Survivors of the 2021 Bull Market MEME Coins: Only 3 Still Alive in 2026

The MEME coins from the 2021 bull market, that have survived the bear market until January 2026, and still remain active, have market value, communities, and trading volume—there are really only a few.

Most MEME projects from 2021 either went to zero or completely laid flat in the 2022 bear market. The true "old-timer" survivors are mainly three 👇

Top-tier survivors (thriving, popular, hard currency)

1. Dogecoin $DOGE
The absolute king of the MEME track, an old pioneer from 2013, propelled to stardom in 2021 by Musk. After several bull and bear cycles, it still holds the top spot in MEME market cap, with a strong community, full liquidity, and deep trading on all exchanges.

The only reason it survived: it was the earliest and most famous, and Musk’s buff is timeless. @elonmusk

2. Shiba Inu $SHIB
The myth of explosive growth at the beginning of 2021, a classic with millions of times increase. Later, it developed the Shibarium public chain and tried many ecological initiatives. Although its practicality has been criticized, its community is large—the SHIBArmy’s cohesion is strong, and it remains in the top three MEME market caps in 2026.

Key to survival: massive holder base + continuous marketing + some DeFi and NFT experiments, preventing it from completely dying out. @ShibainuCoin

3. Floki Inu $FLOKI
Gained attention in June 2021 thanks to Musk’s dog, with the slogan “Dogecoin killer” at the time.

Over the years, it hasn't relied solely on hype but has built a real ecosystem: Valhalla game, NFTs, charity, FlokiFi finance sector—all more substantial than pure MEME. It didn’t collapse during the bear market, and in 2026, the community is still active and strong.

Barely considered "alive" (zombie state, almost no voice)

• SafeMoon: Completely cooled off, almost no trace after 2025, a dead coin with a still-moving corpse.

• Other dog variants like Baby Doge: 90% went to zero, the rest barely hanging on, with liquidity so poor it has no friends.

Other popular MEME coins from 2021, whether dog, cat, frog, or other breeds, have long been eliminated by the market.

Core conclusion

The MEME coins that survive from 2021 to 2026 rely never on hype alone: brand accumulation + loyal community + Musk/celebrity buff + the moat built over time—missing any one, they can’t survive.

Pure storytelling MEME coins with nothing else are 99% dead in the 2022-2023 bear market.

If your holdings/following list includes these three, congratulations—you are among the winners who endured;

If not, you should seriously reflect—are you jumping into the new 2024-2025 projects again? 😂

A final message to all chain-based P small players, it’s painfully true:

Good stories can only pump for a while;
Good MEME, only then can it cycle through the market.