The Rise of MEME Token: From Internet Culture to Mainstream Investment

The rise of DOGE in 2021 marked the emergence of MEME Tokens, while the explosion of MEME in 2024 signals a shift in market investment logic. Today, MEME has become a mainstream investment category favored by investment institutions and market funds.

The Extension of Internet Culture

The origin of MEME predates blockchain, stemming from internet culture. Most successful MEME projects today emerged after the rise of internet social interactions. For example, Doge, SHIB, and PEPE represent communication and exchange that have arisen globally through the internet, serving as the roots of online culture, also known as "grassroots culture."

MEME is everywhere, and behind every MEME there is a story. These stories spread globally through the internet, bringing a sense of belonging to people, which is also an important reason why MEMEs become popular. MEMEs mainly sprout and spread through social platforms, chat software, and forums, becoming an important way for people to express opinions and vent emotions, distinct from the mainstream and rigid online information.

MEME expresses people's thoughts in specific scenarios through concise means (such as short texts, innovative words, images, memes, etc.). Its widespread dissemination encourages those who do not understand MEME to learn and integrate, spreading like a virus. A sense of belonging is the core value of MEME and the main driving force behind the rise in the price of MEME.

Blockchain Empowers MEME

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

The explosion of altcoins during the bull market in 2017 and the subsequent chaos in the market (ICO chaos) laid the foundation for the second rise of DOGE. This was also a key factor for DOGE's renewed recognition in the market in 2021. Even without the push from specific public figures, other celebrities may also promote MEME. Dog-themed MEME projects like SHIB began to emerge, and MEME entered the 2.0 era.

In this round of rising in 2024, the chaos in the market has transformed into high valuations for some projects and inappropriate marketing to users, and MEME is thriving once again. The sluggishness of the mainstream market to some extent represents grassroots investors' resistance to the chaos of certain projects, while MEME's fair distribution and price performance have precisely addressed the pain points for everyone, naturally attracting a lot of attention. MEME has entered the 3.0 era.

The development history of MEME shows that one important reason for its popularity is the inaction and reckless behavior of the mainstream market. As grassroots retail investors, we do not have enough strength and capital to resist such behavior, so we can only turn in the opposite direction. What retail investors lack the least is enthusiasm and the ability to spread, which is also where its value lies, and is the basic consideration for our choice of MEME.

Potential MEME Features

Not all MEME have investment value. Similar to the chaos of mainstream Tokens, the MEME space also has a mix of good and bad. For ordinary investors, identifying potential MEME projects is crucial. We can summarize some characteristics by analyzing past successful MEME projects.

Successful MEME Project Case

1. DOGE: Acquired through mining, it had a large supply and low price in the early days, making it suitable for online tipping and supporting multiple social platforms. The community slogan "To The Moon" is widely circulated.

2. SHIB: Themed around Shiba Inu, it adopts a fair distribution method and possesses entertainment attributes. At the same time, it is committed to becoming a "value coin," launching projects like DEX, and exploring the path of transforming from MEME to value coin.

3. PEPE: Based on the popular internet meme of Pepe the Frog, it has a large user base. In addition to the liquidity pool, it has also introduced a deflationary mechanism and redistribution mechanism, attracting the attention of investors and institutions.

4. WIF: A dog-themed MEME Token on the Solana chain, characterized by low cost and fast transfers. The creator's balance is set to zero to ensure decentralization, endorsed by well-known personalities, standing out among numerous dog coins.

5. PUFF: A MEME project on the Mantle chain aimed at the mETH community, themed around dragons. It innovatively defines meme narratives, allowing users to mint PUFF through mETH, establishing AMM pools for free exchange.

The common point of the explosive MEME

1. Fair distribution and low-threshold participation: From power mining to fair distribution, allowing community users to participate at a low cost and accumulate a large user base.

2. Value-oriented: Shifting from purely the use of internet culture to more value aspects, such as SHIB's Swap and PEPE's deflationary mechanism, indicates that pure price speculation is insufficient to achieve popularity for hot MEME tokens.

3. Celebrity effect and financial support: Promotion by celebrities, KOLs, or public figures, as well as financial support from investment institutions.

4. Price performance: The price increase allows retail investors to profit, further enhancing the influence of the MEME token and attracting institutions and exchanges to position themselves.

MEME Coin Development Trends

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

1. Functional enhancements: such as DOGE's tipping and POW mechanism, SHIB's developed Swap, etc.

2. Application scenario expansion: For example, PUFF has increased the Token economic cycle, introduced GameFi elements, and the staking and gameplay attract large investors and institutions.

3. Ecosystem Development: PUFF's mETH incentives have attracted significant funding, promoting the development of the Mantle ecosystem.

4. Long-term planning: The MEME project team has begun to focus on long-term development rather than short-term speculation.

MEME, as an early promotional tool, can quickly gather crowds and funds, but long-term development requires empowerment and planning. Similar projects like AIDoge's surge brought significant traffic and trading data to Arbitrum.

Conclusion

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

However, projects that purely rely on the MEME concept find it difficult to sustain development. Mid-term technological follow-up is crucial for attracting institutional investors and exchanges, the "regular army." In this process, chips may gradually shift from retail investors to institutions, driving the transformation and growth of the project. After retail investors profit, they usually develop a greater sense of identity with MEME culture, forming a positive feedback loop that helps MEME gain more recognition.