What is Anime (ANIME) Crypto Coin? A Deep Look at the Anime-Themed Meme Coin on Base

What is Anime (ANIME) Crypto Coin? A Deep Look at the Anime-Themed Meme Coin on Base

The ANIME token isn't a game-changing blockchain innovation. It doesn't have a wallet app, a mobile platform, or even a whitepaper. There's no team building features or roadmap updates. And yet, tens of thousands of people hold it. Why? Because ANIME isn't really about money. It's about anime.

What Exactly Is ANIME (animeonbase.art)?

ANIME is a cryptocurrency token built on the Base blockchain - the same network behind Coinbase’s Layer 2 solution. Launched in May 2024, it was created as a tribute. Not to investors. Not to traders. But to fans. The creators called it a "thank you to those who helped bring our love of anime onchain." That’s it. No utility. No staking. No NFT integration. No DeFi protocols. Just a token with 1 billion coins, all minted at once, and given away for free to people who already owned anime-themed NFTs like Capsule House, Azuki, and Memeland Captainz.

The contract address is 0x0e0c9756a3290cD782CF4aB73ac24D25291c9564. It’s public. You can verify it on Etherscan for Base. But don’t expect a website with polished graphics or a Twitter account with daily updates. The official site, animeonbase.art, is barebones - mostly links to Discord and a few community art galleries.

How Much Is ANIME Worth? (Spoiler: Not Much)

Price data for ANIME is messy. On CoinMarketCap, it’s around $0.000011. On Coinbase, it’s $0.000052. That’s a 364% difference between platforms. Why? Because no one’s actually trading it. The 24-hour trading volume on Binance is $0. On CoinStats, it’s $1.82. Coinbase reports $90.66. That’s not a market - that’s a whisper.

Its all-time high was $0.0017 in late May 2024. Since then, it’s lost over 98% of its value. The market cap? Between $15,000 and $50,000 depending on the site. For context, Shiba Inu (SHIB) has a market cap of $12.9 billion. ANIME is a speck.

There are about 93,430 wallets holding ANIME, according to CoinMarketCap. But here’s the twist: that number doesn’t mean much. Experts suspect many wallets are controlled by just a few people. If 10 wallets hold 80% of the supply, then the "community" is really just a handful of early adopters. And if those wallets stop trading, the price drops to zero overnight.

Why Does ANIME Even Exist?

Most crypto projects promise something: faster transactions, better privacy, DeFi yields, or gaming. ANIME promises none of that. Its official tagline says it all: "We are not a memecoin but a movement coin. Community built. Community run. Community grown. No VCs. No influencers. No utility. Just art and $ANIME."

This is rare. Most meme coins - like Dogecoin or Floki Inu - at least have memes, influencers, or a joke that spreads. ANIME has nothing but art. The community doesn’t talk about price. They talk about Studio Ghibli, One Piece, and pixel art. The Discord server has nearly 10,000 members. Most posts are fan art, anime recommendations, or memes. The token? Almost never mentioned.

It’s like a digital fan club that decided to mint its own currency. Not to make money. But to say: "We exist. And this is ours." A lone figure in cyberwear reflects fan art on their visor, facing a screen with the ANIME contract address in a rain-soaked city.

How Do You Get ANIME?

You can’t buy it on Coinbase, Binance, or Kraken. It’s not listed on any major centralized exchange. To get ANIME, you need a Web3 wallet - like MetaMask - connected to the Base network. Then, you go to a decentralized exchange (DEX) like BaseSwap. You manually enter the contract address: 0x0e0c9756a3290cD782CF4aB73ac24D25291c9564. Then, you swap ETH for ANIME.

But here’s the catch: liquidity is near zero. Slippage settings need to be 10-15% just to complete a trade. Many users report failed transactions. Others say they can’t sell their ANIME because no one’s buying. It’s a classic trap: easy to buy, nearly impossible to exit.

And gas fees? You’re paying in ETH. So if ANIME drops to $0.000001, you still need ETH to trade it. That’s why many holders just sit on it - not because they believe in the price, but because they don’t want to lose money on fees.

Is ANIME a Good Investment?

