Original editor: Wu Blockchain
Recently, the well-known on-chain trader HAZE was given the nickname "stupid dog" because his account, which was used to trade meme, lost $350,000. In this podcast, we talked with him about the process of trading meme and the professional meme on-chain tool GMGN that he participated in founding. With the booming meme market, GMGN, an internally incubated product, has become a sought-after project, with very impressive daily revenue. Whether GMGN will create a "Stupid Index" based on HAZE's experience and its future development plan is also a focus of this podcast discussion.
According to Dune's data dashboard by @adam_tehc, the on-chain MEME trading tool GMGN reached its current trading volume peak on November 17, with a single-day trading volume of $72 million, second only to PHOTON ($330 million), and surpassing BULLX ($67 million). This product line ranks second, with a single-day fee income of $710,000 and a single-day user count of 25,000.
Please note that the content of this article represents the personal views of the interviewee and does not represent the views of Wu Blockchain. Wu Blockchain does not endorse any tokens or projects. Readers should strictly abide by the laws and regulations of their local jurisdiction. On-chain tools have significant security risks, and readers are advised to use them with caution.
The audio recording was generated by GPT, so there may be some errors. Please listen to the full podcast:Xiao Yu Zhou | YouTube
Why was HAZE called the "Stupid" of Memecoin?
Colin: Hello everyone, welcome to our podcast, and this time it's our old friend HAZE. He's been making waves on Twitter recently, and this is a relatively relaxed topic. HAZE, why don't you start by telling us why you were called the "Stupid Index" in the Memecoin trading circle?
HAZE: Hello everyone, I'm HAZE, an advisor to the GMGN project. The so-called "stupid" is actually very simple, it's just constantly on-chain meme, all kinds of rushing, big money rushing, small money rushing. But I think, to break the existing mindset, you still have to pay the tuition fee. If you take the traditional secondary market bag-holding mindset or the value coin investment mindset to play Memecoin, you will basically be beaten to death. In the end, the tuition fee that should be paid was not a penny less, all paid to the on-chain, becoming the liquidity of the various meme group friends. That's why I lost $350,000. But this account was the earliest one used to on-chain meme, it's a typical "tuition fee account". Recently, I'm still making money. If I can't make money recently, then I'm really a stupid one, haha.
The Origin and Naming of the GMGN Product
Colin: I remember that when we talked before, Memecoin wasn't that hot yet, and you guys had already started working on this product, right? Can you tell me a bit about the history of this product?
HAZE: That's right. Last year, because I'm quite interested in following new products, my entire investment mindset is product-driven. During the DeFi era, my investments went quite smoothly, but the performance of value coins has been poor this year. So I've been looking for new narratives. But originally, I saw the UniBot product. It solved the transaction speed problem for users on the Ethereum chain, allowing users to get some early-stage costs of projects in advance. I felt that this product solved some of the user's real needs, and the business model was also very good. But after experiencing it, I always felt that the TG Bot-type product is definitely not a mainstream user experience and feel.
So at the time, I was thinking, can we make a product with a great user experience, which can not only let everyone rush into projects quickly, but also make the entire visualization, experience data, and other aspects intuitive and smooth? In July last year, there was an independent team that had the ability to do this, but they asked me, what should the product be called? I said, let's call it GMGN.
In terms of naming, I think a good name is half the success. GMGN itself is a kind of Crypto native thing in the on-chain community. I wanted to use some community-originated vocabulary to name this product. I think GMGN is a very friendly, easy to remember, and simple name. When playing NFT at the time, people would often use greetings like GM (Good Morning) and GN (Good Night). So we hope this product is to provide an excellent user experience for the community users, and it is a friendly and approachable product, so we named it GMGN. Our slogan at the time was: GMGN, Degen everyday.
This is a very native slogan, hoping that everyone can open GMGN every day, rush on-chain, and make money at the same time. This is how the product positioning and name came about.
Migrated from Ethereum Chain to Solana, "Rat Nest" Feature Exploded
Colin: So how did you gradually develop from last year?
HAZE: Actually, we first entered the Ethereum chain. Because I was full of confidence in the Ethereum cycle at the time. At that time, Memecoins like MOG, as well as emerging coins like BITCOIN(HarryPotterObamaSonic 10 Bit), were on the rise. I felt that maybe we could do this thing based on the Ethereum chain? But in the process of doing it, we found that the user sentiment, asset issuance effect, and transaction speed problems on the Ethereum chain do exist some contradictions. The original pursuit was fast in and fast out, high risk and high return, but its transaction experience was not smooth enough, and there were still problems. So at that time, we started to consider whether we need to switch chains. Our target chain options included Blur's Blast, Coinbase's Base, and Solana.
Then in January, there was a wave of Solana heat. When I observed the trend of Solana at that time, I felt that Solana was more suitable. Because Solana is more mature compared to other chains, and it has existed for a longer time. After team discussion, we decided to prioritize entering Solana, while keeping Blast and Base as backups, and fully supporting a multi-chain model. That's how we entered Solana. However, in March during the BOME wave, we actually didn't get any dividends. Because our initial layout was still on Ethereum, we didn't deploy to Solana in the first time.
