MEME Token: From Internet Culture to Mainstream Investment

The rise of Dogecoin in 2021 marked the emergence of MEME Tokens, while the explosion of MEME in 2024 signifies a shift in market investment logic. MEME has become a popular investment category sought after by investment institutions and market funds, entering the ranks of mainstream investment products.

Originating from Internet Culture

The concept of MEME existed before blockchain technology and originated from internet culture. Currently, successful MEME projects in the market mostly stem from popular elements of internet social platforms. For example, Doge, SHIB, PEPE, etc., represent the interactions generated by global netizens through the internet, are products of internet culture, and are referred to as "grassroots culture".

MEME is everywhere, and behind every MEME there is a story. These stories spread globally through the internet, resonating with people, which is an important reason for the popularity of MEME. MEME emerges and becomes widely known through social platforms, chat software, forums, and other channels. Social media sites are the main battleground for the popularity of MEME and an important way for people to express their views and vent their emotions, distinguishing them from the mainstream, rigid online information.

MEME expresses people's thoughts in specific online scenarios through concise text, innovative vocabulary, images, and emoticons in a simple way (. Its widespread dissemination encourages those who do not understand MEME to learn about and integrate into it, spreading rapidly like a virus. The sense of identification is the value of MEME and is also the main driving force supporting the increase in the price of MEME coin.

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Blockchain Empowers MEME, Triggering a New Market Landscape

Blockchain technology has given value to many intangible things, and MEME is no exception. Strictly speaking, Bitcoin was also a kind of MEME in its early days. After the popularity of Bitcoin, a large number of worthless altcoins emerged, leading to market chaos, and DOGE was born to satirize this phenomenon. DOGE first became popular in the market after 2013, and can be seen as the MEME 1.0 era.

The 2017 bull market saw a proliferation of altcoins and renewed chaos in the market ), laying the foundation for the second rise of DOGE, which was also an important factor in DOGE's re-recognition in the market in 2021. Even without Musk's boost, there might be other public figures to support MEME. Dog-themed projects like SHIB have also begun to emerge, marking the entry of MEME into the 2.0 era.

In the current wave of price increases in 2024, the chaotic market has transformed into high valuations for VC coins and numerous "value" projects employing PUA tactics on users, while MEME is thriving once again. The sluggishness of the mainstream market partly reflects ordinary investors' resistance to VC coins and the chaotic practices of exploiting retail investors. In contrast, the fair distribution and price performance of MEME precisely address the pain points of many, naturally garnering significant attention, and MEME has entered the 3.0 era.

One important reason for the popularity of MEME is the inaction and misconduct of the mainstream market. As grassroots retail investors, it is difficult to resist such behavior and they can only turn in the opposite direction. Retail investors lack nothing but enthusiasm and the ability to spread information, which is their value and also the foundational factor for choosing MEME.

Characteristics of Potential MEME Projects

Not all MEME have investment value, and there are mixed phenomena in the MEME track. For ordinary investors, identifying potential MEME projects is crucial. We can summarize experiences from past successful MEME projects:

DOGE is obtained through mining, with a large early supply and low price, making it suitable for online tipping, supporting multiple social platforms, and sponsoring sports events, aligning with the tipping culture abroad. The community slogan "To The Moon" has been promoted by Musk, and various MEME images are circulating on Twitter.

SHIB, themed around the Shiba Inu, is an extension of DOGE and adopts a fair distribution model with entertainment attributes. It continuously builds in its development direction, launching DEX and other Tokens like BONE, and plans to launch its mainnet in 2023, exploring the transformation of MEME into a value coin.

PEPE is based on the popular internet meme of Pepe the Frog, and has a strong user base. In addition to a liquidity pool, it also introduces a deflationary and redistribution mechanism to attract investor attention and support from market makers and investment firms.

WIF is a dog-themed MEME Token on Solana, characterized by low cost and fast transfers. The creator's balance is set to zero to ensure decentralization, and it is endorsed by well-known personalities, standing out among many dog coins. WIF has strong speculative attributes, and its price surge further increases investor attention.

PUFF is a MEME project on the Mantle chain aimed at the mETH community, themed around dragons. Users can mint PUFF through mETH and create AMM pools for free exchange. Large purchases by well-known traders have made PUFF the center of attention.

Common Characteristics of Successful MEME

From DOGE to PUFF, we can see that the distribution of MEME and its low threshold are one of the main factors for success. From mining with computing power to fair distribution, allowing community users to participate at a low cost has built a large user base, becoming the backbone of MEME dissemination.

The MEME project has gradually shifted from early internet cultural uses to value aspects, such as the Swap of SHIB, deflation of PEPE, low cost and decentralization of WIF, and the value representation of PUFF centered around mETH, indicating that pure price speculation is not enough to create popular MEME Tokens; a certain application scenario is also needed, and investors still have certain expectations.

In addition, there are celebrities/KOLs/public figures "promoting" and providing financial support behind every MEME. For example, Musk frequently mentions DOGE, WIF has endorsements from community celebrities, PEPE has been listed on top exchanges with investment institutions entering, and PUFF has received significant purchases from star traders. The celebrity effect plays a key role in the success of MEME projects.

The price increase allows retail investors to profit, enhancing the influence of MEME Token and attracting institutions and exchanges to position themselves. The development path of MEME is contrary to that of high-financing VC coins; the fact that institutions take over from retail investors is an important sign of MEME's success. VC coins focus on project teams and profits for investment institutions, ultimately being taken over by retail investors, which has led to the current coldness of VC and the popularity of MEME.

MEME Token的发展方向

High market cap MEME coins do not gain attention purely through speculation. For investors, economic models and application scenarios are factors that must be considered for long-term development.

Like DOGE's tipping and POW, the Swap developed by the SHIB team, this trend has further strengthened this year, with PUFF increasing application scenarios and Token economic circulation. The project development direction is approaching ordinary "value coins", and the MEME attribute has become the main distinguishing factor.

The mETH incentives of PUFF have attracted $300 million in funding, making it the first DeFi project in the Mantle ecosystem and promoting the development of the Mantle ecosystem. PUFF also plans to add GameFi elements, with staking and gameplay designed to attract large investors and institutions. This indicates that the MEME project team is starting to focus on long-term development rather than short-term hype.

The development path of PUFF shows that MEME can quickly gather crowds and funds as an early promotional tool, but long-term development requires empowerment and planning. Technical analysis is more acceptable to investors, such as AIDoge's surge bringing huge traffic and trading data to Arbitrum.

Conclusion

MEME has gained recognition from numerous investors, leveraging humor and internet culture as its user base, making it easy to resonate with people. This is a low-cost way to quickly penetrate the user market and establish project communities, and it is expected to become a key grassroots project's cold start strategy.

However, projects that solely rely on the MEME concept find it difficult to sustain development. Mid-term technological follow-up is crucial for attracting investment institutions and "regular forces" such as exchanges. Chips may gradually shift from retail investors to institutions, driving the transformation and growth of the project. After retail investors profit, their sense of identity with MEME culture strengthens, creating a positive flywheel effect that helps MEME gain more recognition.