From Investment Fatigue to Seeking New Opportunities

The crypto market has experienced several cycles since 2017, and investor sentiment has been constantly changing. From the ICO boom in 2017, to the entire market's winter in 2018, to the rise of DeFi in 2020 and the explosion of NFTs in 2021, it can be said that a new emerging track has emerged in each cycle. However, in this cycle, a very significant feature is that retail investors are gradually showing signs of fatigue, the main reason being that the issuance methods and market performance of many projects have failed to live up to the initially high expectations, leading to widespread aversion to VC-led projects.

In the past bull market cycles, VCs have led the main direction of the market. However, over time, many investors have gradually felt fatigued, especially when faced with low-liquidity, high FDV tokens, the market seems to be full of signs of over-hype. For retail investors, this situation is not friendly, "minting a coin is the peak", and the subsequent price decline makes them feel like they have been abandoned as the bag holders.

At this time, the rise of Meme coins has broken the original pattern and become a force against the trend. Unlike VC-led crypto projects, Meme coins have gained widespread attention due to their "anti-VC" characteristics. For example, multiple Memes like BONK have attracted a large number of supporters with their unique "self-deprecating" culture. In this article, we will start from the rise of Meme culture, explore how the success of Meme challenges the traditional VC capital model, and what opportunities and reflections it brings to investors?

The Rise of Meme in the Evolving Market

The rapid rise of Meme coins is an important phenomenon in the crypto market. While many traditional VC projects are facing difficulties due to lack of liquidity or high valuations, Meme coins have gained huge market attention by virtue of their low thresholds and high community participation. For retail investors, Meme coins have brought more equal opportunities: they no longer need to rely on VC capital, but can drive the rise of projects through the power of the community and the market.

However, the rapid popularity of Meme coins also brings the risk of over-hype. In the eyes of some, this phenomenon is full of speculative nature and is difficult to last. In fact, the market performance of Meme coins often fluctuates, especially when the market pulls back, the prices of many Meme coins often also decline.

But at the same time, we have also seen the "New Money" power represented by Meme coins, which have attracted a large number of investors through strong community support and constantly innovative content. Especially in the Solana ecosystem, the low transaction cost and high efficiency of Meme coins allow retail investors to enjoy a smoother trading experience. Therefore, the performance of Meme coins in the Solana ecosystem has been particularly outstanding this round.

The Core Competitiveness of Meme - The Powerful Community Force?

The rapid rise of Meme coins is often inseparable from the strong community support. Unlike traditional VC-driven projects, the value of Meme coins is more reflected in the power of the community. A strong Meme coin community can attract more new users to participate through social media, events, and content creation, thereby driving the growth of the project's value.

These communities are not just gathering places for investors, but more like a huge consensus body. In this consensus body, the emotions and actions of all members are concentrated in the same direction, and everyone is working together to promote the progress and development of the project. Everyone shares content, participates in activities through social platforms, and drives the rapid growth of meme on Solana.

More importantly, the community members of Meme coins often have extremely high loyalty. Behind the success of every Meme coin, there are countless community members who are willing to provide content and traffic for it. It is this spontaneous participation and support that makes the market performance of Meme coins more vibrant and potential.

The Future of Meme: Beyond Speculation, Creating Real Value

Although Meme coins are currently mostly seen as short-term speculative tools, as the market demand gradually changes, the future of Meme coins should not be underestimated. The crypto market is increasingly focusing on the actual application and long-term value of projects, and if Meme coins want to stand firm in this highly competitive market, they must find a way to break through the existing framework and create real value. To ensure a more solid future for Meme coins, they not only need to continue to rely on the powerful community force, but also need to make more efforts in ecosystem building and practical applications.

Take the evergreen Meme project BONK as an example. By continuously expanding its applications in the Solana ecosystem, BONK is gradually consolidating its value moat. All BONK ecosystem projects are regularly buying and burning $BONK tokens, and the regular large-scale burning of $BONK also reflects the community's firm determination to defend the coin price.

We can expect that in the future, such Meme coins will no longer be just "cultural symbols", but projects that can provide long-term value to users and investors.

In addition, with the development of Web3 and the gradual maturity of the crypto market, Meme coins may also have the opportunity to expand their application scenarios through integration with other fields. For example, Meme coins can provide more diverse value and functions by combining with NFT, DeFi, games and other fields. This will help Meme coins shake off the label of speculation and become truly market-potential crypto assets.

In the new regulatory context, we believe that Meme coins like $BONK will be listed on ETFs in the not-too-distant future.

The Power of Collective Action

In summary, Meme coins have become a representative of the anti-VC and anti-conventional spirit, representing the rebellion of retail investors against the traditional VC model. Through Meme coins, ordinary investors are no longer passive bag holders, but can unite to drive collective action and form new market rules.

The future Meme coin market will not only be a stage for short-term speculation, but an ecosystem full of innovation, competition and opportunities. As long as they can adhere to community-driven and value creation, Meme coins will no longer be a fleeting hot spot, but an undeniable force in the crypto market.

In this process, we not only need to reflect on the role of VCs in the crypto world, but also think about how to enable Meme coins to go beyond the current speculative wave and truly become a force that can change the market rules. Through continuous innovation and ecosystem expansion, Meme coins are expected to become an emerging force in the crypto market, leading us towards a more open, free and decentralized future.