Later, around April or May, after GMGN was launched, I promoted it a bit on Twitter, and users gave good feedback on the dashboard feature. Users can constantly dig out smart money addresses in it, analyze the operations of large holders, and conduct address analysis and data analysis. At this stage, we gradually accumulated some seed users. With seed users, the update and iteration of product demand became more in line with the actual needs of users.
What really made GMGN widely popular was the "Rat Nest" feature. The inspiration for this feature came from user feedback and our own intuitive perception. The on-chain asset data is so transparent, we felt that this transparency should be better utilized. So we launched the Rat Nest labeling feature. For example, when users rush into a project, what they care most about is whether there is a Rat Nest in that project. After we added this feature, we can clearly mark which projects have Rat Nests.
In April and May this year, after the "Rat Nest" feature was launched, it further drove explosive growth on the basis of the good reputation of the smart money address feature. Many users in the community took screenshots to discuss how GMGN marks the Rat Nest data, such as how many Rat Nest addresses a project has. This level of discussion quickly increased the heat of GMGN.
The influx of more users also made our previous smart money address feature more popular. We clearly labeled the address data and even matched some information on Twitter. There are also user follow and note functions.
Many users started to write tutorials, such as "I found a smart money address, this address made so much money", and then share how to use GMGN for in-depth data mining. This kind of content posted on Twitter has surprisingly good results. So more and more creators started to make content based on GMGN's features. Whether in Chinese or English, when you search on Twitter now, many high-traffic posts are using GMGN's dashboard feature. At this stage, the heat of GMGN really started to explode.
Recently, as the Memecoin market has gradually heated up, more and more people have been recommending GMGN. In the last few days, GMGN's servers have been crashed 6 times in 4 days.
Colin: So you mean it was down for several days?
HAZE: Haha, yes, yes, yes. The server traffic has surged, and there is a high demand and high frequency use of GMGN for Memecoin trading. At that time, our R&D team basically didn't sleep, working overtime to expand capacity, but still couldn't keep up with the user's rush. As a result, the server was overloaded 6 times in just 4 days.
This was completely unexpected. Based on our operational experience, we have already made a lot of redundancy in traffic data. It can only be said that the heat of the Memecoin market has far exceeded our expectations, and it also proves the affirmation of GMGN products by everyone. I also want to thank all the users who use GMGN. It is your support that led to this result. Of course, we will continue to work hard to optimize the server.
Colin: What is the current user growth trend? Are there any milestone growth points?
HAZE: The overall data can actually be queried on the chain. Our data in the past half month shows that the trading volume has soared by 600%.
Colin: What is the current team size of GMGN? How many people are there?
HAZE: About 30 people.
Reviewing security incidents on other platforms, optimizing security solutions
Colin: Recently, a product had a security incident. What improvements will you make in security?
HAZE: There has been a lot of discussion about the security incident of a certain meme product recently, and various analyses and evidence have been released on Twitter. Based on the current information, first of all, it adopted a plaintext transmission method for private key transmission, which is basically no security protection at all. From the process of the theft that was exposed, the funds were transferred one-to-one from the user's address to the hacker's address, indicating that the server was likely hijacked. Because the private key is in plaintext, once the server is breached, the user's private key is completely exposed, and the hacker can easily transfer the funds.
Regardless of the situation, security is the top priority for custodial platforms. For products like TG Bot, custodying user private keys is equivalent to custodying user funds. If you do this, you need to take multiple technical measures to ensure security, such as encrypting private keys for storage, establishing a sound internal control system, and ensuring strict isolation between business servers and secure storage servers. You also need to ensure platform security through offline solutions and real-time monitoring.
Assuming the funds are actually stolen, the first step is to quickly discover the problem and stop the loss in time at sensitive nodes. If the scale of the theft is small, the platform can quickly compensate users with its own revenue. Because there is no 100% secure system, the key is the ability to respond quickly and compensate users. These measures can help the platform achieve higher security standards.
Our team has been very focused on security from the very beginning, and has assembled a professional security team. We have experienced the Internet wave and also traded coins, witnessed large capital flows, and are deeply aware of the "Dark Forest Law" in the blockchain industry. We also understand that platform security is the most fundamental guarantee.
GMGN provides two user experience modes. One is the TG Bot mode, where the user's private key is hosted on the server, meeting the needs of advanced users for strategy and speed. The other is for users to directly connect to the GMGN website through plugin wallets like Phantom or MetaMask, where each operation requires user authorization, which is relatively more secure.
We have invested a lot of effort in both the front-end and back-end, continuously optimizing the security mechanism. Based on the security issues of a recent product, we will further learn from the lessons and fill the gaps. We will take a more cautious attitude to improve the overall security of the platform.
Future Development Strategy: Stable Service and Continuous Entry into Hotspot Narratives
Colin: Have you ever tracked your market share? What is the approximate proportion?
