From "stalk" to a market value exceeding 100 million, what is the power behind the Meme coin?

What drives the rise of meme coins?

Written by: Daniel Li

With the in-depth development of the digital age, the continuous emergence of new technologies and application scenarios is changing people's lifestyles and ways of thinking, while also giving birth to new cultural forms and communication methods. Among them, "meme" (meme culture), a popular culture characterized by derivation, resonance, and viral replication, has gradually emerged in this context.

Originally, meme was just an April Fool's Day joke or stubbornness on the Internet, but as meme merges with the crypto world, MEME coin is rapidly emerging as a new type of crypto asset. From "stalk" to a market value exceeding 100 million, MEME coin has once again shown us the infinite possibilities of the encryption market, and it has also aroused people's exploration and thinking about the power behind MEME coin. So, what is driving the rise of MEME coins? This article will delve into the background, development history and forces behind MEME coins, revealing the mystery behind this phenomenon.

From internet culture to encrypted market: History of MEME coin development

The origin of MEME coin can be traced back to 2013, when an anonymous developer created an encrypted asset based on Bitcoin blockchain technology called MEME. Its name comes from "Internet Meme" (Internet Meme), which aims to combine Internet culture with encrypted assets. The original goal of MEME is to become an interesting digital currency, using internet cultural elements such as Internet memes and emoticons to attract more people to participate in the encrypted asset market. With the rise of social media, meme has received more and more widespread attention, and MEME coins have gradually become popular from Internet culture to the encrypted market. Now MEME coins have become an important force in the encrypted market. The development process of MEME coins can be roughly divided into The following stages:

Infancy stage (2009-2013): During this period, some of the earliest MEME coins, such as Catcoin and Coino, did not have a specific goal or purpose, and they mainly relied on social media promotion to attract users, Therefore, it has not attracted widespread attention in the entire encryption market. It was not until the emergence of DOGE coin that MEME coin was really recognized by the encryption market. DOGE coin was originally just a joke, but due to its cute dog image and the stubborn mode of Internet culture, it quickly became popular on the social platform Reddit. With the gradual acceptance of DOGE tokens, a large number of MEME tokens with dog elements have also emerged, which further demonstrates the characteristics of viral replication of memes. During this period, the MEME currency community was very active. Through the spread of Internet social channels, MEME currency began to gradually rise in the encryption industry.

Development stage (2013-2017): With the development of the crypto market, more and more MEME tokens began to emerge. In addition to the dog-themed DOGE coin, MEME coins with the theme of other elements have appeared on the market, such as Pepe Cash with the theme of Pepe the Frog, Nyancoin with the theme of cats, and PandaCoin with the theme of pandas. etc. These tokens are often promoted through social media to attract users and become part of the Internet culture to a certain extent. During this period, MEME coins began to gradually gain market attention. In addition, the emergence of some innovative market mechanisms, such as decentralized exchanges and airdrops, has also contributed to the development of the MEME market.

**Mature stage (2017 to 2020): **The mature stage is an important stage in the development of MEME. During this period, the capitalization of the MEME market has been significantly improved, and some MEME coins with high market capitalization have gradually become star tokens in the market, such as DOGE coins, Pepe Cash, etc. In addition, some MEME coins can also obtain huge financing through ICO, such as BAT (Basic Attention Token), GNT (Golem Network Token), etc. At this stage, MEME coins began to explore community governance models to better manage projects and To attract more users, some tokens have also begun to build their own ecosystems and application scenarios to promote the use and value-added of tokens.

**Explosive stage (2020-2023): **Thanks to the promotion of MEME community members and the gradual maturity of the MEME market, the market value of MEME coins has also created a new high. Among them, DOGE, as the representative of MEME currency, reached the highest price in history of US$0.74 in April 2021, with a total market value of nearly US$50 billion. At the same time, during this period, MEME currency began to explore new fields and application directions, such as NFT-based games and art collections, and using blockchain technology to solve social problems, such as decentralized management and identity verification. These new ideas and ways of playing have brought new development directions and ideas to the entire encrypted asset industry.

