Is value investing dead, but MEME lives forever?

BOME and SLERF ended their crazy rise, and the market once again experienced and witnessed another round of "gold rush" to get rich. Although the heat wave of MEME has not completely subsided, the market has briefly regained some calm.

In addition to lamenting the increase and income of "one day in the cryptocurrency world is equivalent to one year in traditional finance", many "old investors" are discussing a question: "Why did MEME coin start so early in this cycle?" According to the sector rotation in the past few cycles, when the popularity of a new concept and new narrative reaches its peak, accompanied by the relay of MEME coin, the flowers are gone, which is the prelude to the end of the bull market. However, in this cycle, the order of sector rotation seems to have been rearranged. MEME coin does not play by the rules and has become the main line in the early and middle stages of this cycle.

In the theory of "value investment", MEME and Dogecoin have always been marginalized, even in the bubble-filled cryptocurrency circle. But in fact, many people do not understand what MEME is, let alone the difference between MEME and Dogecoin.

From the dog logo of DogeCoin to today's inscriptions, MEME has become a unique cultural symbol and communication method in the cryptocurrency circle. So how did these seemingly funny and even absurd cultural elements gain such a prominent position in the crypto world? This article will explore the relationship between MEME and blockchain, and its impact on cryptocurrency culture.

1.MEME is gene

1.1 Origin of the MEME concept

Whenever talking about the birth and origin of MEME, Richard Dawkins is definitely a person who cannot be avoided.

In 1976, Richard Dawkins first proposed the concept of MEME in his groundbreaking book The Selfish Gene. In the last chapter of The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins introduced the concept of "MEME", defining it as a unit of cultural transmission, similar to genes in biological inheritance. MEMEs can be melodies, ideas, clothing styles, language habits, technologies, or any other phenomenon of cultural transmission. They spread from one person to another through imitation, thereby replicating themselves in human culture. The success and survival of MEMEs, like genes, depends on their replication accuracy, persistence, and their "attractiveness" or utility to the host.

In more understandable terms, MEME can be a stalk, a joke, an emoticon, etc., a subculture formed after widespread dissemination. MEME coins are a way to value this subculture.

With the rise of the Internet and social media, MEME has become an important part of global cultural exchange, and its speed and scope of dissemination far exceed Richard Dawkins' original intention. Today, MEME, with its humorous and satirical form, not only quickly spreads entertainment and information, but also plays an important role in shaping public opinion and cultural phenomena, especially in the field of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, where the influence of MEME is particularly significant.

It is worth mentioning that in order to commemorate Dawkin’s birthday on March 26, the community specially launched a MEME coin called “Dawkoin”. Dawkin shared the news on social media without showing any resistance or disgust.

1.2 Bitcoin is the earliest MEME

"In a sense, all crypto tokens have MEME content, but the content is different, and more than 50% is the norm." This is the view recently expressed by Blue Fox Notes, one of the earliest media in the blockchain industry. If we look at it from 0-100, the MEME content represented by pepe and doge is more than 99.9%; AI has 90% MEME content; BTC L2 has 80% MEME content; Defi has 30-50% MEME content.

So, can Bitcoin also be said to be the earliest MEME?

We all know that in January 2009, on a small server in Helsinki, Finland, Satoshi Nakamoto invented the Bitcoin system and mined the first block, also known as the "Genesis Block," and the first 50 Bitcoins were also announced. Technically speaking, Bitcoin is the key to the blockchain, relying on cryptography, distributed storage, consensus mechanisms and other technologies that have gradually matured over the past half century.

But nowadays, when people talk about Bitcoin, they don’t just discuss its technical algorithms. As the first successful cryptocurrency, the philosophical meaning behind Bitcoin, the anonymous founder Satoshi Nakamoto, and the spirit of fighting against the traditional financial system all give it a meaning beyond technology.

So from this perspective, Bitcoin itself is the earliest MEME, which represents the pursuit of power, freedom and system change. This symbolic meaning goes beyond its function as a currency and becomes a symbol of a cultural and social movement.

