Abstract
This article explores the current status and development characteristics of the MEME sector in 2024 through observation and analysis of the MEME track. The main content covers the popularity trend of MEME coins, the rise of platforms, the mode of dissemination, and market strategies.
1. MEME coin fever and dissemination mode: MEME coins in 2024 show cyclical high heat, especially in the beginning of the year and the second quarter. The dissemination of MEME is similar to the spread of an infectious disease, relying on social media and community dissemination, usually accompanied by exponential growth. The development model in 2024 has shown new features.
2. The rise of MEME platforms: MEME coin Launchpads are an important innovation in this round, platforms like Pump.fun and SunPump have simplified the creation and trading of MEME coins, attracting a large number of users. Each platform has its own characteristics in terms of user groups, revenue, and ecosystem support.
3. Market liquidity and strategies: MEME has been seen as a "bridgehead" for the ecological development of major public chains and projects. This is one of the biggest changes in this round. MEME coins are seen as the vanguard of the development of major blockchain ecosystems, attracting market attention and funds to promote subsequent ecological development. The investment strategy in the MEME track mainly involves grasping the leading coins, trading volume, and market sentiment.
4. Future outlook of MEME: With the loosening of liquidity, the direct participation of authorities, and the entry of VC investment, the MEME coin market is expected to continue to explode in the second half of 2024, and more professional and transparent MEME gameplay is expected to emerge.
New features of the MEME track this round
Continued heat, showing cyclicality
Unlike the previous stage-by-stage MEME waves, in this round of the cycle, the heat of MEME coins has reached an unprecedented high, especially in the first half of the year from February to April.
Whether it is the average weekly increase of 6 times for 20 popular coins like PEPE, or the continuous refresh of the shortest time record for listing on CEX for tokens like WIF and BOME, they are all conveying a signal to crypto investors: the MEME craze is rising again.
The dissemination of internet memes has many similarities with the spread of infectious diseases. Like viruses, memes rely on "hosts" - users' sharing and dissemination - to spread rapidly. Once a meme enters a popular social network, it can spread rapidly by "infecting" a large number of users, especially when it evokes a strong emotional response or has easily imitable elements. The ORDI craze at the beginning of 2024 and the SOL MEME craze in the second quarter both reflect this feature.
The dissemination of MEME usually has the characteristic of exponential growth. Initially, only a few people are exposed to the meme, but within a short period of time, it will spread to a large number of people. In addition, the dissemination of memes is also affected by network nodes - similar to super-spreaders of infectious diseases, some users with a large number of followers can significantly accelerate the dissemination of memes, thereby expanding their influence. This dissemination pattern reflects the behavior of infectious diseases in many ways, relying on close connections and interactions between people. As shown in the figure below:
The dissemination of internet memes is similar to the spread of infectious diseases, as shown in this SIR model.
Red = susceptible, green = infected, blue = recovered.
The rise of MEME platforms is a major feature of this round
MEME coin Launchpads are a major feature of the rise of the MEME track in this round. Such as the emerging MEME coin launch platforms Pump.fun and SunPump. In this round of the cycle, MEME coin platforms have attracted a large number of users by simplifying the creation and trading process of MEME coins and seamlessly integrating with mainstream blockchains. They have their own characteristics in terms of user positioning, daily issuance, returns, project success rate, ecosystem integration, market promotion, and community participation.
With the continuous development of the crypto industry, the MEME field is full of opportunities and challenges, and innovation is particularly important. The key to the success of MEME platforms is to build products with unique selling points, combining cultural trends and technological innovation.
Launchpad Comparative Analysis
Source: Tiger-Reseach
Target Users
In terms of the user groups of the two typical MEME platforms, the earlier Pump.fun is mainly aimed at Western groups, while Justin Sun's SunPump is more prevalent in the Asian region. At the same time, SunPump combined Justin Sun and his team's marketing on Twitter and other media, and performed quite eye-catching on TRON.
Platform Revenue & Fees
SunPump was launched later, but by the end of August, its revenue was about $567K, and it issued about 7,500 Memcoins per day. Pump.fun, on the other hand, generates around 7,000 per day, not much different from SunPump. Both platforms charge a 1% transaction fee.
Ecosystem Support
Pump.fun is a third-party development, which was launched on the Sol chain in the early stage, and was integrated into the Base chain around May-June this year, and later integrated into the Blast chain. In comparison, SunPump mainly operates on the TRON blockchain, supported by its payment system (with a large number of users using USDT for payment) and exchange infrastructure.
Other MEME Platforms
Source: Rootdata, ChainCatcher
In addition to the aforementioned Pump.Fun and SunPump, there are also Launchpads in various sub-tracks, such as Memehub.ai, which is an AI-based launch platform, wonton.fun, which is a dedicated launch platform on the Ton chain, and Satspumpfun, which is a launch platform in the BTC ecosystem.
