Author : TechFlow
These days, you must have seen the guy in the picture above a lot - with long hair, a big beard and glasses, he has a full rock and roll temperament.
His name is Murad Mahmudov. He was not considered a crypto KOL celebrity before, but with the intensive analysis and comments on him on the Internet in recent days, he has become the Meme Shill.
What made him famous was his speech "Meme Coin Super Cycle" at this year's Singapore 2049 Conference, which has been played 1.76 million times as of press time.
If you haven’t heard of this guy yet, you might as well watch this video. You will find that he is marketing Meme coins to you with extremely formal theories, detailed data, and determination that overflows the screen. The essence of his remarks is full of emotional value, and there is a taste of shocking words:
For example, the total market value of Meme coins will exceed one trillion US dollars, and Bitcoin will reach 200 trillion US dollars in 20 years. You need to subvert the investment logic to welcome this new cycle and embrace Meme...
The speech itself has attracted many people, but few people have mentioned Murad's past:
From learning Chinese to entering the crypto world, from setting up a hedge fund and going bankrupt to becoming a Meme CX master, to his wallet address being exposed, he suspected that his "butt determines his head" and called people to get on board...
We have compiled more information to give you a quick understanding of the past and present of the new King of Shill.
Learning Chinese started with OKcoin
At first, Murad was not a crypto person.
He grew up in Azerbaijan and moved to the United States to study at the age of 16, and later went to Princeton University; his story began similarly to that of most teenagers who came to study with the American dream.
But what’s interesting is that according to an exclusive interview with Blockworks, Murad revealed that he started learning Chinese and French during this period.
It was because of learning Chinese that he had the opportunity to stay in China for a year.
That year, Murad was 17 years old, and in 2013, Bitcoin experienced its largest annual increase to date, nearly 6,000%.
At the same time, veteran investors must know that China was undoubtedly the center of the crypto that year, and the country’s awareness of mining and Bitcoin gradually increased. In such an environment, Murad, in his own words in an interview, said:
“I was in the right place at the right time.”
In the foreign circle in Beijing, Murad met OKcoin's Employee No. 5, an American, and began to learn about cryptocurrency from him.
OKcoin is the predecessor of the current OKX.
Obviously, Murad was exposed to the crypto at an early stage; the "right time" he mentioned has another deeper meaning - he learned about encryption in China before the historic "94" crash in 2017, that is, before the bubble burst, and it had an impact on his subsequent life, views and work.
Later, Murad joined Goldman Sachs and became a consultant, but his early experiences deepened his understanding of BTC as a store of value.
Don’t forget that memes weren’t everywhere at that time, and the old consensus of “Bitcoin is gold, Litecoin is silver” was unbreakable.
Therefore, Murad should have originally belonged to the BitChurch, not to the Meme Cults.
Doing funds, being exposed during the epidemic
The turning point of fate came in 2017.
Although the entire crypto was in turmoil because of the 94 incident that year, Murad founded Adaptive Capital, a smaller crypto hedge fund company, in the same year.
If you use search engine image archaeology, you can still find the company's promotional page; Murad is responsible for investment and trading-related duties. If you don't take it too seriously, this position looks like a so-called "trader."
Being on the front line, Murad must have accumulated a lot of experience in trading and market observation.
But if you walk by the river often, you will get your feet wet. Especially when you are walking by the dangerous river of Cryptocurrency, which has an unpredictable mood and changes faster than the weather.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world and the international situation changed suddenly.
During the same period, the crypto market also experienced sharp rises and falls. Murad's Adaptive Capital suffered a huge blow after the price of Bitcoin fell by more than $1,000 on March 13 of that year. The company also sent an open letter to all investors, telling everyone that the fund would be closed and planned to return the remaining capital to its limited partners.
Adaptive Capital blamed it on the fact that CEX stopped its service when the price plummeted, which made it impossible to operate positions in time and led to liquidation:
“Some of the respected exchanges we use every day stopped operating during the sell-off, severely hampering our ability to act accordingly.”
In the words of the leeks, it is the classic case of the exchange “pulling the plug”.