Some people also say that MEME coins are the "attention economy", and the more attention-grabbing MEME coins are, the better MEME coins are. After 15 years of development, after the price broke through the historical high of $71,000, the market value of Bitcoin has jumped to $1.398 trillion, surpassing silver ($1.379 trillion) and becoming the eighth largest asset in the world. The percentage of the total market value of cryptocurrencies represented by Bitcoin has reached 49.8%, and Bitcoin has a strong dominant position in the encryption industry.

With the passage of the Bitcoin ETF at the beginning of this year and the rise of the Bitcoin ecosystem, more and more traders and investors are "returning to basics" and refocusing their attention and liquidity on the Bitcoin ecosystem.

Bitcoin is the most eye-catching token in the crypto industry. From this perspective, isn’t Bitcoin also a MEME?

1.3 Inscriptions and NFT: MEME’s “derivatives”

Since MEME can be seen as a form of gene expression, MEME will definitely differentiate. This can also be found in the theoretical basis of Richard Dawkins' "The Selfish Gene", the origin of MEME mentioned in the previous article: MEME and genes are similar in their transmission and evolution mechanisms. Both are transmitted through the replication process, experience selection pressure, and will mutate under certain conditions.

Looking back at the leading MEME coins in the cryptocurrency circle, DogeCoin was originally created as a light-hearted version of Bitcoin, with the popular "Doge" MEME (a picture of a dog named Shiba Inu, accompanied by inner monologue-style text) as its logo. Its founder did not expect that this joke-based currency would be "favored" by Musk and eventually become the largest MEME coin in terms of market value today.

After twelve years, the crypto industry has developed a set of idiomatic logic. Project owners who have created new concepts and narratives have embraced and tied up with VC institutions, and after warming up with airdrops, they have set up various schemes to get the secondary market to take over. In this bull market, only TIA and SOL are considered good projects in the minds of old investors - they have a good team, good VCs, Binance listings, and the track is expected to be hyped.

While all this should have continued according to common sense, the MEME track has undergone a series of mutations and derivatives, and the inscription of "spoiler" was born. The emergence and popularity of all "inscriptions" in the Bitcoin ecosystem was completely unexpected.

Since its birth, "Inscription" has naturally carried the community spirit of "fair launch" and "first is first", which happens to be the slogan of MEME. Since its birth in March, prejudice has been closely associated with the Bitcoin ecosystem, but it seems that it has never given up persuading everyone: "If you have prejudice, let the Bitcoin ecosystem grow until you have no prejudice."

The cost of printing an ORDI (1 including 1,000 coins) is between 2 and 3 US dollars. Based on the current price of 60 US dollars per ORDI, the current price of one ORDI is 60,000 US dollars. One year has passed, and if it has not been sold yet, based on the current price, this is an investment that has increased by more than 20,000 times.

In fact, the inscription is not the first variation and derivation of MEME. The diversity of MEME can also be reflected in the NFT track. As the biggest new narrative in the last cycle, NFT has also experienced a round of bull and bear. The NFT leader BAYC once fell below 13 ETH, not to mention the current situation of more NFT artists without capital support, so they are also looking for various ways out for themselves.

From the recent hot BOME and SLERF, we can also see that the cultural value that MEME coins bring to holders can also feed back the liquidity of NFT to a certain extent. Although the forms presented are different, the cultural attributes conveyed by NFT and MEME coins are essentially the same.

In addition to this broader form of derivatives, we can also see cultural derivatives of the series in some more specific MEMEs, such as Pepe the Frog.

This image was originally just a character in an online comic by cartoonist Matt Furie in 2005, but then it evolved into a widely recognized MEME symbol on the Internet. Unlike those MEMEs with clear creators, Pepe the Frog gathers a community of countless anonymous artists behind them, who create a variety of Pepe images that play a variety of roles in different cultural contexts and social media platforms.

The evolution of Pepe the Frog illustrates a unique phenomenon in meme culture: how a single image can give rise to a large and diverse cultural ecosystem. This cultural derivation is not simply a simple act of copying the original image, but a process involving creative reconstruction and cultural reinterpretation.

2. The cryptocurrency narrative keeps changing, but the MEME culture is unchanging

When we delve deeper into the nature of MEME and its relationship with blockchain, we find that the two have jointly built a unique cultural and emotional ecosystem in the crypto world. Blockchain is not only a technological innovation, it has also become a huge emotional field. MEME is not just an entertaining meme, but also plays an important role in shaping market narratives, attracting community participation, and driving up the value of cryptocurrencies in the blockchain industry.