Their main supporting public chains and functional situations are different, as shown in the table above.
Typical Launchpad -- SunPump
SunPump's performance outperforms most MEME Launchpads
TRON founder Justin Sun pointed out that although the MEME coin market is still in its infancy, TRON is implementing a long-term strategy, focusing on building a solid infrastructure and continuously optimizing the user experience to meet the needs of different users.
Justin Sun mentioned that SunPump, as TRON's MEME launch platform, together with TRON's payment network and DeFi layer, has built a three-tier system, of which SunPump is an important part.
First, a widely recognized stablecoin payment network, where TRON has already surpassed Ethereum and Solana in daily revenue and has become the leading stablecoin payment platform.
Second, the DeFi layer, providing stable investment returns.
Third, SunPump, this platform combines mature DeFi technology and blockchain performance, focusing on high-risk, high-return investment opportunities.
SunPump has the following advantages:
1. Powerful team: The SunPump team has a deep understanding of the MEME market and can accurately grasp investor demand and predict potential user groups, ensuring product quality leadership.
2. Liquidity support: The TRON platform has issued over $60 billion in stablecoins, with over 2 million active users per day, far exceeding Solana. TRON's huge user base and high trading volume provide strong liquidity for the MEME market.
3. Community support: SunPump has received strong community support, especially from Asia, laying a solid user base.
With the continuous launch of SunPump tokens, the number of active addresses on TRON reached 1.9 million in August, while the number of active addresses on Solana was 1.09 million, demonstrating TRON's obvious advantages in this field.
Meme Ecology and Liquidity
The author believes that Meme has performed quite eye-catching in this round, and it has occupied a large amount of market attention. One of the biggest features is that the market parties have combined liquidity with the Meme ecology, using Meme to activate and lead the market enthusiasm, liquidity and the vanguard of the ecology. It is mainly manifested in the following two aspects:
Meme has been seen as the "bridgehead" for the ecological development by major public chains and project parties. This is the biggest change I see in this round. From the initial Sol founder wearing a silly dragon costume, to the recent Pump.fun, to the "fascia gun track" of NOT, Meme has always taken the lead. Meme is like the hook product in the web2 product matrix. It can take the lead in the market and consolidate funds through Meme, and then be absorbed by the basic infrastructure products in the ecology, such as DeFi and lending. Attracting funds through Meme and then launching products with utility is one of the strategic paths for the ecological parties and project parties to develop in this round.
The difference in dissemination time provides liquidity with flow time. There is a time difference between the traditional outsiders' concept and web3. A small number of people have entered the cryptocurrency circle, and the first thing they encounter is the myth of wealth creation in the Meme sector. High volatility, which means they may be able to achieve high returns in a short period of time. Retail investors who can enter the circle may be attracted by this opportunity to get rich quickly, and many Meme coins are relatively low-priced compared to Bitcoin, which allows retail investors to buy a large number of tokens with a relatively small investment amount. For retail investors with limited budgets, this low-threshold investment is more attractive.
Meme as a Case Study of Ecological Liquidity
As mentioned above, Meme has been used as the vanguard of liquidity by major chains, project parties, and ecological parties in this round, and there are many cases.
Linea Chain: $Foxy.
$Foxy is a Meme initiated by the official foundation of the Linea Chain and the parent company of MetaMask. Although there was not much disclosure in the early stage, the driving force behind it was the Linea Chain and its related parties. Foxy, combined with the KOL round financing and publicity, achieved about 40 times the return on the first day of trading.
Base Chain: $Degen, $Enjoy, $High.
There are countless Meme projects issued on the Base Chain. Among them, $Degen, which was popular in February-March 2024, is the most representative. Degen was originally a community Meme project with 100% Meme attributes. As the attributes of the Degen high-hat gentleman became more prominent, the official APP later endowed Degen with utility as the tip token for the Farcaster social platform, but it still did not change its Meme attributes, with about 80% Meme attributes and 20% utility attributes. Not to mention the subsequent support for Degen from the Farcaster and Base ecosystems. As for $High, it is the Meme of the Zora public chain.
There are many other cases, which are listed as follows:
Manta Chain: Announced a $10 million Moon Mission Meme Grants in June 2024.
Avalanche Chain: $COQ, $KIMBO, $TECH, $GEC. The Meme liquidity strategy of the Avalanche chain was mainly launched in the first half of 2024, supported by the Avalanche official foundation.
Fantom: Launched the Meme season for Sonic Memecoin starting in June.
zkSync: Meme token Zeekcoin $MEOW.
Main Types of Meme Projects in 2024
Manipulated Coins
BOME/ SLERF/ MEW/ MANEKI ...
The author classifies all kinds of large pools as manipulated coins, which are characterized by large pools and rapid pump, with not only large position capacity but also high multiples. However, they often quickly reach a high market value, making it difficult for people to enter.