It is impossible to tell whether it was right or wrong, but as the head of trading and investment of the fund, Murad was obviously hit by the incident of pulling the plug on the network. This may have also laid the groundwork for him to switch to on-chain Meme and look for more on-chain opportunities in the future.
Super cycle, one lecture made you famous
In 2022, Murad was more active on social media and posted "I'm back."
He firmly believes that the industry will absorb more funds and believes that the bear market is the best time to plan for the next bull market.
It was around the same time that different memes began to emerge, and Murad noticed them.
Everyone knows the story that followed. The long-haired guy stood on the stage of 2049 and began a passionate speech on "Memecoin Supercycle", which triggered the entire CT to watch and discuss.
Before this, Murad’s story was not well known. But as the saying goes, “those who provide emotional value to everyone must have traffic”, Murad’s remarks in his speech made him gain extraordinary popularity, such as MEME will reach a market value of 1 trillion, and the price of Bitcoin will rush to 200 trillion US dollars in 20 years.
In this cycle, memes are rampant and memes continue to enter the top 50 in market capitalization. Murad's super cycle speech gives the rationality and legitimacy of each meme player's holdings, and he is not simply shill.
For example, he characterized most crypto tokens in a slightly academic but easy-to-understand way - if a token is neither a store of value nor a distribution of income, then it is a Memecoin.
To paraphrase Twitter user @0xWendy99:
"What makes this Princeton guy different is that his 'orthodoxy' is much stronger than Ansem's. His speech has the flavor of a regular army, 'tokenized community', 'tokens are products', memes are no longer vassal or inferior things, he uses theory to guide memes and uses systems to drive speculation, which makes retail investors call it high-end and institutions call it reasonable."
With his early trading experience and strong marketing skills, Murad became famous during the super cycle.
It’s lonely at the top, and the head depends on the butt?
When you are famous, you are often surrounded by gossip, and Murand is no exception.
After becoming an instant hit, Murad often shill and analyzed the quality and worthiness of various memes.
This move also makes people continue to doubt whether Murad is so determined to be a meme bull. Is there any profit factor behind it and is shill to sell?
The well-known on-chain detective ZachXBT was of course not absent, and a few days ago he dug out 11 wallet addresses that were suspected to be highly associated with Murad. These wallets held memes worth a total of approximately US$24 million on Ethereum and Solana.
Data shows that some of these addresses purchased a large amount of Meme coins SPX from June to August and received a return of more than 60 times in 4 months; this also coincides with the ranking of Meme coins recommended by Murad in a public post:
However, there is also a classic and correct statement circulating in the crypto:
It would be very stupid if you bought a coin and didn’t go to CX.
Murad's purchase of CX can be considered as unity of knowledge and action to some extent; as to whether it is a conspiracy to buy first and then call on the leeks to get on board and carry the sedan chair, or whether it is pure belief in the Meme cult and forcing everyone to believe in himself, it is a matter of opinion.
Currently, the community is also engaged in a heated debate over the detective's discovery of Murad's holding address.
Some Twitter users believe that ZachXBT's actions can prevent his followers from being dumped by him. Slorg, the project leader of the Solana tool Sol Incinerator, questioned: "Do you really think this stuff is hidden?", implying that this information is public and there is nothing wrong with digging it out.
There are also voices against exposing the cards:
Taproots Wizards co-founder Udi Wertheimer said it was crazy to publicly confiscate someone's wallet to deter potential wrongdoing; some users also disagreed with "drawing a target" on Murad in advance, especially when Murad had done nothing wrong.
Buying and selling tokens and conducting transactions is indeed not lawless in itself;
But it’s lonely at the top. When a CX bull suddenly has a lot of traffic and potential influence, people will inevitably target him, put him under a microscope, and try to dig out more information.
Whether it is for one's own traffic or to uphold justice and punish insider trading, when one is famous, there will inevitably be a lot of gossip, and it is naturally lonely at the top.
We cannot conclude whether Murad is simply a die-hard bull or a master of manipulating leeks, but he himself said in an interview: "For some tokens, I will definitely sell some at the end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026... But for other coins, I plan to hold them for a long time to cross the cycle."
But there is a saying that goes, the peak produces false supporters, and the dusk witnesses devout believers.
After a super cycle, time will tell whether the new king of shill Murad holds Meme or BTC.