New round of upsurge period (after 2023): The current MEME currency market is experiencing a new round of upsurge. As the biggest dark horse this year, PEPE coin gained a market value of 1 billion US dollars and 107,000 holders in just 23 days, breaking the previous records created by DOGE and SHIB coins, and becoming the fastest growing MEME in the history of encrypted assets Token. In addition, this round of MEME currency boom has also extended to the Bitcoin market for the first time. The market value of ORDI, the first BRC-20 token built on the Bitcoin blockchain, quickly approached $1 billion after it was listed on a mainstream exchange. BRC-20 is an alternative token standard built on top of the Bitcoin blockchain and has been used to mint 8,500 different tokens, most of which are MEME coins. It is foreseeable that the outbreak of the next MEME season is likely to occur in the Bitcoin market.

From Internet culture to star coins, the reason for the rise of MEME

Whether it is the early DOOGE or the recently popular Pepe and Aidoge, these MEME coins that can go out of the circle all have common characteristics, and these characteristics are also the fundamental reason why the currency circle can continue to pour out popular MEME coins.

FAIR DISTRIBUTION MODEL

In the initial stage of the MEME project, most of the tokens were distributed for free through community activities and creative mining. This distribution model is fair and attractive. It attracts more users and forms a large and active community At the same time, it also improves the circulation of tokens. As more people hold tokens, the supply in the market also increases, which boosts transaction volume and prices. For start-up MEME projects, this free and fair distribution model can also increase popularity and promotion effects, thereby attracting more investors to enter the market.

In addition, MEME coin also adopts a concept similar to "miners", such as "AI miners" in AIDOGO coins and "Frog Miners" in Pepe coins. These miners can be rewarded according to their contributions, encouraging users to actively participate in the project. This reward mechanism can effectively motivate the behavior of community members and increase their input and support for the project.

Extremely low investment price and super high income expectation

Compared with mainstream value coins, the price of MEME is very low, most of which are below $1. The extremely low price allows users to purchase hundreds of millions of MEME tokens with very little money. For those who want to try crypto asset investing but have limited funds, MEME coin is a very attractive option.

The price of MEME currency fluctuates greatly, often due to a hot event, it will skyrocket or plummet more than ten times. Therefore, for most MEME currency users who hold a small amount of funds, the probability of achieving a small fortune through MEME currency is much higher than traditional Even if the mainstream value currency fails, it will only lose a few hundred or a few thousand dollars, and once it succeeds, it is very likely to achieve wealth freedom. This is why although a large number of retail investors will be harvested after each MEME currency fire, they still cannot stop their enthusiasm for investment. For most crypto speculators, MEME coin is like a lottery in the crypto industry. No one can refuse the opportunity to pay a very small price to obtain super high returns, although this opportunity is very slim.

Powerful Narrative

MEME Coin is a classic case of narrative-driven finance, and its success is largely due to the power of narrative. The narrative modes of MEME coins include: derivative narratives, related narratives and counter-narratives. The innovation and application of these modes provide crucial support for the rapid spread and popularity of MEME coins.

Derived narrative means that the narrative of MEME coins is derived from existing cultural or media materials. Through the secondary creation and adaptation of these materials, a new MEME image and story is created. This narrative mode mainly relies on the keen grasp of popular culture and Internet culture and the ability to creatively adapt. For example, the image of Dogecoin (Dogecoin) comes from the funny dog head emoticon package widely circulated on the Internet. The creators apply this image to digital currency, and through social media publicity and promotion, make Dogecoin popular on social media. It quickly became popular.

Relevant narrative means that the narrative of MEME coins is associated with a specific event or theme. Through witty, humorous or satirical interpretation and expression of this event or theme, MEME images and stories with unique charm are created. This narrative mode mainly depends on the creator's insights and creative expression ability on events or themes. For example, ArbDoge AI (AIDOGE) took advantage of the hottest topic in the current market and combined "AI" and "Doge" to create an interesting and creative digital currency image. Through social media promotion and The promotion made AIDOGE quickly attract the attention of a large number of users.

Anti-narrative means that the narrative of MEME coins creates MEME images and stories with strong social critical significance through the irony or criticism of a certain phenomenon or event. This narrative mode mainly relies on the creator's deep observation and critical spirit of social phenomena and human weaknesses. For example, Pepe Coin (PepeCoin) has created an ironic and critical image of digital currency through the secondary creation and adaptation of the image of "Pepe the Frog" that is common in Internet culture, aiming to reflect certain aspects of modern society. Questions for deep reflection and criticism.