HAZE: In terms of the overall market share, we should be in a relatively leading position globally. Our main competitor is Photon on Solana, which has a clear first-mover advantage. During the BOME craze, it reaped the biggest dividends.
Colin: How do you plan your future product and development strategy?
HAZE: Our product thinking is very simple: first, ensure that the service is stable enough; second, pursue faster and more extreme operating experience; third, carefully record user requirements and continuously update them based on the priority of the requirements. Our goal is to make the user experience smoother and smoother, basically this is the direction.
Colin: Are you worried that the heat of Memecoin will decrease? Or in other words, will there be problems with the long-term viability of your products after the craze is over?
HAZE: I think GMGN initially entered the Memecoin track, but its essence is an on-chain product. Its positioning is to closely follow the hotspots and major trends on the chain, provide good trading opportunities for users, and help users seize the dividends on the chain, which is the core positioning of GMGN. So even if Memecoin gradually cools down or doesn't have the current momentum, our key is how to judge what the next narrative hotspot is, and the team will consider how to quickly enter.
It's not that we only focus on Memecoin, it's a part of GMGN, and also the current main part, but it's not the only part. I think in the blockchain world, hotspots change very quickly, and the speed of innovation is also very fast. So we can't have prejudices, and we can't stand still. We need to try more, explore more, and find good entry points. If we can solve the pain points of users, we will enter and execute. At the same time, we will also constantly revise and adjust our own cognition.
If you always immerse yourself in the current comfort zone and don't break it, no matter what platform position you are in, you may be surpassed over time.
Development Details: "Stupid Wallet", Subdivided Tracks, "Conspiracy Group" and Trading Experience
Colin: I see, OK. Next, there are two more friends participating in the discussion, one is defioasis and the other is yiyi. They have in-depth observation and practical experience in the Memecoin field, and can further discuss some issues with you.
defioasis: I have a few questions. The first is about the "stupid wallet" indicator. Is it possible to launch a tool similar to the reverse smart money, such as marking the wallets with extremely low win rates and buying at the high point?
HAZE: I think this is possible, we can mark these wallets as low-probability wallets if we have time. First, put me on the list, haha.
Colin: This idea seems interesting, haha.
HAZE: Yes, many users who chase the highs often buy at the high point, and then the price starts to fall. So it can be used as an indicator to assist trading decisions.
defioasis: Yes, this may be a good sell signal. The second question is that Memecoin is a big track, and there are many subdivided tracks within it, such as AI Memecoin and DeSci recently. Is it possible to optimize the sector classification and sector rotation function in GMGN, so that users can see the hotspots at a glance?
HAZE: The demand for sector classification has indeed been mentioned before. Some users are not trading every day, they may hear that a certain sector is hot, and they want to come in and buy. In this case, providing intuitive display of market capitalization and price will be very helpful. We will consider adding these classifications in the functional updates.
defioasis: I have one more question, GMGN has two entry points, one is the TG Bot and the other is the plugin wallet. Have you ever tracked which entry point has higher user volume and trading volume?
HAZE: We haven't done this data analysis yet.
yiyi: I have two questions. First, in addition to focusing on smart money, the community is now particularly interested in two things: first, to discover the "conspiracy group", and second, to guess who will be listed on Binance. GMGN's data analysis capabilities are very strong, especially in the smart money area. Do you have any plans to further explore these associated addresses, such as marking which addresses may be involved in conspiracy behavior?
HAZE: We have partially implemented this. We launched the rat warehouse function early on, and later added the "fish" tagging. We will mark suspected conspiracy wallets as "red fish", with the tagging logic including: operations on multiple wallets at the same time, consistent capital transfer behavior, etc. For example, I recently tested an address, and the data clearly shows that it is a distribution address, so I marked it as a "red fish" with a red exclamation mark.
HAZE: In addition, we have a wallet distribution analysis function, where the distribution behavior of DEV wallets will be marked with a "sniper" icon. For the conspiracy group mentioned by users, we will continue to identify and determine them through on-chain data, but we will try to avoid subjective labeling.
One-One: I understand, so my second question is, can the K-line tool be combined with on-chain data? For example, if I set a time window, I want to know who is pulling up and who is making money during a certain major upward trend. Can this be a development direction for GMGN?
HAZE: We are currently more inclined to provide general platform data functions. The requirements you mentioned are customized functions, which require more resource investment. Our current priority is to meet the needs of the majority, but in the future, if more users propose similar needs, we will evaluate and consider adding these functions.
One-One: What are the focus of the next iteration of GMGN? Will there be some other exciting features?
HAZE: We already have token distribution functions, as well as wallet labeling and dispersion chart functions. The focus in the future will still be to improve the overall stability, speed and experience of transactions. For example, the highly demanded "wallet monitoring" function will be expanded from supporting 100 wallets to 500 wallets. In addition, the monitoring and push notification needs of the TG Bot and channel will also be optimized. Currently, the push function of GMGN has delays when the user volume is too large, and we will prioritize solving this problem.
Our goal is to enable users to discover information faster, be aware of dynamics faster, and complete transactions faster. The current updates are mainly focused on these core needs.