2.1 The cryptocurrency world is a magnifying glass for emotions and narratives

Where there are people, there is the world, and where there is the world, there are emotions.

The cryptocurrency world has crazy bubbles and K-lines that jump up and down. It is not only a gathering place for funds, but also an amplified emotional pressure cooker.

From investors' passion for future technologies to fear and greed for market volatility, blockchain, as an emerging technology and financial field, amplifies the influence of these basic human emotions, thereby affecting market dynamics and investment decisions.

MEME is naturally capable of conveying emotions, from fanaticism to panic, in the form of humor, irony and even exaggeration. MEME can spread quickly among communities, triggering emotional resonance, thereby invisibly affecting the direction of the market.

In a short period of time, a successful MEME can attract a lot of attention and discussion, which in turn drives investors’ buying behavior and leads to a short-term rise in prices. This phenomenon is particularly common in the crypto market, where market sentiment can often affect price fluctuations to a large extent.

I remember that Yuval Noah Harari once said in his book "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" that Homo sapiens initially exchanged interpersonal information with each other through "gossip" and ways, and got to know others in person by commenting on them, thus establishing stable and close interpersonal organizations.

Later, people formed a common imagination through "storytelling" to build more universal trust, such as religion, country, currency, company, etc. Similarly, individuals in the crypto community can also form a strong group identity and goals through shared MEMEs and narratives.

This trust based on common imagination is the key factor that enables MEME to generate price in the cryptocurrency circle, and it is also the reason why it can attract a large number of cryptocurrency investors and users to participate.

2.2 MEME does not need a public chain, but a public chain needs MEME

From BTC to Solana chain, and the subsequent TON chain and Base chain, every popular public chain needs MEME coins to encourage and even create MEME culture.

The most representative one is Anatoly, co-founder of Solana. On the opening day of the Solana Community Annual Summit last year, which was Halloween, Anatoly appeared in a green dinosaur costume, becoming the most unique and eye-catching presence at the summit. Anatoly stood in front of everyone and introduced himself: "I'm Anatoly, and I'm a silly dragon." After saying this, Anatoly smiled embarrassedly, and the audience in the entire venue also laughed.

Everyone knows the story that followed. Silly became the hottest MEME coin at that time, and the community rediscovered that cryptocurrency trading on Solana was really smooth. The "Ethereum Killer" returned to the community's attention and became the "SBF Selection."

After Solana, everyone found that it is feasible for public chains to build brand recognition and community cohesion through MEME. A strong community built around a specific MEME can effectively promote the project, attract new users, and enhance the project's market position.

Now we can see that TON chain and Base chain are also eager to get a share of the trading liquidity of MEME coin. TVL has reached new highs, and the on-chain activity and transaction volume have also grown exponentially. The TON Foundation has also publicly announced that it is recruiting a MEMECOIN ecosystem manager.

2.3 Have we finally become disenchanted with various concepts?

A recent joke: "Seeing the superposition of concepts such as zk+DEPIN+rollup+ai, VCs in the cryptocurrency circle can't contain their excitement." Behind this joke, we can't help but think: Do we really have a deep understanding and demystification of various concepts in the field of cryptocurrency?

The continued popularity of MEME is like a mockery of the game organized by these so-called core circles. This mockery not only questions the technology itself, but also deeply criticizes the blind enthusiasm of the entire cryptocurrency market for new technologies and the neglect of their substantial applications.

"I don't understand it anyway, so I might as well speculate on MEME." The old leeks in the community seem to be overwhelmed, and the new leeks are even more confused. Under the rapid iteration of the currency circle narrative, MEME culture has flourished. The rapidity of BOME's listing on Binance has made many crypto projects "break the defense". After years of hard work, they still haven't been listed, but BOME did it in three days.

Let’s go back to the questions that the community has been asking recently: “Is MEME the end of blockchain?” or “Value investment is dead, MEME is immortal?” Although these questions seem absolute and even a little extreme, we have to admit that the biggest role of blockchain in the next ten years is still speculation, which may be the truth.