Author | defioasis
Editor | Colin Wu
Note: This article only reflects on the Meme craze, does not constitute any investment advice, and does not endorse any project.
VCs and retail investors are not willing to take over each other, and conflicts between project owners and community users over airdrops and anti-sybil are intensifying. In addition, liquidity in the circle is not ideal, and Meme has become a solution. Recently, as Bitcoin rebounded to over $66,000, the token type with the largest trading volume on Binance is still MEMECOINS. The top ten trading volumes are BTC, ETH, PEPE, SOL, FLOKI, WIF, DOGE, BNB, BOME and SHIB, six of which are MEMECOINS.
These past two days, I have been thinking about those memes that have a higher market value, such as the original DOGE and this round of PEPE. The reasons for their popularity are inseparable from but not limited to the following five elements: cultural foundation, simplicity and recognizability, entertainment and humor, low threshold for secondary creation, and promotion by super influencers and soul figures.
(Note: It is necessary to point out that this does not apply to MEME in the 0-1 stage, but may be more appropriate for MEME in the 10-100 stage)
- Cultural foundation: The images of Pepe and Doge have long been popular in Internet culture and have accumulated a large fan base on various social platforms. The crypto community is often composed of young and active Internet users who grew up with the development of the Internet. They are familiar with these emoticons and are happy to incorporate them into new trends.
For example, the origin of Doge's popularity in the Internet circle can be traced back to a photo of Shiba Inu Kabosu in February 2010; in December 2010, Doge Meme became popular on Reddit and combined with broken English phrases; in 2013, various Doge emoticons frequently appeared, and the influence of Doge Meme was already very large. In December 2013, Dogecoin (DOGE) was born based on a joke idea.
Pepe is even earlier and more complicated. It can be traced back to Matt Furie's comic "Boys Club" in 2005. The most classic line is "feels good man"; later, this line was given more things, such as the sad frog "feels bad man". In 2008, Pepe became popular on the 4chan forum and was made into various emoticons. Around 2014, Pepe basically covered all mainstream social media. However, Pepe was later given some political metaphors and encountered a lot of controversy, which also made Pepe's image very complicated; in 2017-2019, Matt Furie and the Pepe community were committed to getting back to the source and trying to return Pepe to its origin and original intention.
In April 2023, Memecoin PEPE was launched, with early support from NFT communities such as Milady NFT holders and Chinese in Dubai. Later, Pauly, co-founder of Not Larva Labs, made some accusations against the PEPE team, as well as internal strife within the PEPE team and the treasury being stolen to sell coins. Although PEPE is much later than DOGE in the history of tokens and there are some controversies, PEPE eventually became the third largest Memecoin after DOGE and SHIB.
- Simple and recognizable: This should go without saying. When you think of Doge and Pepe, those emojis will come to mind and you will understand them instantly. These emojis are highly recognizable and memorable, easy to spread, and can be immediately distinguished from others visually.
- Entertainment and humor: Meme itself should be humorous and entertaining, and Memecoin should also inherit this feature, not only for investment returns, but also for the fun of it. This relaxed atmosphere can more easily attract outsiders, novices and young investors. Therefore, in terms of the first two rounds of bull markets, it may not be value coins or applications that attract a large number of users into the circle, but Memecoins such as DOGE and SHIB.
Assuming that there is no Crypto honeypot on the market, choosing a Meme should be based on appearance - that is, the most intuitive impression, whether you can be attracted by the fun and community spirit in it without thinking too much and feel happy.
- Low threshold for secondary creation: The notable feature of memes is that the threshold for making emoticons or secondary creations is very low, allowing users to spread them quickly and attract a large number of participants to join the creation, and then continue to radiate and spread. Most memes have a fixed image or template, and users only need to change part of the content; there are many free online tools and applications dedicated to making and sharing memes, which simplify the creation process of memes; secondary creation memes are not only a form of entertainment, but also can convey personal views and emotions, and reflect the living conditions of people in different eras.
Every secondary creation is giving Meme a new core, and the reason why Meme becomes a Memecoin is that Meme continues to absorb new culture in the process of development - incorporating elements of Crypto and blockchain, allowing culture to become a cultural asset transmitted at the financial level.
However, due to the easy spread of memes, some people with ulterior motives may label secondary memes as political or extremist, thus causing certain social harm. These corrections require the joint efforts of super influencers, key figures, and the community.
- Super influencers and key figures promote: Social influencers play an important role in promoting and spreading Memes. As long as the Memecoins are related to them, they will be driven. In particular, celebrities and public figures in the Internet and various traditional industries mention or promote these Memes on social media, which will quickly attract market attention and hype. For example, Musk mentioned Dogecoin on Twitter many times, which directly affected its market price and popularity. At one point, some people even gave Musk the title of market manipulator; Musk posted a photo of a dog wearing a hat on Twitter, which caused WIF to soar.
In addition, the spread and success of Meme in some cases will be driven by individual key figures or so-called soul figures. This soul figure is similar to the role of a certain sect leader. For example, Roaring Kitty, the soul figure of "Retail Investors vs. Wall Street", suddenly became active on social media after nearly three years, causing GameStop to soar and triggering six circuit breakers during the trading session; Pepe creator Matt Furie may not have intended to promote Pepe to become the main promoter of Meme, but in the "Save Pepe" campaign from 2017 to 2019, Matt Furie played an indelible role in maintaining and reshaping Pepe's image; Ansem continues to market and output WIF.
The combination of Internet pop culture and Crypto has made Meme have a significant impact on the financial level. Meme culture brings entertainment into investment behavior, allowing more users who resonate with Meme culture to enter Crypto at a lower cost. However, it is still necessary to remind you that Memecoin is a high-risk and volatile target. Identity may be a prerequisite for investment, but it is not a guarantee of investment. Investors are advised to be rational when participating in Memecoin.
