In the vast and ever-expanding universe of cryptocurrencies,
few stories capture the whimsical origins of the meme coin movement as vividly
as that of Bellscoin ($BEL). Before the world knew Dogecoin and its
meme-infused journey to the crypto mainstream, there was Bellscoin—a project
that not only paved the way for its more famous successor but also stands as a
contender for the title of the first-ever meme coin.
The Creation of Bellscoin ($BEL)
Bellscoin was the brainchild of Billy Markus, a software
engineer who later gained fame as the co-creator of Dogecoin. The concept for
Bellscoin was inspired by the popular video game series "Animal
Crossing," in which the in-game currency is known as "bells."
Markus saw potential in creating a digital currency that captured the charm and
appeal of the game, which was beloved for its gentle pace and
community-oriented gameplay.
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Launched quietly and with little fanfare on the bitcointalk forum in November of 2013, Bellscoin aimed to mirror the playful spirit of "Animal Crossing" by offering a cryptocurrency that was not only fun but accessible to non-technical users. Despite its novel concept and an early foray into the territory of meme-driven digital currencies, Bellscoin failed to gain significant traction or a lasting community base.
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Bellscoin was based on the Scrypt algorithm. Scrypt is a cryptographic
algorithm that is used as a proof-of-work scheme by many cryptocurrencies. It
was chosen because it is less susceptible to hardware mining optimizations such
as ASICs (Application-Specific Integrated Circuits), allowing more
decentralized mining by individuals using consumer-grade hardware like GPUs and
CPUs. This approach was similar to other early altcoins like Litecoin, from
which many early Scrypt-based coins were derived or forked, aiming to be more
accessible to the general public than Bitcoin, which by that time was beginning
to see a rise in ASIC mining dominance.
Top of Form
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Legacy and Influence
The lack of initial widespread adoption for Bellscoin,
however, does not diminish its role as a precursor to the meme coin genre. The
ideas and themes explored by Markus with Bellscoin would soon find a much
larger audience with his next project. Frustrated but undeterred by the tepid
response to Bellscoin, Markus teamed up with Jackson Palmer, who proposed using
a popular meme as the mascot for a new cryptocurrency. This collaboration
resulted in the creation of Dogecoin, which featured the Shiba Inu from the
"Doge" meme and quickly became a viral sensation.
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Dogecoin’s success highlighted the potent mix of humor,
internet culture, and cryptocurrency, proving that a playful approach could
indeed capture the imagination of investors and enthusiasts alike. While
Dogecoin soared in popularity and market cap, the foundational experiment by
Markus with Bellscoin marked a significant, if underrecognized, moment in
crypto history.
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Bellscoin as the First Meme Coin?
Considering Bellscoin’s thematic use of a video game element
and its intent to inject a sense of fun into the cryptocurrency space, it can
be argued that Bellscoin represents the first iteration of what would become
known as meme coins. While it did not initially achieve the lasting fame
or financial success of subsequent meme coins, Bellscoin’s attempt to blend pop
culture with digital currency was a harbinger of trends that would explode in
popularity years later.
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Bellscoin 2023/2024 Revival
The seemingly forgotten token Bellscoin, got its revival beginning last year and the excitement and development have not seemed to stop but are only increasing in speed and volume of both users and hash resulting in literal network congestion and freeze-ups.
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The initial idea to resurrect Bells is said to have come from Emblem Vault strategist Adam McBride.
Adam was inspired following Dogecoin’s tenth birthday on December 5 so he duly went on a fact-finding brigade, uncovering Markus’ announcement of Bellscoin from the Bitcoin Talk forum, which detailed the memecoin based upon the Animal Crossing social simulation Nintendo game.
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Adam also noted that Bells failed to gain traction as early users opted for Dogecoin instead. Digging some more showed that various versions of Bells existed, including a community fork and an Ethereum-based version, all of which faded into obscurity over time.
Intrigued by the prospect of restarting Bells, McBride recruited “uber dev” Luke Wright to connect nodes to the original Bells blockchain and get the code up and running again.
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McBride informed the crypto community that Wright was successful and encouraged followers to start mining BEL by providing instructions.
The word on Bells spread far enough to alert creator Billy Markus of the situation. Markus LOL’d at the news by detailing Bell’s obscurity and perceived inferiority in those early days of crypto memecoins. While initially entertained by the homage paid to Bells, Markus did raise some functionality issues stemming from Bells and Dogecoin originally using the same genesis block name.
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Nonetheless, the Bells creator appreciated McBride’s efforts to revive his retro game-inspired creation.
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Currently, Bellscoin communities are rapidly growing on Discord, Telegram, X/Twitter, and Reddit, while work is being done in the background to offer merged-hash otherwise known as merged-mining to secure and support the network via Doge and Litecoin miner support.
Tokenomics & MCAP of Bellscoin
Ticker: $BEL
| Market Cap | $7,481,089 |
|----|----|
| Fully Diluted Valuation | $7,481,089 |
| 24-Hour Trading Vol | $202,885 |
| Circulating Supply | 14,832,024 |
| Total Supply | 14,832,024 |
| Max Supply | 500,000,000 |
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Conclusion
Today, as new meme coins enter the market at lightning speed, riding the waves of internet trends and celebrity tweets, it's important to look to the past…because you never know what you might find ???
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Could Bellscoin become the new billion-dollar meme coin of 2024?