These days, you must have seen the guy in the picture above a lot - with long hair, a big beard and glasses, he has a full rock and roll temperament.
His name is Murad Mahmudov. He was not considered a crypto KOL celebrity before, but with the intensive analysis and comments on him on the Internet in recent days, he has become the Meme Shill.
What made him famous was his speech "Meme Coin Super Cycle" at this year's Singapore 2049 Conference, which has been played 1.76 million times as of press time.
If you haven’t heard of this guy yet, you might as well watch this video. You will find that he is marketing Meme coins to you with extremely formal theories, detailed data, and determination that overflows the screen. The essence of his remarks is full of emotional value, and there is a taste of shocking words:
For example, the total market value of Meme coins will exceed one trillion US dollars, and Bitcoin will reach 200 trillion US dollars in 20 years. You need to subvert the investment logic to welcome this new cycle and embrace Meme...
The speech itself has attracted many people, but few people have mentioned Murad's past:
From learning Chinese to entering the crypto world, from setting up a hedge fund and going bankrupt to becoming a Meme CX master, to his wallet address being exposed, he suspected that his "butt determines his head" and called people to get on board...
We have compiled more information to give you a quick understanding of the past and present of the new King of Shill.
Learning Chinese started with OKcoin
At first, Murad was not a crypto person.
He grew up in Azerbaijan and moved to the United States to study at the age of 16, and later went to Princeton University; his story began similarly to that of most teenagers who came to study with the American dream.
But what’s interesting is that according to an exclusive interview with Blockworks, Murad revealed that he started learning Chinese and French during this period.
It was because of learning Chinese that he had the opportunity to stay in China for a year.
That year, Murad was 17 years old, and in 2013, Bitcoin experienced its largest annual increase to date, nearly 6,000%.
At the same time, veteran investors must know that China was undoubtedly the center of the crypto that year, and the country’s awareness of mining and Bitcoin gradually increased. In such an environment, Murad, in his own words in an interview, said:
“I was in the right place at the right time.”
In the foreign circle in Beijing, Murad met OKcoin's Employee No. 5, an American, and began to learn about cryptocurrency from him.
OKcoin is the predecessor of the current OKX.
Obviously, Murad was exposed to the crypto at an early stage; the "right time" he mentioned has another deeper meaning - he learned about encryption in China before the historic "94" crash in 2017, that is, before the bubble burst, and it had an impact on his subsequent life, views and work.
Later, Murad joined Goldman Sachs and became a consultant, but his early experiences deepened his understanding of BTC as a store of value.
Don’t forget that memes weren’t everywhere at that time, and the old consensus of “Bitcoin is gold, Litecoin is silver” was unbreakable.
Therefore, Murad should have originally belonged to the BitChurch, not to the Meme Cults.
Doing funds, being exposed during the epidemic
The turning point of fate came in 2017.
Although the entire crypto was in turmoil because of the 94 incident that year, Murad founded Adaptive Capital, a smaller crypto hedge fund company, in the same year.
If you use search engine image archaeology, you can still find the company's promotional page; Murad is responsible for investment and trading-related duties. If you don't take it too seriously, this position looks like a so-called "trader."
Being on the front line, Murad must have accumulated a lot of experience in trading and market observation.
But if you walk by the river often, you will get your feet wet. Especially when you are walking by the dangerous river of Cryptocurrency, which has an unpredictable mood and changes faster than the weather.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world and the international situation changed suddenly.
During the same period, the crypto market also experienced sharp rises and falls. Murad's Adaptive Capital suffered a huge blow after the price of Bitcoin fell by more than $1,000 on March 13 of that year. The company also sent an open letter to all investors, telling everyone that the fund would be closed and planned to return the remaining capital to its limited partners.
Adaptive Capital blamed it on the fact that CEX stopped its service when the price plummeted, which made it impossible to operate positions in time and led to liquidation:
“Some of the respected exchanges we use every day stopped operating during the sell-off, severely hampering our ability to act accordingly.”
In the words of the leeks, it is the classic case of the exchange “pulling the plug”.
It is impossible to tell whether it was right or wrong, but as the head of trading and investment of the fund, Murad was obviously hit by the incident of pulling the plug on the network. This may have also laid the groundwork for him to switch to on-chain Meme and look for more on-chain opportunities in the future.