Community promotion and creative marketing

Community promotion can not only increase the interaction and participation of the community, but also improve the circulation and value of tokens. The creators and community members of MEME coin attract more users to join the community through various online and offline activities, such as airdrops, social media interaction, mining, etc., thereby expanding the scale of users and improving the circulation of tokens. For example, miner mechanisms such as "AI Miners" in AIDOGO coins and "Frog Miners" in Pepe coins can be rewarded based on user contributions, encouraging community members to actively participate in the project and increasing their input and support for the project . This mechanism of encouraging community members to participate can effectively increase the activity and cohesion of the community, thereby increasing the value of tokens.

In addition, MEME coins are also very creative in design and marketing. For example, combining popular elements with encrypted assets has attracted the interest and attention of more young people and social media users. These design and marketing strategies make MEME coin an interesting investment option, attracting more investors to participate. For example, Punk Comics (PUNK) is an NFT-based digital collectible game. The project combines pixel art, comics and games to design a series of unique pixel characters and comic characters. These pixel figures and comic book characters represent different superheroes and villains such as Spiderman, Iron Man, Hulk and more. PUNK's marketing idea that combines the most popular cultural elements and art makes it quickly gain a high topicality and investment attraction in the market.

The craze has faded, and the problems exposed by the MeMe market

Under the MeMe craze led by PEPE, the MeMe market is showing a hot scene this year. The price of many MeMe coins rose by more than 1000% in just one day, but this wave of enthusiasm quickly subsided. In just one week, the price of PEPE has fallen by nearly 65%. This short-lived frenzy and quick pullback reveals many of the problems facing the current MeMe market. Although MeMe coin has gained the attention of mainstream institutions and investors, there is still a big gap compared with mainstream value coins.

First of all, the bubble risk of MeMe currency is the biggest challenge for its development. Taking PEPE as an example, its rise and fall in a very short period of time exposed the bubble risk of the current MeMe market. Driven by investor FOMO sentiment, excessive speculation may arise, leading to inflated prices. In addition, some unscrupulous elements use the MeMe currency market to manipulate prices, further exacerbating the risk of bubbles. To this end, MeMe currency needs to take measures to prevent excessive price fluctuations, such as strengthening supervision and improving the transparency of exchanges, etc., to regulate market order.

Secondly, the lack of practical application scenarios is also an important challenge for the development of the MeMe market. At present, MeMe coins have relatively few application scenarios in real life, which limits their actual market value and makes it difficult to attract more users. In contrast, mainstream value coins have been widely used in various fields, such as cross-border payment, international trade, financial investment, etc., and have a stable market foundation and high market recognition. However, due to the lack of practical application scenarios, the value of MEME coins is difficult to be quantified. Therefore, when the encryption market fluctuates, MEME is extremely vulnerable to sharp rises and falls due to market sentiment.

In addition, compared with mainstream value coins, MeMe coins have not yet gained enough recognition and trust. The issuance mechanism, governance structure, and exchange transparency of MeMe coins still need to be improved. In order to gain wider recognition, MeMe coins need to establish links with mainstream digital currencies (such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.), and realize interconnection through cross-chain technology. At the same time, MeMe currency also needs to build its own unique brand and Internet cultural connotation to distinguish it from other digital currencies.

In short, although the MeMe market was once in full swing in the short term, as the boom subsided, the problems exposed by the market became more and more obvious. Problems such as bubble risk, lack of application scenarios and insufficient recognition have brought challenges to the development of the MeMe market. To achieve sustained and stable development, MeMe Coin needs to constantly improve itself, strengthen its connection with mainstream value coins, and play a greater role in practical application scenarios.

Summarize

In the MEME coin craze, people's awareness and demand for encrypted assets have been fully demonstrated. Although the value of MEME coin stems from its unique social culture and network effects, its success also reflects the widespread recognition of encrypted assets. Although there are many imperfections in the current MEME coins, novel MEME coins continue to emerge, providing new possibilities and innovative directions for blockchain applications. As a proverb says: "If you don't break, you can't stand." In the future, MEME coins need to experience continuous innovation, vibration and fluctuation to gain a firm foothold. We expect that in the near future, MEME currency will become an open digital economy integrating technology, culture, economy and other elements.