Author of the original text: Jerome
Original translation: Block unicorn
What is a Meme?
A "meme" is a unit for spreading cultural concepts and symbols, constantly spreading and propagating in people's consciousness. Like genes, memes also have different abilities to spread. Those that resonate strongly tend to last, while those with less influence are quickly forgotten.
The internet introduced the concept of "internet memes," which promote the rapid spread of memes and cultural concepts through forms such as images, videos, GIFs, and jokes. A study compared the spread of internet memes to the spread of diseases, pointing out that "memes spread in a way similar to diseases spread by the SIR model," infecting "individuals."
The spread of internet memes is similar to the spread of infectious diseases.
"Meme coins" are a type of cryptocurrency whose value comes entirely from related memes. Essentially, they bring economic value to the concept of memes.
With the emergence of meme coins, cultural concepts, symbols, and their propagation can be traded and speculated on. Their value is based on the relevance of memes and their ability to capture public opinion, creating a new market that can quantify cultural resonance and have financial value.
Brief History of Meme Coins
The following table and chart briefly outline the cryptocurrency cycles and the meme coins that have risen during these cycles:
POW Meme Coins
Proof of Work (POW) meme coins are mainly designed for miners to allocate resources to mine and sell new tokens. Many such meme coins initially appeared on the "Alternative Cryptocurrencies" subforum of Bitcointalk. Although many meme coins failed to enter exchanges, those that were successful were traded on platforms such as Cryptsy and BTC-E, which are now closed. Each meme coin is typically distinguished by factors such as name and brand, hash algorithm, block time, and supply, all of which contribute to its overall narrative (or "meme").
The first wave of tokens in the post-Bitcoin era was "meme coins," which, apart from new ideas, offered almost no intrinsic value. The image above shows some examples:
Except for Litecoin, all of these tokens have disappeared (reasons include low trading volume and market value, lack of exchange support, and susceptibility to 51% attacks). This may be attributed to several factors: weak meme stickiness (lack of cultural longevity) and participation cost issues (each meme coin is a complete blockchain).
Litecoin's enduring popularity may be attributed to the meme value derived from Bitcoin (digital silver), its earlier appearance compared to other meme coins, and continuous support from numerous exchanges.
Dogecoin: The First Meme Coin
In the summer of 2013, the original Dogecoin ("wow, much coin") began to spread on 4chan and Reddit. On December 8, 2013, Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus capitalized on this cultural trend and launched Dogecoin on Bitcointalk. This was the first cryptocurrency based on internet memes.
The success of Dogecoin gave rise to a new category of cryptocurrencies that are fun, humorous, ironic, use celebrities (such as Kanye West, Max Keiser), animals (such as Pandacoin), or are designed to attract specific communities. These were launched as proof of work tokens on the "Alternative Cryptocurrencies" subforum of Bitcointalk. "Technical details" became less important; everything revolved around "memes." The image above shows some examples:
ICO Boom and the Rise of Ethereum
The rise of Ethereum sparked a wave of innovation, bringing new use cases, better user experiences, and new users.
Some specific improvements include:
Easier token issuance (ERC20 standard)
Attracting new user groups (non-miners)
Token creators can earn more money (unlike zero-pre-mined PoW tokens, ERC20 is sold directly through ICOs)
Introduction of interoperability/unified ecosystem/unified wallet (via ERC20)
The ICO era gave rise to a wave of more "serious" projects, such as theDAO, Filecoin, Tezos, EOS, Cardano, Tron, and Bancor, which aimed to have practicality or purpose beyond meme value. During this period, although some meme coins were not particularly prominent, they still attracted some attention.
One example is the Useless Ethereum Token, launched in June 2017, which mocked the concept of ICOs and raised 310 ETH in its ICO.
Although Dentacoin's initial goal was to be a "cryptocurrency for dentists," it is still considered a meme coin and reached a peak market value of 2 billion USD in January 2018.