Hot Topic Coins
GME/ BODEN/ TREMP/ DJT/ NCAT ...
Hot topics, such as the actions and words of figures with huge traffic like Musk, Trump or Roaring Kitty, can often find corresponding meme coins on the chain. However, the prices of such meme coins are also prone to fluctuations due to various news. For example, the DJT Trump coin attracted many people to speculate due to rumors that Trump's son Barron Trump was involved, but also plummeted due to exposures by famous CT like Zach XBT and GCR; similarly, $GME went crazy due to Roaring Kitty's comeback post, but soon plummeted as Roaring Kitty's live video turned out to be nothing.
Community Coins
POPCAT/ MICHI/ SC/NEIRO
The author believes that this type of cat and dog community tokens are high-yield but also high-failure-rate memes. The high yield is because these tokens often have a long enough bottom time to accumulate cheap chips, but at the same time, due to the lack of scarcity, they are also easy to fail. Whether the token avatar is eye-catching is the first priority, but more importantly, the community atmosphere. In addition, the author believes that for community-type meme coins, when the market environment is good, they can slowly gather retail consensus and drive the price to slowly rise, but when the market environment is not good, the decline will be the fastest due to factors such as holding a large number of scattered chips.
Celebrity Coins
MOTHER / RNT / PAJAMES
Celebrity coins are a recent trend on the SOL chain, but most celebrities are not willing to operate the tokens in the long term, and many are so-called one-wave flows. However, if celebrities with huge off-chain traffic are willing to operate, the tokens will have great potential. Currently, the most successful celebrity coin is $MOTHER, where rapper Iggy Azalea, with her millions of fans, actively promotes and interacts with CT and community members, which has allowed the hype to last so long.
Others
WEN/ BONK/ WIF ...
In addition to the above, there are many other types of hot meme coins, such as $WEN launched by the Jupiter team, or the rumored $Bonk launched by the Solana Foundation to revive Solana. They have reached such high market value due to the involvement of the official team. In addition, $WIF, the largest market cap and also the wind vane of Solana Memecoins, is the most difficult to classify as a meme coin, as it was born as a community coin but later received the favor of capital, and thus soared.
Outlook for the Meme Sector in the Second Half
Altcoin Season Index at Historical Bottom
The explosion of Meme in the second half of 2024, in addition to the above supporting points, from the current macro big cycle, the Altcoin Season index is 35, and from the trend, this is also an important reason why the author believes the Meme sector will return in the second half of the year.
Official Participation and Meme Sector Consensus Formed
With the launch of platform Meme, ecological Meme and various Meme launchers, the Meme sector has not only won the favor of retail investors, but also the direct affirmation and participation of the official. From May to August this year, various officials have come out to do launch platforms and announced Meme tokens in their respective ecosystems. Compared to the previous period, the consensus on the Meme sector has become stronger.
Meme as the vanguard is expected to develop in four aspects for the future of ecosystem building and project development.
First, continue to establish various major Meme foundation, support programs, or community programs, to support the development of Memes in this ecosystem in the form of innovative funds;
Second, VC investment parties will join in, starting from the second half of 2024, many VC support announcements will participate in Meme infrastructure investment, from the resistance of Meme to VC to the embrace of Meme by VC;
Third, the gameplay of Meme will become more professional and more transparent.
Fourth, after the creation of liquidity, there will be more receiving units, which means that secondary products based on Meme will have a new development. Such as Meme management tools, meme image creation and secondary dissemination platforms, and secondary creation tools based on Meme will also have a wave of development.
Liquidity tends to be loose, and the Meme environment is relatively good
It is expected that in the second half of 2024 and the first half of 2025, interest rates will show a downward trend, and we are moving towards a more relaxed macroeconomic environment. Meme coins, due to their small market capitalization, high awareness and low participation threshold, are expected to achieve growth.
About HTX Ventures
This article was written by the research team under HTX Ventures. HTX Ventures is the global investment department of Huobi HTX, integrating investment, incubation and research, with the aim of identifying the best and brightest teams globally. As an industry pioneer, HTX Ventures has over 11 years of blockchain building experience and is adept at identifying cutting-edge technologies and emerging business models in this field. To drive growth in the blockchain ecosystem, we provide comprehensive support for projects, including financing, resources and strategic advice.
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Reference
1. Tiger Research: https://www.tiger-research.com/
2. ChainCatcher: https://www.panewslab.com/zh/articledetails/uwls3xdn.html
3. $Foxy situation: https://twitter.com/FoxyLinea
4. Manta chain meme plan: https://x.com/MantaNetwork/status/1803440654426710098
5. Avalanche chain community meme support plan: https://x.com/AvalancheFDN/status/1768262658346897428
6. Rootdata: https://www.rootdata.com/zh
