The Rise of MEME Token: New Landscape of the Crypto Market in 2024

The explosion of MEME Token in 2024 signifies a shift in the investment logic of the market. MEME has become a favored investment category among institutional investors and market funds, gradually entering the mainstream investment ranks.

The Extension of Internet Culture

MEME originated from the internet, prior to the emergence of blockchain technology. Currently prominent MEME projects mostly stem from social hotspots on the internet. For example, Doge, SHIB, PEPE, etc., represent cultural phenomena generated by global internet users communicating through the internet, referred to as "grassroots culture."

MEME is everywhere, and behind every MEME is a story. These stories are spread globally through the internet, resonating with people, which is key to the popularity of MEME. MEME sprouts on social platforms, chat apps, and forums, continually spreading. Major social websites are the main battleground for MEME's popularity and are also important channels for people to express their opinions and emotions.

MEME expresses ideas in specific scenarios through concise methods (such as short texts, novel words, images, and memes). Its widespread dissemination makes those unfamiliar with MEME willing to explore and integrate. Sense of belonging is the core value of MEME and the main driving force behind the price increase of MEME Token.

Blockchain Empowers MEME

Blockchain technology has given value to many intangible assets, and MEME is no exception. The early Bitcoin can also be seen as a kind of MEME to some extent. After the popularity of Bitcoin, a large number of worthless altcoins emerged, causing chaos in the market, and DOGE was created to satirize this phenomenon. DOGE first became popular in the market after 2013, which can be called the MEME 1.0 era.

During the bull market of 2017, the proliferation of altcoins and the chaos in the market (the chaos of ICOs) laid the foundation for the resurgence of DOGE. This was also an important factor in DOGE gaining market recognition again in 2021. Dog-themed MEME projects like SHIB also began to emerge, and MEME entered the 2.0 era.

In this round of price increase in 2024, the chaotic situation in the market has transformed into overvaluation of certain projects and PUA towards users, and MEME has developed again. The sluggishness of the mainstream market reflects to some extent the resistance of underlying investors to certain chaos, while the fair distribution and price performance of MEME just addresses everyone's pain points, naturally gaining a lot of attention, and MEME has entered the 3.0 era.

Characteristics of Successful MEME Projects

Not all MEMEs have investment value. By analyzing successful MEME projects, we can summarize some common characteristics:

1. DOGE: Obtained through mining, with a large early supply and low price, suitable for online tipping. Supports multiple social platforms and sponsors sports events and other activities. The community slogan "To The Moon" is widely circulated.

2. SHIB: Themed around Shiba Inu, issued through Fair Launch. It has a large entertainment property while continuously building, launching DEX, BONE Token, and mainnet, exploring the path of transforming MEME into a value coin.

3. PEPE: Issued based on the internet-famous comic frog Pepe. It has a rich user base and is widely used across major social platforms. A deflationary mechanism and redistribution mechanism have been added, attracting the attention of investors.

4. WIF: A dog-themed MEME Token on the Solana chain. It features low cost and fast transfer characteristics, with the creator's balance set to 0 to ensure decentralization. Endorsed by celebrities, it stands out among many dog coins.

5. PUFF: A MEME project on the Mantle chain aimed at the mETH community. Users can mint PUFF by creating a mysterious potion through mETH and establish an AMM pool for free exchange. The large purchases by well-known traders have attracted attention.

The Development Goals of MEME Token

High market cap MEME coins do not rely solely on hype for attention. For investors, economic models and application scenarios are necessary considerations for long-term development.

For example, the tipping function and POW mechanism of DOGE, the Swap developed by the SHIB team, etc. Recently, this trend has further strengthened, as PUFF has increased its application scenarios and token economic cycle, with the project's development direction approaching that of a regular "value coin", and the MEME attribute becoming the main distinguishing factor.

The mETH incentives of PUFF have attracted a large amount of capital, becoming a leading DeFi project in the Mantle ecosystem. In addition, PUFF plans to introduce GameFi elements, with staking and gameplay becoming important factors to attract large investors and institutions. This indicates that the MEME project team has begun to focus on long-term development rather than short-term speculation.

Summary

MEME has gained recognition from numerous investors, using humor and online culture as a user base, which easily evokes a sense of identity. This is a low-cost and rapid way of community building, expected to become a primary cold start strategy for grassroots projects.

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 exchanges, the "regular army." During this process, chips may gradually shift from retail investors to institutions, driving project transformation and growth. After retail investors profit, they often develop a greater recognition of MEME culture, forming a positive flywheel effect, which helps MEME gain more traction.