HAYCOIN was the first ERC20 token to be listed on Uniswap and was one of the meme coins created during this era (2018). Created by Uniswap founder Hayden Adams for testing the Uniswap protocol, it initially did not attract much attention or trading volume, but it resurfaced in 2023 due to its historical significance.
Collectible Memes and Early NFTs
In addition to cryptocurrencies, a subset of frog Pepe memes called "Rare Pepes" emerged, which were not publicly released and had a watermark saying "RARE PEPE DO NOT SAVE" if leaked.
From 2016 to 2018, a group of Counterparty developers and Pepe meme enthusiasts created the Rare Pepe Wallet (Pepe Cash) and planned to trade "Rare Pepe memes" on the Counterparty protocol.
Rare Pepes are generally considered the second NFT series in history and still hold value to this day, with some selling for over 500,000 USD.
As CryptoPunks, MoonCats, and CryptoKitties were released, NFTs entered the Ethereum era, representing unique tokens pointing to images and media. EtherRocks was initially a joke on Reddit in 2017, centered around collecting 100 colorful clipart rocks, and became popular in 2021, reaching a floor price of 305 ETH (worth $1 million) in August.
Another example is Unisocks (SOCKS), launched by Hayden Adams in May 2019, offering 500 pairs of physical socks exchangeable with SOCK (ERC20). The price of each pair of socks has soared to $53,000, potentially making them the most expensive socks in the world.
DeFi Summer
In June 2020, Compound Finance introduced a new token distribution method called "liquidity mining" or "yield farming," allowing users to lock assets to provide liquidity and earn token rewards.
This innovation kicked off the "DeFi summer," reaching its peak when "food coin" yield farms offered 10,000% annualized returns (in meme coins) for locking tokens in Yam or Pickle contracts.
Meme Stocks and Dogecoin
In 2021, stimulus measures, rate cuts, cheap capital, and global lockdowns created a high-risk environment.
Retail traders on Reddit popularized the "Gamestock" meme in early 2021, driven by Robinhood's user-friendly experience and zero-commission trading, leading to a rapid surge in its stock price.
The frenzy around "GME" sparked speculation in other assets, especially those available on Robinhood. DOGE was listed on Robinhood in 2018 at $0.008 and gained attention in 2021 due to Elon Musk's tweets, reaching a peak market value of $90 billion in May 2021.
DOGE's popularity gave rise to more dog-themed meme coins, such as Shiba Inu, Floki, and Safemoon, reaching high valuations within a few months.
NFT Craze: "Meme Coins with Pictures"
The ERC721 standard and platforms like OpenSea have spawned NFTs, unique encrypted assets representing "cultural" or "meme" expressions.
Prominent NFTs include CryptoPunks, Bored Apes, Squiggles, and Pudgy Penguins, used as profile pictures on Twitter and Discord, symbolizing status and "club membership."
Recent Trends (2023+)
As cryptocurrencies rebound from the bear market, new memes, cultures, ideas, and ecosystems continue to emerge, attracting increasing interest and attention to memes.
Common Patterns
Each cycle sees some form of meme coins presented in various technical forms, such as PoW coins, ERC20 tokens, and NFTs, using attention, narrative, and hype to survive and spread.
Memes precede tokens; the most successful meme coins leverage existing meme popularity for promotion.
Native crypto memes are just beginning to spread beyond the crypto community, such as Pudgy Penguins.
Low prices attract speculation; the price itself becomes a meme.
Strong communities and marketing are crucial for the success of meme coins.
From rapid growth to professional operations, meme coins continue to evolve.
Images and slogans drive the spread of memes.
Opportunities
Meme coins have a market value of over $600 billion and a daily trading volume of $13 billion, with significant financial value.
Getting in early on the next meme can bring profits for creators and investors, expanding influence and becoming early believers, whether as a ticket to wealth or a choice to follow specific KOLs.
免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。