Super cycle, one lecture made you famous
In 2022, Murad was more active on social media and posted "I'm back."
He firmly believes that the industry will absorb more funds and believes that the bear market is the best time to plan for the next bull market.
It was around the same time that different memes began to emerge, and Murad noticed them.
Everyone knows the story that followed. The long-haired guy stood on the stage of 2049 and began a passionate speech on "Memecoin Supercycle", which triggered the entire CT to watch and discuss.
Before this, Murad’s story was not well known. But as the saying goes, “those who provide emotional value to everyone must have traffic”, Murad’s remarks in his speech made him gain extraordinary popularity, such as MEME will reach a market value of 1 trillion, and the price of Bitcoin will rush to 200 trillion US dollars in 20 years.
In this cycle, memes are rampant and memes continue to enter the top 50 in market capitalization. Murad's super cycle speech gives the rationality and legitimacy of each meme player's holdings, and he is not simply shill.
For example, he characterized most crypto tokens in a slightly academic but easy-to-understand way - if a token is neither a store of value nor a distribution of income, then it is a Memecoin.
To paraphrase Twitter user @0xWendy99:
"What makes this Princeton guy different is that his 'orthodoxy' is much stronger than Ansem's. His speech has the flavor of a regular army, 'tokenized community', 'tokens are products', memes are no longer vassal or inferior things, he uses theory to guide memes and uses systems to drive speculation, which makes retail investors call it high-end and institutions call it reasonable."
With his early trading experience and strong marketing skills, Murad became famous during the super cycle.
It’s lonely at the top, and the head depends on the butt?
When you are famous, you are often surrounded by gossip, and Murand is no exception.
After becoming an instant hit, Murad often shill and analyzed the quality and worthiness of various memes.
This move also makes people continue to doubt whether Murad is so determined to be a meme bull. Is there any profit factor behind it and is shill to sell?
The well-known on-chain detective ZachXBT was of course not absent, and a few days ago he dug out 11 wallet addresses that were suspected to be highly associated with Murad. These wallets held memes worth a total of approximately US$24 million on Ethereum and Solana.
Data shows that some of these addresses purchased a large amount of Meme coins SPX from June to August and received a return of more than 60 times in 4 months; this also coincides with the ranking of Meme coins recommended by Murad in a public post:
However, there is also a classic and correct statement circulating in the crypto:
It would be very stupid if you bought a coin and didn’t go to CX.
Murad's purchase of CX can be considered as unity of knowledge and action to some extent; as to whether it is a conspiracy to buy first and then call on the leeks to get on board and carry the sedan chair, or whether it is pure belief in the Meme cult and forcing everyone to believe in himself, it is a matter of opinion.
Currently, the community is also engaged in a heated debate over the detective's discovery of Murad's holding address.
Some Twitter users believe that ZachXBT's actions can prevent his followers from being dumped by him. Slorg, the project leader of the Solana tool Sol Incinerator, questioned: "Do you really think this stuff is hidden?", implying that this information is public and there is nothing wrong with digging it out.
There are also voices against exposing the cards:
Taproots Wizards co-founder Udi Wertheimer said it was crazy to publicly confiscate someone's wallet to deter potential wrongdoing; some users also disagreed with "drawing a target" on Murad in advance, especially when Murad had done nothing wrong.
Buying and selling tokens and conducting transactions is indeed not lawless in itself;
But it’s lonely at the top. When a CX bull suddenly has a lot of traffic and potential influence, people will inevitably target him, put him under a microscope, and try to dig out more information.
Whether it is for one's own traffic or to uphold justice and punish insider trading, when one is famous, there will inevitably be a lot of gossip, and it is naturally lonely at the top.
We cannot conclude whether Murad is simply a die-hard bull or a master of manipulating leeks, but he himself said in an interview: "For some tokens, I will definitely sell some at the end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026... But for other coins, I plan to hold them for a long time to cross the cycle."
But there is a saying that goes, the peak produces false supporters, and the dusk witnesses devout believers.
After a super cycle, time will tell whether the new king of shill Murad holds Meme or BTC.
