Quickly Understanding the Hype Around Meme Coin PUPS on Bitcoin

Author: MONK

Translation: TechFlow

This article primarily introduces $PUPS, a recently popular Bitcoin meme coin. I will cover Ordinals and Runes, while also touching upon Bitcoin Puppets.

$PUPS is a token即将 on the Runes protocol (a Pre-Rune).

Bitcoin Puppets, created by uofreetepuppel, is an Ordinals collection consisting of inscriptions etched onto satoshis. The two projects have no official connection whatsoever.

uofreetepuppel has explicitly stated that there will be no official roadmap or commercial development efforts for the Puppets.

What are Runes and Ordinals?

You really should know this by now, but in case you need a refresher:

Ordinals are inscriptions of arbitrary data—such as text, images, or videos—engraved onto individual satoshis (the smallest possible unit of bitcoin, akin to quarks in physics).

When introduced in 2023, this represented a paradigm shift for $BTC.

As an Ethereum supporter, I felt somewhat betrayed. So Bitcoin wasn't just a store of value after all?

While personally frustrated, I must acknowledge this is highly innovative—one of the coolest things to happen in crypto.

In fact, these so-called "Bitcoin NFTs" could arguably be considered more non-fungible than Ethereum NFTs.

They are fully on-chain, permissionless, uncensored, and immutable. The creator of Ordinals actually prefers them to be called "digital artifacts."

Runes is a new protocol developed by the same team behind Ordinals (Casey).

Runes are more similar to ERC-20 tokens, enabled through a unique UTXO model that is more streamlined than BRC-20.

These are fungible tokens and will become the preferred standard for $BTC-based tokens.

Runes won't launch until after the halving.

However, Pups and other protocols destined to become Runes are launching now as Pre-Runes and will migrate to the Runes infrastructure at launch.

Essentially, Ordinals (Bitcoin Puppets) are NFTs, while Runes ($PUPS) are equivalent to ERC-20 tokens.

But if Bitcoin Puppets and PUPS are unrelated, why are they often referred to as part of the same ecosystem?

Pups was inspired by Puppets. While structurally separate projects, their communities significantly overlap.

Given the quirky, volatile—and nearly manic—culture surrounding Puppets, Pups positions itself as Bitcoin’s first true meme coin.

To honor their inspiration, Pups conducted an airdrop of $PUPS to holders of both Puppets and O.P.I.U.M (the latter being another collectible series created by uofreetepuppel).

Currently, there are three versions of $PUPS, which will converge into the official $PUPS Rune after the halving.

The first consists of actual sats/PUPS listed on various exchanges, primarily Unisat.

Think of this as a direct liquidity pre-sale allocation for the Rune.

The second version is an Ordinals NFT collection airdropped to Puppets and O.P.I.U.M. holders.

These also represent an allocation, typically priced within a defined range.

The third version is the $PUPS token on $SOL. These are cross-chain synthetic assets that are, in essence, identical in value.

Obvious arbitrage opportunities continue to emerge, highlighting inefficiencies in the crypto market. But all versions offer exposure.

$PUPS surged over 1,000% last week as investors realized these are essentially Bitcoin’s first representative meme coin.

As a recipient of the Rune Pups airdrop, I’m extremely pleased.

The current estimated total market cap remains well below $1 billion, and Ansem's post illustrates how undervalued it currently is.