A culture coin is an asset whose value is rooted in the psychology of its holders. They choose to make the culture coin valuable because they perceive it as valuable. There is no other connection to value other than the liquidity its buyers are willing to provide for it. Three major examples for culture coins are: - [Bitcoin](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin) - [Dogecoin](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogecoin) - [Rai](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rai_stones) Some culture coins fall under the category of "memecoins." The word "meme" originates from Richard Dawkins and his book [The Selfish Gene](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Selfish_Gene). A meme is an idea or a construct of ideas. A culture coin’s market capitalization is an expression of the value a group assigns to the meme. This might be an uncomfortable thesis for some because it is at odds with the traditional stringent definition of value, which seeks to express value in the form of balance sheets and revenue summing up to a larger value. This cannot be done with culture coins because of their immaterial source of value. However, that this value exists is undeniable, as seen in the market capitalization of Bitcoin. Bitcoin, if examined closely, is a culture coin; if one strips Bitcoin of the ideas and associations of its holders, the network objectively does not contain any value other than the value holders choose to assign to it. Therefore, it is not surprising to see that one of Bitcoin's forks was Litecoin, whose own fork in turn became the first "memecoin," Dogecoin. It is sometimes argued that Bitcoin has value due to the effort it takes to mine it. This argument is to be rejected, as the same could be achieved without the amount of effort, some argue even more securely. However, the effort it takes to mine Bitcoin contributes to its perceived value. It is important to note that we are in no way trying to express that Bitcoin lacks value; to assume this would fail to understand our argument. Bitcoin has value because people collectively agree with the underlying premise that it is hard to create and its supply is finite, giving it the moniker of "digital gold" for its believers. This underlying idea (the meme) is important to the believers and, like all beliefs, perpetuating it makes it stronger. The ability to capture this value is the innovation of the culture coin. We also like to emphasize that the quality of ideas underlying culture coins can be vastly different. A timeless idea like "hard money" will arguably live longer than a contemporary joke on speculation or the ease of creating such coins. ### Separation from Coordination Coins Lastly, some might argue Bitcoin is a [[Coordination Coin]] since $BTC as an asset is used to reward miners and thus is used for coordination. This might be a fair consideration; however, in our strict definition, the asset itself does not grant the right to coordinate the network. The asset just happens to have value, and this value secures the coordination of the network.