Let’s be clear: ANIME is not an investment. It’s a cultural artifact. Professional analysts are blunt. CryptoRank’s Marko Kostic called it "hyper-niche with virtually no utility." Blockchain Research Institute’s Sarah Chen warned it "represents the speculative extreme of the crypto market."

Delphi Digital’s January 2025 report said tokens like ANIME with trading volumes under $100 daily have a 99.7% chance of becoming completely illiquid within 18 months. That’s not a prediction - it’s a pattern. Over 15,000 tokens were launched on Base in 2024. Only 12% still trade above $1,000 daily. ANIME is below that line.

There’s no development team. No GitHub. No roadmap. No updates since the airdrop. If you’re buying ANIME hoping for a pump, you’re betting on a ghost.

An abandoned Discord terminal displays anime memes and a single glowing ANIME token, surrounded by manga and coffee cups.

What Makes ANIME Different?

Compare it to other anime-themed tokens. Monsta Infinite (MONI) has a playable game. Floki Inu (FLOKI) has a pet NFT ecosystem. Even Shiba Inu has a metaverse and a charity arm. ANIME has none of that. It doesn’t even have a logo everyone agrees on. The community uses dozens of fan-made designs.

Its only advantage? Authenticity. There’s no VC funding. No influencer shilling. No paid marketing. The only people promoting it are fans who got the token for free and chose to keep it. That’s unusual in crypto - where everything is sold, promoted, and monetized.

It’s the opposite of a pump-and-dump. It’s a slow fade. A quiet persistence. People hold it because they love anime. Not because they think it’ll make them rich.

What’s the Future of ANIME?

There is no official future. No announcements. No partnerships. No plans. The team behind it vanished after the airdrop. The Discord server still exists - but now it’s mostly anime fans chatting about new seasons of Demon Slayer or recommending retro manga.

Cultural economist Dr. Lena Rodriguez studied this phenomenon in late 2024. She found that anime communities often outlast their financial projects. "The token may die," she said, "but the community won’t. The art, the memes, the shared joy - those stay."

So ANIME might become a relic. A digital artifact from the "Base Summer" of 2024 - when hundreds of meme coins flooded the network. Most are already gone. ANIME might be the last one standing - not because it’s valuable, but because it meant something to people.

Final Thoughts

ANIME coin isn’t meant to be held for profit. It’s meant to be held as a badge. A symbol. A quiet rebellion against crypto’s obsession with utility and returns. If you’re an anime fan who got it during the airdrop - you already won. You’re part of a community that chose art over profit.

If you’re thinking of buying it now? Don’t. Not because it’s a scam - but because there’s no reason to. You won’t make money. You’ll just pay gas fees. And if you do buy it? Don’t expect to sell. Just enjoy the art. Talk about your favorite anime. And forget about the price.

Is ANIME coin a scam?

ANIME isn’t a scam in the traditional sense - there’s no fake team, no rug pull, and no promise of returns. The creators gave away all the tokens for free. But it’s also not a legitimate investment. With zero trading volume, no development, and no utility, it’s a high-risk cultural experiment with almost no chance of recovery. Treat it like a collectible, not a currency.

Can I buy ANIME on Coinbase or Binance?

No. ANIME is not listed on any major centralized exchange like Coinbase, Binance, or Kraken. The only way to buy it is through decentralized exchanges (DEXs) on the Base blockchain, like BaseSwap. You need a Web3 wallet, the contract address, and enough ETH to pay gas fees. Even then, liquidity is so low that trades often fail.

Why is ANIME’s price so different across websites?

Because there’s almost no trading. Different platforms pull price data from the same illiquid DEX trades, which can vary wildly based on single transactions. A $100 trade can spike the price temporarily. That’s why CoinMarketCap shows $0.000011 while Coinbase shows $0.000052. Neither is wrong - they’re both seeing noise, not a real market.

How many people hold ANIME?

Over 93,000 wallets hold ANIME, according to CoinMarketCap. But experts believe most of these are controlled by a small number of early holders. The token distribution isn’t spread out - it’s concentrated. That means a few wallets could dump their holdings at any time, crashing the price instantly.

Is ANIME still active?

The token itself is inactive. No updates, no team, no roadmap. But the community - especially on Discord - is still active. People use it to talk about anime, share fan art, and recommend new shows. The token’s value is gone, but the community lives on. That’s the real legacy of ANIME.