The changes Moonshot has brought to the meme coin ecosystem: a three-year record of growth

In the summer of 2024, a mobile application called Moonshot posed a question to the cryptocurrency community: “What if you could buy meme coins with fiat currency in just a few clicks?”

At launch, Moonshot curated lesser-known meme coins and offered trading opportunities. However, as major meme coins like MOODENG, SPX6900, and GOAT emerged one after another, the landscape changed. Moonshot became involved in the growth of these tokens, earning the nickname “Binance of the Meme World.” At the time, few expected this success to be sustainable. But over the following two years, Moonshot has evolved from a simple exchange into a gateway for the meme coin ecosystem.

Lowering Barriers with Fiat Payments on Moonshot

Moonshot’s core value lies in dramatically reducing entry barriers. Ordinary users can trade meme coins using only email and credit cards, without complex wallet setups or deep blockchain knowledge.

This experience was made possible through partnerships with companies like MoonPay and Turnkey. MoonPay had been exploring Apple Pay integration since 2022, and Turnkey automatically generated non-custodial wallets in the background, allowing users to verify transactions with biometric authentication (face recognition, etc.). It was as simple as making in-app game purchases on an iPhone.

The fee structure was transparent. Moonshot charged a transaction fee of 2.5% for trades under $250 and 1% for larger amounts, while MoonPay imposed additional fees depending on the payment method (e.g., 4.5% for PayPal deposits, 3.4% for withdrawals). This clear fee system built trust among users.

The Secret to Success: The Philosophy of Alliance DAO

Both Moonshot and Pump.fun were incubated within Alliance DAO. Founder QW diagnosed Moonshot’s opportunity as “insufficient retail demand in the market,” while Imran Khan advised that “the real competitors for crypto products are not other crypto apps but traditional Web2 applications.”

Moonshot faithfully followed this philosophy. From product design to user experience, the focus was on making blockchain technology invisible. As a result, transactions on Moonshot felt as natural as online banking.

As the growth curves of major meme coins shifted, Moonshot’s influence began to prove itself. MOODENG surged about 100x after listing, SPX6900’s market cap skyrocketed from $9 million to $900 million in just a month, and GOAT grew from $40 million to $500 million, demonstrating the market’s renewed recognition of Moonshot’s “listing effect.”

In the Swirl of Market Capitalization

As of February 2026, the market values of these meme coins have significantly adjusted:

• MOODENG: $61.94M (down about 80% from roughly $300M)
• SPX6900: $297.27M (down about 67% from $900M)
• GOAT: $23.82M (down about 95% from $500M)
• APU: $10.25M (down about 97% from $330M)

This illustrates how volatile the meme coin market can be. The case of slop tokens right after listing on Moonshot exemplifies this. The price rose about 20% within half an hour of listing but then plummeted after reaching a $50 million market cap, now sitting below its previous high.

However, Moonshot’s own trading volume contribution remains relatively small. For example, when slop’s total trading volume was $46 million, only about $1.1 million (0.2%) occurred on Moonshot. This suggests that Moonshot’s influence is more about “psychological impact” and “ease of market entry” than raw trading volume.

Increasing Competition and New Challengers

Moonshot’s success opened new opportunities in the market. Competitors like Prerich emerged, promoting slogans like “Trade meme coins easily.”

Prerich offered a user-friendly interface similar to Robinhood and attracted community interest with unique meme designs. However, it failed to generate the same “listing effect” as Moonshot. To differentiate, continuous selection and listing of major meme coins became essential.

The Significance of Moonshot: Beyond Technology to Experience

Over three years, Moonshot’s greatest legacy isn’t technological innovation but setting a new standard for user experience. True to Alliance DAO’s philosophy, it demonstrated that crypto products can offer the same level of convenience as traditional internet services.

Many crypto startup founders now look to Moonshot’s onboarding experience as a benchmark. The “fiat-to-crypto direct payment” track Moonshot pioneered is becoming the industry standard.

As long as the meme coin craze continues, innovative products like Moonshot will keep emerging. But given the market’s high volatility, the platform’s success will depend not just on “listing effects” but on building a sustainable ecosystem.