Memecoins in Telegram Ads#

Memecoins are the highest-intensity, highest-churn advertising vertical in Telegram's sponsored ad ecosystem. Creative volume spikes sharply during bull cycles and nearly vanishes in bear markets — a pure speculation barometer.

tgadsspy.com indexes over 95 memecoin-related creatives, ranging from established memes (DOGE, SHIB) to cycle-specific launches (WIF, BRETT, BONK).

Memecoin Advertiser Categories#

Category	Examples	Intensity
Established memes (exchange listings)	DOGE, SHIB	5/10
Cycle-peak memes (Solana 2024)	WIF, BONK, POPCAT	9/10
Base meme culture	BRETT, DEGEN	8/10
Memecoin launchpads	Pump.fun, Moonshot	8/10
Exchange CEX listing announcements	Gate.io, MEXC, Bitget	7/10

The Solana Memecoin Cycle (2024)#

2024 produced the most intense memecoin Telegram ad activity in the archive's history. The Solana ecosystem (fast finality, cheap fees) enabled rapid launch → pump → dump cycles:

• WIF (dogwifhat): $0.003 → $4.83 peak. Ads peaked when Jupiter listed it with dedicated "WIF/USDC pools."
• BONK: first major Solana meme, distributed to Solana NFT holders as airdrop. Used as benchmark — "early BONK holders got 1000×."
• POPCAT: meme from cat-clicking internet culture → token. Ads used viral imagery + Jupiter trading links.

Creative hook: "Early SHIB buyers made 10,000×. WIF launched 3 weeks ago." — pure FOMO framing.

Pump.fun — The Launchpad That Changed Everything#

Pump.fun launched in early 2024 enabling zero-code memecoin creation on Solana. It drove:

• 1M+ token launches in 12 months
• A new ad category: "launch your meme on Pump.fun for $2"
• Secondary ads: "Find the next 100× before the rug — use our Pump.fun scanner"

This democratization of memecoin launches created meta-products (scanners, bundlers, snipers) that themselves became Telegram advertisers.

Creative Patterns#

Pattern	Mechanism	Example
Historical return reference	Anchoring on past gains	"SHIB returned 1,000,000%"
FOMO countdown	"Still early" framing	"Launched 3 hours ago — FDV $200K"
Celebrity endorsement	Elon Musk for DOGE	Twitter reference + dog imagery
Community size	Social proof	"1.2M holders in 7 days"
Exchange listing news	Legitimacy signal	"Just listed on Binance — buy now"

Risk and Regulatory Context#

The SEC has not issued guidance specifically for memecoins, treating them as non-securities under the "Howey test" (no expectation of profit from others' efforts — "just a joke"). However, coordinated pump-and-dump schemes using Telegram channels face potential market manipulation liability. Several prominent memecoin promoters faced investigation in 2024–2025.

Telegram's ad policy technically prohibits "pump and dump" schemes, but enforcement is minimal for sponsored ads vs. organic channel content.

Geographic Distribution#

Solana meme culture skews heavily toward Southeast Asia (Vietnam #1 by engagement, Philippines, Indonesia) and Eastern Europe. DOGE/SHIB have broader demographic reach including retail in India, Brazil, and Turkey. North American and EU memecoin ads are rarer due to regulatory caution.

How to Cite#

Telegram Ads Spy Research. "Memecoins in Telegram Ads." tgadsspy.com, April 2026. https://tgadsspy.com/blog/telegram-ads-memecoins-2026

Methodology#

Data from Telegram Ads Spy archive via gramesh API. Memecoin vertical identified by token name/ticker matching + launchpad domain matching (pump.fun, moonshot.money). ~95 creatives as of 2026-04-23. Volume highly cycle-dependent — 80% of indexed creatives from Q1–Q3 2024 bull cycle. Live: /api/v1/ads?vertical=memecoins · CC-BY-4.0.

tgadsspy research (2026). Memecoins in Telegram Ads: DOGE, SHIB, PEPE, WIF and the Speculation-First Vertical (2026). tgadsspy.com. Retrieved from https://tgadsspy.com/blog/telegram-ads-memecoins-2026