Chinese Meme coins break the circle: from cultural phenomenon to wealth creation movement, the dark battle of exchanges and the thawing of East and West.

A leading exchange has ignited interest, becoming the first Chinese coin to be listed on the perpetual futures of a leading exchange.

In the past two weeks, this term has exploded in the crypto world. From the beginning, it has been both a joke and a dream; the founder himself never expected that a casual reply could lead to so much that followed.

First, the CEO of a large exchange followed the trend to discuss, then the Chinese Ticker craze of a well-known public chain and another chain followed one after another, and then a founder publicly announced the so-called “listing terms”, leading to a confrontation between the two chains and the exchange. Finally, a leader of a top public chain ended the turmoil with a statement: “Starting the life mode of a top exchange on the new public chain.”

But what this represents may be more than just a ticker; it may signify a deeper cultural migration. This could be the first time that a large number of high market cap meme coins are using Chinese instead of English. What does this cultural symbolism represent?

Foreigners playing with Chinese Memes, what are they thinking?

A Polish trader and community operator, Barry, had a typical reaction at that time. He recalled being stunned when he first saw a certain Chinese-marked coin surpass a market value of 20 million USD. “On one hand, I realized that there is still a lot of room for this type of coin. When it surged to 60 million USD, or even 100 million USD, the European community went crazy, everyone was rushing to inject money into the chain, just because the price had risen, but they couldn't figure out why.”

On-chain data confirms this trend. On a certain day in October, the daily trading volume of a mainstream chain surged to $6.05 billion, directly returning to the level of the mechanism coin meme market in 2021, except this time it was led by Chinese Meme coins.

On that day, over 100,000 new traders participated in this market wave. The key point is that nearly 70% of them made money. This attracted a large number of “foreigners” to engage in on-chain activities of a certain mainstream blockchain, with active addresses increasing by nearly 1 million compared to the same period last month.

But the problem arises. Western investors often rush in only when prices soar, and it is only afterwards that they “check in Chinese” to understand what is going on. The differences in culture and trading habits have led to direct losses for European and American players.

Barry once said something very poignant: “In the past, European Meme investments followed American internet culture, characterized by self-deprecation and a spirit of rebellion, but the sudden emergence of Chinese Memes has left many Westerners feeling lost.”

Why the Chinese Community is Easier to Establish Resonance

European traders enjoy playing with Meme projects, primarily relying on a certain well-known public chain, often led by famous KOLs or teams. These types of communities are built slowly and carry significant risks—those who hold a large amount of bottom chips can also dump the market, which is why it is so difficult to establish long-term projects in the European region.

The Chinese community is different. They pay more attention to emotions and stories. Project teams and Meme communities share stories in WeChat groups to create resonance and drive emotions. This emotional drive under such “fair” conditions can theoretically sustain a longer community lifecycle.

This round of market conditions is simply too friendly for Chinese players. As long as you buy the IP or opinions of influencers that you think are popular, you can “print money at will”. There is a retail investor who specializes in Chinese coins, who participated in 65 types of on-chain Chinese Meme coins within 7 days, initially spreading 100-300 dollars wide, and then increasing positions in the coins with outstanding momentum, ending the week with a net profit of about 87,000 dollars.

This high-frequency “net casting” layout reflects, to some extent, the rapid speculative style of most retail investors in the Chinese community towards new tracks. At the same time, players from Europe and the United States are beginning to abandon small market cap Meme coins around $500,000, shifting towards projects with more certainty starting at $5 million.

Figures and institutions like Barry, who connect the East and West, are also becoming active, helping Asian projects gain trust in the West and assisting European teams in entering Asia. He believes that the cultural differences arising from personal experiences may be nurturing new cross-domain collaboration opportunities.

From Satirical Meme to Ideological Meme

From a macro perspective, the trend of Meme coins is rooted in the collision of cultural genes.

The ancestor of Western Meme coins is Dogecoin, created in 2013 by two programmers as a joke. Initially, it was a satire against the serious demeanor of Bitcoin, but due to the celebrity effect (such as a well-known entrepreneur) and community enthusiasm, it reached a peak market value of 88.8 billion dollars in May 2021.

Later, a certain coin also had a similar experience. As a cultural meme nurtured by a certain community, it went online in early 2023 and quickly became a hit, with a market value once exceeding $1 billion. This project completely relied on the popularity of internet culture, without pre-sales, team allocations, or a roadmap. The team stated that the coin “has no intrinsic value and is for entertainment purposes only.”

This value system dominated a large number of well-known public chain Meme coins afterwards, characterized by nihilism, reflecting the “subversion of real-world values” and dark humor in Western internet culture. Meme images and rebellious spirit on a certain well-known public chain captured investors' imagination and long dominated the attention economy.

Chinese Meme coins have completely different characteristics, often rooted in resonance and identity projection.

For example, there are coins that mock the working class at the grassroots level, directly satirizing social realities. Some series of coins reflect netizens' fantasies of escaping reality. “Life of a certain leading exchange” directly embodies the dream of getting rich overnight in the crypto market. Their common characteristic is that they all carry an official shadow.

This is the cultural difference under the framework of thinking. For Chinese people, this is called widening the road, while for most European and American players, such names only mean that the rise space is controlled by whether the “system” is willing to pull the market.

The explosion of Chinese meme coins like “The Life of a Certain Leading Exchange” is actually directly attributed to this emotional resonance. Its slogan draws a comparison between the life of a certain leading exchange and the previously popular “life of a certain person”. This innovative narrative is clearly different from the satire of Dogecoin, appealing more to loyalty and sentiment.

