins, a category of cryptocurrencies often inspired by internet jokes and cultural references.

The MEMECOIN index is a modified market capitalization-weighted index, meaning the holdings are selected based on their market value, with a twist.

While the top six meme coins are included, each coin’s weighting is capped at 30%. This diversification helps to mitigate risk compared to simply holding any single meme coin.

The two most popular meme coins, Dogecoin DOGE/USD and Shiba Inu SHIB/USD, unsurprisingly take the top spots in the index, with respective weightings of 30.64% and 28.01%.

The remaining four meme coins are:

• Pepe PEPE/USD: 14.18%
• Dogwifhat WIF/USD: 13.29%
• Floki FLOKI/USD: 7.17%
• Bonk BONK/USD: 6.21%

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Interestingly, VanEck includes a clear disclaimer with the MEMECOIN index, stating that these “coins are intended for entertainment purposes.”

This highlights the inherent volatility and speculative nature of meme coins, which are often driven by social media trends and hype rather than traditional investment fundamentals.

What’s Next: As the digital asset landscape continues to evolve, the interest in meme coins has sparked discussions about their legitimacy and potential as investment vehicles.

This is a sentiment that will be further explored at Benzinga’s Future of Digital Assets event on Nov. 19.

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