AMNA NAWAZ: In the up-and-down world of cryptocurrency, so-called meme coins are perhaps the most bewildering.

The joke-inspired digital currency is all over the Internet, with new tokens popping up every day by the thousands.

The value of some has jumped into the millions of dollars thanks to viral trends or celebrity endorsements, but most never take off, crash or disappear.

So just what is a meme coin?

Economics correspondent Paul Solman explains.

VIC LARANJA, Crypto Content Creator: I will break down the three most common meme coin trading scenarios.

PAUL SOLMAN: Curious about meme coins?

Just check out some how-to's on YouTube.

MAN: In this video, I am going to take you behind the scenes as I trade meme coins.

MAN: Eight meme coin under $1 that I believe have huge potential in 2025.

MAN: If I don't make $1,000 trading crypto memes in the next 24 hours, I'm going to give this $10,000 Rolex to one of you.

PAUL SOLMAN: More than 40,000 meme coins are created online per day inspired by online memes, or trending events.

The most valuable meme coin?

Dogecoin.

Touted by Elon Musk, it has a total market value of more than $20 billion.

ZEKE FAUX, Author, "Number Go Up": It was created more than 10 years ago by someone who was trying to parody the kind of get-rich-quick attitude that he felt was already prevalent in cryptocurrencies.

PAUL SOLMAN: So says, investigative reporter Zeke Faux, a joke.

ZEKE FAUX: People liked the joke and then signaled their liking of the joke by buying Dogecoin.

When Elon Musk started talking about the joke, that really got it going for a while.

People became familiar with this idea that Internet jokes could become vehicles for gambling.

PAUL SOLMAN: Fun gambling, says MIT's Neha Narula, who teaches and consults on crypto.

NEHA NARULA, Digital Currency Initiative Director, MIT Media Lab: I would almost think of it more like a game than a joke.

Like, people are just enjoying owning these things, playing with these things, buying them, selling them.

They think they are funny.

ZEKE FAUX: Ooh, isn't it funny, they said fart?

PAUL SOLMAN: Fartcoin?

ZEKE FAUX: Yes, billions of dollars of trading in Fartcoin.

PAUL SOLMAN: Faux once asked a meme coin traitor if he bought the tokens because of the humor.

Faux read us the response.

ZEKE FAUX: He said: "Ninety-nine percent of the time, the memes aren't funny at all, which is what is funny.

The fact that they are not funny is what's funny.

Fartcoin, it's so (EXPLETIVE DELETED) stupid, that is why it is good."

It is like this nihilistic gambling game.

PAUL SOLMAN: But in one case, the nihilistic game became real like tragedy.

VIC LARANJA: A meme coin trader was live on Twitter and he took his own life on livestream and then asked people to make a meme coin out of it.

There is a lot of volatility.

PAUL SOLMAN: Vic Laranja, a meme coin trader and crypto content creator, says he did not buy Dogecoin, but another that was connected to it.

VIC LARANJA: It was called Life, and it was called Life: The Most Valuable Currency.

So, there was a lot of really good, and almost religion and God-centered tokens that night because people were really kind of mourning what just happened because it was pretty heavy.

PAUL SOLMAN: Now, tragedy is not a common meme coin inspiration, but trends sure are.

ZEKE FAUX: When someone announces a new meme coin, what people are evaluating is, who is behind this and how much attention will they be able to garner?

PAUL SOLMAN: Molly White is a crypto researcher.

MOLLY WHITE, Crypto Researcher and Software Engineer: People are constantly trying to find the next big meme coin and buy it early enough that they get in before other people do so that, when other people start to pile in and the price goes up, they can sell off the tokens they purchased.

PAUL SOLMAN: Like the official Trump Coin that debuted January 17, soared to over $73, but has since fallen by more than 80 percent.

In February, the $Libra meme coin shot up from pennies to dollars when endorsed by Argentina's President Javier Milei, then crashed back down to pennies within hours.

Milei is now under investigation because investors suspect a rug pull.

MOLLY WHITE: It is very common in the meme world going to someone launched a rug meme coin into a rug pull, which is where the creator of the token suddenly takes off with all the money.

PAUL SOLMAN: Now, since all transactions are publicly logged on what is called the blockchain, investors can see which accounts or wallets or buying he coins early.

But if you are self-dealing token developer planning, say, a rug pull, you can bundle.

VIC LARANJA: When you deploy the token, you buy a ton of the supply automatically.

But they are split up between 100 different wallets.

So instead of 50 percent of supply going to one wallet, you now have 1 percent of the supply going to 50 wallets that are all completely disconnected and it is all algorithmic.

And in one button you can sell them all.

PAUL SOLMAN: Since timing is obviously key, some meme coin investors use software to help them get in early.

VIC LARANJA: Twitter trackers.

What that does is, it follows a list of accounts, hundreds of accounts on Twitter and puts it on one feed and any updates from those accounts in real time you get only those accounts.

And we use Twitter trackers to be totally up-to-date with news so we know if a big viral thing is going to happen.

Elon Musk changes his profile photo.

That photo went to $100 million market cap.

PAUL SOLMAN: In December, Musk changed his X name to Kekius Maximus.

That's the name of a coin based on the right-wing meme Pepe the Frog.

That sparked a 4800 percent surge in its price.

And in March, Musk posted a photo of his DOGE office setup featuring a Kekius Maximus portrait, which again sent the price soaring.

All such moves are tracked by traders like Laranja.

VIC LARANJA: This is an evolving game.

Every week is different.

This week is different than last week and the week before that completely different.

So I think it's just staying on top of it and seeing opportunities.

I will share with you the exact tools that the 1 percent of meme coin traders always use.

PAUL SOLMAN: Laranja shares what he's investing in with his half-a-million Internet followers.

Do you see people becoming addicted to this kind of gambler?

VIC LARANJA: Yes.

Yes, I do.

Like, the stimulation is crazy.

You could do it 24/7.

There's a lot of nights where I just stay up way too late and me and the chat are trading together.

It's definitely borderline addicting.

PAUL SOLMAN: Are you addicted?

VIC LARANJA: I play the game strategically.

I understand what I'm doing and how it affects my business.

My business is to be a part of this community.

I'm strategic.

PAUL SOLMAN: Well, that's what a lot of gamblers think.

(LAUGHTER) PAUL SOLMAN: A lot of addicted gamblers.

VIC LARANJA: OK, but are those gamblers, do they have 500,000 followers talking about gambling?

PAUL SOLMAN: No.

VIC LARANJA: Are they making six figures a month from sponsorships and referrals?

PAUL SOLMAN: No, they aren't.

As in a casino, meme coin traders are gambling, pure and simple, for better or worse.

For the "PBS News Hour," still resisting the fear of missing out, Paul Solman.