When this kind of impression is understood by enough people, this Ticker becomes tied to the system. When it is mocked, the official “has to pump the price,” which may be the reason why many people can still hold on after being washed out.

The Meticulously Orchestrated Wealth Creation Movement

This round of Meme frenzy is not entirely spontaneously generated by retail investors; it is also the result of careful cultivation by a leading exchange's ecosystem.

From a joke by a certain executive, a reply from a certain founder, to a series of official interactions, and then to the launch of a Meme platform by a leading exchange, the positive news is released step by step and phase by phase. High market value Meme coins are promoted over time, mid-term liquidity is ensured, and long-term sustainability is maintained, bringing the originally chaotic issuance of Meme coins into the official system, making the festivities more organized and continuously focusing market attention on a certain mainstream chain.

This “upward step” expectation is why we do not feel a significant liquidity siphoning effect between the plates when multiple popular projects emerge in the early stages of the market.

This is a tiered wealth effect formed under the joint action of the official and the community. This path validates the structured listing expectations behind the Chinese Meme coin. This level of market consensus was unimaginable just a few months ago.

In contrast, Western Meme coins are more about luck-driven community revelry or conspiracy group promotion. This time, however, a certain mainstream chain ecosystem has transformed the revelry into a blatant “wealth creation movement” under the multiple roles of its founder, platform, and community.

The Public Opinion Battle and Ice-Breaking Moment of the Exchange

This turmoil has also sparked fierce public relations battles between exchanges.

At a certain point in time, the head of a new emerging public chain published a tweet calling for everyone to resist centralized trading platforms that charge 2%-9%. Three days later, the founder of a prediction market invested by a compliant platform revealed on social media that he found out that to go live on a leading exchange, the project party needed to pledge a large amount of tokens and pay high fees, including an 8% airdrop and marketing allocation of the total tokens, as well as a $250,000 deposit.

He compared the differences between the two platforms and believed that a certain compliant platform values the project itself more, while a certain leading exchange is similar to “listing fees.” As soon as these words were spoken, the leading exchange quickly published an article denying the accusation, stating that the claim is “completely untrue and defamatory,” emphasizing that it “never charges listing fees,” and even threatened legal action.

Then issued a more restrained statement, acknowledging that the initial response was excessive, but reiterating that no listing fees are charged.

As this debate intensified, a certain compliant platform responded quickly. The head of a certain emerging public chain publicly stated on social media: “There should be zero fees for projects to go live on the exchange.”

But public opinion began to reverse. A certain compliant platform formally announced, as if “in spite”, that it would include the chain of a leading exchange in its support list. This is the first time in history that a compliant platform has announced support for tokens issued by a directly competing mainnet. The founder of a leading exchange expressed welcome on social media and encouraged the compliant platform to list more projects from a certain mainstream chain.

The founder who originally leaked the information also began to actively reach out. The attitude of a certain emerging public chain leader has changed a full 180 degrees. First, they released a demonstration video of the platform, in which they even used “a certain leading exchange's life” as an example token, and jokingly said in Chinese, “Starting a certain leading exchange life mode on the new platform.” They also replied under the Twitter account of the founder of the certain leading exchange, stating, “a certain leading exchange life + new platform life = the strongest combination.”

This series of actions is interpreted by the industry as a breakthrough for the China-US crypto camp, and it also inadvertently brought out a long-lost little golden dog for a certain emerging public chain.

When the trading volume and attention brought by the Asian market reach a certain scale, Western trading platforms have to actively approach the Chinese community. The competition among trading platforms is also intertwined with cultural narratives.

Language is opportunity; understanding culture is the key to participation.

The mainstream in Europe and the United States has given high attention to this matter, and many Western retail investors in the group lamented, “We don't understand the rise in coin prices,” with most people hurriedly buying in only after the price took off.

Even in communities like Barry's that have deep interactions with the Chinese system, it is common to “know its meaning but not its significance” when it comes to a Meme coin with internal cultural connotations. This shows that for overseas investors, Chinese elements have once become a new obstacle.

This wave emphasizes the concept that “language is opportunity.” For the coin circle, the cultural sentiments behind different languages themselves are valuable resources. This is the first time that European and American investors need to understand Chinese culture in order to participate in this feast.

Barry believes that “the current trend of Chinese memes is nearing its end. The longer this cycle lasts, the worse the PTSD will be for traders. We can see that these coins have started to rotate towards smaller market caps and faster segments.”

However, he also said, “English and Chinese have already become the main components of the Meme market, and this situation will not change quickly. China has a larger market and is more easily driven by emotions. The European market tends to lag behind. I believe English Tickers may return, but they will become more integrated with Asian culture, becoming more infused with Chinese humor, symbolism, and aesthetics.”

To capture the next wave of Meme coin opportunities, relying solely on luck is no longer sufficient; it is also necessary to delve into the languages and cultures of different regional communities. AI may currently assist in cross-linguistic communication, such as automatically generating Chinese meme images and translating social media dynamics to accelerate information dissemination, but AI can hardly replace a deep understanding of cultural contexts.

We may see a more polarized crypto world. More and more emerging public chains are starting to feature the Chinese ticker “Golden Dog”. There is a new trend of integration and mutual learning between Western and Eastern communities, but there may also be a fragmented ecosystem where each side acts independently. Perhaps within the cracks of these cultural differences lies the next opportunity.