The Rise of MEME Tokens: Prelude to a New Landscape in the Crypto Market

The rise of DOGE in 2021 marked the emergence of MEME Tokens, while the explosion of MEME in 2024 signals a shift in market investment logic. Today, MEME has become a mainstream investment category favored by investment institutions and market funds.

Originating from Internet Culture

The origin of MEME predates blockchain technology; it was born out of internet culture. Most of the currently successful MEME projects emerged after the rise of social interaction on the internet. These projects represent the communication and exchange generated globally through the internet and are a manifestation of "grassroots culture" online.

MEME is everywhere, and behind every MEME is a captivating story. These stories spread across the internet to the world, bringing a sense of belonging to people, which is a key reason why MEMEs become widely popular. MEME mainly germinates and spreads on social platforms, chat apps, and forums, becoming an important way for people to express opinions and vent emotions.

MEME expresses people's thoughts in specific online scenarios through simple means such as short texts, innovative words, images, and memes. Its strong virality makes even those who are unfamiliar with MEME eager to explore and integrate. A sense of belonging is the core value of MEME and is the main driving force behind the rise in MEME Token prices.

The Collision of MEME and Blockchain

Blockchain technology has given value to many intangible assets, and MEME is no exception. Early Bitcoin can also be seen as a kind of MEME to some extent. With the popularity of Bitcoin, a large number of worthless altcoins have emerged, causing chaos in the market. The birth of DOGE was precisely to satirize this phenomenon.

The proliferation of altcoins during the bull market in 2017 and the chaos in the market (ICO disorder) laid the foundation for the second rise of DOGE. This was also an important factor for DOGE to gain market recognition again in 2021. Dog-themed MEME projects like SHIB began to emerge, and MEME entered the 2.0 era.

In this round of上涨 in 2024, the market chaos has transformed into the overvaluation of VC coins and numerous "value" projects engaging in PUA for users, leading to the resurgence of MEME. The sluggishness of the mainstream market reflects, to some extent, the resistance of underlying investors against VC coins and the phenomenon of cutting韭菜. Meanwhile, the fair distribution and price performance of MEME have precisely addressed this pain point, naturally attracting significant attention, and MEME has thus entered the 3.0 era.

Characteristics of Potential MEME

Not all MEME have investment value. Like the chaos in mainstream coins, the MEME sector also has projects of varying quality. For ordinary investors, identifying potential MEME projects is crucial. We can summarize some characteristics by analyzing past successful MEME projects:

1. DOGE: Obtained through mining, with a large early supply and low price, suitable for online tipping. Supports multiple social platforms and has sponsored some sports events.

2. SHIB: Themed around Shiba Inu, it adopts a Fair Launch issuance method. It has a large entertainment attribute and is continuously developing, launching DEX, BONE Token, and mainnet, striving to become a "value coin".

3. PEPE: Issued based on the internet-famous comic frog Pepe. In addition to the Token, there are also emoticons, animations, etc., which have a strong user base. It has added a deflationary mechanism and redistribution mechanism, attracting the attention of investors and market makers.

4. WIF: A dog-themed MEME Token on Solana. It features low cost and fast transfer speed, with the creator's balance set to 0 to ensure decentralization. Endorsed by celebrities, it stands out among many dog coins.

5. PUFF: A MEME project on the Mantle chain aimed at the mETH community. Users obtain PUFF by using mETH to mint mysterious potions and establish AMM pools for free exchange. Large purchases by well-known traders have made it a focal point.

The Common Points of Successful MEME

1. Distribution methods and low-threshold participation: From power mining to fair distribution, allowing community users to participate at a low cost and accumulate a large user base.

2. Extension of value aspects: Gradually shifting from early internet culture uses to more value aspects, such as SHIB's Swap, PEPE's deflationary mechanism, etc.

3. Celebrity effect and funding support: Promotion by celebrities, KOLs, or public figures, as well as funding support from investment institutions.

4. Price Performance: The price increase has allowed retail investors to profit, further enhancing the influence of the MEME Token.

5. Development Path: In contrast to VC coins with high financing, having institutions take over from retail investors is an important mark of MEME's success.

Development Goals of MEME Coin

Successful MEME coins do not rely solely on hype. Economic models and application scenarios are crucial for long-term development. For example, the PUFF project has attracted a large amount of funding through mETH incentives, becoming a leading DeFi project in the Mantle ecosystem. Additionally, PUFF plans to introduce GameFi elements to attract large investors and institutions through staking and gameplay.

This indicates that the MEME project team has begun to focus on long-term development rather than short-term speculation. As an early promotional tool, MEME can quickly gather crowds and funds, but to achieve long-term development, empowerment and planning are essential factors.

Conclusion

MEME Token has gained recognition from numerous investors, leveraging humor and internet culture as a user base, making it easier to generate a sense of identification. This is a low-cost and quick way to penetrate the user market and establish project communities, with the potential to become a major grassroots project's cold start strategy.

However, projects that rely solely on the MEME concept find it difficult to sustain development. Mid-term technological follow-up is crucial for attracting the attention of investment institutions and exchanges, the "regular forces." In this process, chips may gradually shift from retail investors to institutions, driving the transformation and growth of the project. After making profits, retail investors usually develop a greater sense of identity with MEME culture, creating a positive flywheel effect that helps MEME further break out.