Author: Revc, Jinse Finance
The uniqueness of MEME tokens such as DOGE, PEPE, and SHIB stems from complex speculative motives, community collaborative behaviors, meme culture propagation, and the impact of emerging technologies (such as AI) on the market. From the perspective of game theory, MEME tokens present multiple interactions between collective beliefs, coordinated behaviors, and market speculation, providing new insights for the analysis of financial market behavior.
The Application of Game Theory in the MEME Token Phenomenon
1. Speculation and the Prisoner's Dilemma
The decisions faced by investors often reflect the "Prisoner's Dilemma":
- Maximizing short-term interests: Many investors choose to quickly sell at the peak to avoid the risk of market collapse.
- Creating long-term value: If investors can reach a consensus and hold the tokens collectively, the price may be maintained or even grow. However, the selling behavior of any single investor can threaten the overall stability.
Case: The Rise and Volatility of DOGE
The price fluctuations of DOGE are highly dependent on community trust and the influence of celebrities (such as Elon Musk's tweets). This speculative phenomenon reveals the conflict between short-term and long-term interests in the game.
2. Coordination Game: The Self-Fulfilling Nature of Value
Successful MEME tokens often rely on the coordinated efforts of the community.
For example, the success of the GOAT token is attributed to the community's strong promotion of its narrative and the support of AI tools (such as "Truth Terminal") for market dynamics. This collaboration reflects the essence of the coordination game: as long as the majority act together, the growth of the token's value can become a reality.
3. Signaling Game: The Role of Authority Endorsement
When renowned institutions or individuals (such as the venture capital firm a16z or its founder Marc Andreessen) support a token, they send a signal to the market. This signaling effect strengthens the market's recognition of the token's value and triggers more investment behavior.
Example: PEPE gained widespread attention in its early stages through influencer support and cultural symbolism, despite its limited actual use, and its price still soared.
4. Common Knowledge and Collective Action
Many MEME tokens rely on a collectively assumed consensus: "This is a meme token." This shared understanding drives market behavior and value inflation. By establishing a consensus on price growth through viral propagation, this growth often becomes detached from the token's actual utility.
AI-Driven MEME Tokens: The Interaction of Technology and Sentiment
1. AI and Market Propagation
AI technology is changing the generation and dissemination of MEME tokens through optimized meme content and sentiment monitoring.
- Efficient narrative creation: Generative AI can quickly create highly attention-grabbing content, driving viral meme propagation.
- Sentiment analysis and feedback: AI tools, through real-time analysis of market sentiment, provide investors with strategic adjustment recommendations, thereby influencing market behavior.
Truth Terminal is an AI chatbot created by Andy Ayrey, aiming to explore the performance and impact of AI in social media environments. Initially, this project operated on X, inspired by the unsupervised dialogue between two Claude AI models, with the goal of studying how AI can generate content without human intervention. Truth Terminal interacts with users through its X account, with content mainly involving a fictional religious concept called the "Goat Gospel", whose humor and eccentricity have attracted a large following.
In July 2024, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen donated 50,000 Bitcoin to Truth Terminal, after which the AI expressed interest in issuing tokens, leading to the birth of the $GOAT (Goatseus Maximus) token based on the Solana blockchain. Although Truth Terminal did not directly create $GOAT, its promotional activities greatly increased the market value of this meme token, sparking widespread discussion, particularly on how AI can impact market dynamics, social media culture, and cryptocurrency investment trends.
Truth Terminal is not only an AI chatbot, but also a unique case study of how AI can self-present, influence believers, and impact markets in the intersection of culture, finance, and social domains.
2. The Combination of MEME and Biosciences
The application of MEME tokens in the DeSci track demonstrates the innovative integration of frontier scientific exploration and community finance. The life sciences field, represented by longevity research, has already attracted the attention of whales in the crypto industry. Through MEME tokens, experimental research projects like RIF (Rifampicin) and URO (Uromodulin A) have received direct funding from the decentralized community. These tokens not only carry the financial tool attributes of scientific research, but also leverage on-chain transparency and real-time experimental data to inspire community emotional participation, injecting funding and social attention into fields such as longevity research and mental health.
At the same time, MEME projects like SCIHUB reflect the social issues of academic freedom and inequality through the combination of narratives and social emotions. These projects, through decentralized fundraising and narrative propagation, have triggered FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) in the market and achieved a significant market capitalization increase in a short period of time.
Behavioral Economics and Meme Culture: The Driving Force of Irrational Exuberance
1. Market Sentiment and Irrational Exuberance
As the behavioral economist Robert Shiller's "Irrational Exuberance" theory suggests, the price fluctuations of MEME tokens are more driven by market sentiment than by intrinsic value.
Elon Musk's repeated social media posts have ignited the price volatility of DOGE, highlighting the role of celebrity effect in stimulating market sentiment.
2. The Deeper Impact of Meme Culture
MEME tokens often rely on memes deeply rooted in internet culture, such as the frog image of PEPE and the Shiba Inu theme of SHIB. These cultural symbols have generated strong emotional resonance within the community.
Summary
From the perspective of game theory, the MEME token phenomenon demonstrates the complex interweaving of collective beliefs, market behavior, and technological drivers.
Investors face a choice between short-term profits and long-term consensus. Community coordination and external signals play a key role in value growth.
The combination of AI, Biosciences, and meme culture has given rise to new trends in MEME tokens, forming a new track worthy of close attention.
