Observation: Where the Dogecoin/SHIB Summer Craze Came From and Where to Go

Wu said author | Colin Wu

Editor of this issue | Colin Wu

Anti-Wall Street is part of American popular culture. Retail investors in the cryptocurrency circle are dissatisfied with the mainstream cryptocurrency being controlled by Wall Street and scientists, and Musk has successfully led this "anti-elite" sentiment. The craze is fading, but Dogecoin and others will not disappear. They will exist as part of the diverse culture of the crypto industry.

As early as January when WSBwallstreetbets emerged, our article judged:

From the Occupy Wall Street in the past to the WSB movement and Bitcoin today, they can actually be said to be the products of this anti-Wall Street trend. Both have inherited the spiritual legacy of the Occupy Wall Street movement and represent the challenge of the traditional marginal groups (geeks, otakus, retail investors, etc.) to the pricing power of the traditional Wall Street elite.

Cryptocurrency was born to fight against the mainstream, but now mainstream institutions and retail investors are on the same front. Dogecoin, a product of community culture that is not recognized by institutions, has a surge in sentiment similar to GME. Regardless of the outcome of this GME incident, it indicates that a new era has arrived.

(For details, please read Retail Investors vs. Wall Street. Will WSB enter the crypto space?)

WSB died soon, but the MEME culture that carried its spirit ignited the crypto industry. Dogecoin rose 37 times under Musk's orders; Dogecoin's "altcoin" SHIB rose 274 times in the past 30 days and was simultaneously listed on OKEx and Huobi on the 8th; losercoin (lowb), whose Chinese community is still immature, attracted attention.

One reason may be that Bitcoin and Ethereum have become too elitist (and too expensive). Bitcoin has become a game between Wall Street and the US government, and the Ethereum ecosystem has become a paradise for scientists. If you don’t understand finance and code, you can’t integrate into the community at all.

As mentioned in the previous article, Bitcoin is a product of "anti-Wall Street", but the driving force of Bitcoin's rise today comes from Wall Street institutions. This is very ironic. To some extent, its fate has been controlled by Wall Street bankers and the US financial regulators who represent their interests. A single word from US officials can cause Bitcoin to plummet. Ethereum and the DeFi ecosystem around Ethereum have become sophisticated and complex, with increasingly high barriers to entry, and scientists have become the core of the DeFi ecosystem. In addition, the unit price of Bitcoin and Ethereum is too expensive for retail investors (MEME coin settings generally have a large total volume and extremely low unit price).

In this context, the American tradition of "anti-Wall Street" has spread from the stock market to the cryptocurrency market. The emotions of the general public need an outlet. But the emotions of the "mob" also need a leader. WSB did not exist, so it failed quickly.

Musk showed up.

Just imagine, if there is no Musk, will Dogecoin/SHIB still be so popular? The answer is of course no.

Musk is the world's richest man and the most rebellious innovator. He wants to send humans to Mars. He is the top traffic on social media, with more fans than all the big Vs in the cryptocurrency circle combined.

Musk has inexplicably become a staunch supporter of Dogecoin, bringing together emotions. The same is true for SHIB (Shiba Inu), which is a Dogecoin altcoin and is, to some extent, taking over the Dogecoin. After Musk’s repeated calls, Dogecoin has not risen much in the past seven days, while SHIB has doubled eightfold.

Retail investors’ enthusiasm comes and goes quickly. In fact, the popularity of Dogecoin on Twitter has begun to decline. And the discussion of SHIB on Twitter is even quieter. It was only because Huobi and OK launched it on the same day that this wave of enthusiasm was successfully brought from the West to China. This also led to a losercoin created in China.

China's losercoin suddenly became popular because of an interview article about "giving up on oneself" (I actually saw such an AMA in the cryptocurrency circle). In its community, you can experience the pleasure of Chinese-style MEME: get rid of the anxiety of "competing to make money" in the Chinese cryptocurrency circle, laugh at retail investors who join the group to buy lowb in the hope of getting rich, and tell them that the lowb project will run away and crash at any time.

However, MEME craze has also begun to face resistance from the elites.

The chairman of the US SEC has repeatedly warned about the "manipulation" of cryptocurrencies by social media, and once again pointed the finger at Musk. In the cryptocurrency industry, Barry, the most powerful DCG boss, hopes that everyone will shift their attention from Dogecoin back to Bitcoin, and openly shorted Dogecoin, which triggered ridicule from the entire network. Industry elites have gone from thanking Musk in the early days to criticizing him, believing that the MEME craze he set off has prevented society from seeing the true technological progress and social value of the crypto industry.

The rebellious Musk may not care. In the foreseeable future, Musk and his rebellious forces will continue to encourage the emergence of MEMEs one after another. The anti-elite and anti-Wall Street tradition behind Dogecoin, like the silent majority of Trump voters, will become an indispensable part of cryptocurrency. Prices have become the fuel that carries MEME culture, and every surge and plunge stimulates the enthusiasm that is about to dissipate to rekindle.

Finally, let us learn the way of thinking of the "veil of ignorance" in the theory of justice: If there is no Musk, if we abandon our personal interests and positions, is there any meaning for Dogecoin/SHIB to exist? I think there is.

The world is not black and white, but diverse. Controversy and arguments are not bad for the industry, just as V God has always kept Dogecoin in his investment portfolio, which will make the crypto industry richer and more diverse.

Welcome to read Wu's selected reports : Huobi exclusive report , Binance exclusive report , Bitmain series , supervision and card freezing series , Filecoin series , currency circle chaos exposure , mining farm supervision dynamics , etc.

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