Author: Grapefruit, ChainCatcher
Editor: Nianqing, ChainCatcher
On October 9, the on-chain detective ZachXBT disclosed the holdings of the on-chain address of Meme coin analyst representative Murad, which quickly attracted the attention of the crypto community and triggered a narrative of revival hype about the old Meme coins. The layout of low-market-cap MEME coins is becoming an unspoken secret in the crypto community.
In fact, since Binance listed three Meme coins (Neiro, Turbo and BabyDoge) on September 15, triggering a dispute over the capitalization of Neiro and NEIRO tokens, the Meme coin market has set off a new round of hype. During the National Day holiday, reports about the Meme project were everywhere, and the community was full of stories of getting rich overnight. Vitalik sold the gifted MEME coins twice on the chain and publicly expressed his gratitude to the MEME project, causing the zoo coin Hippo MOODENG to increase nearly 100 times in a short period of time, which attracted investors to flock in, hoping to capture the birth of the next 100-fold MEME coin.
However, unlike the previous irregular and crazy hype of Meme coins, this round of Meme coin hype mainly revolves around: the dispute over the capitalization of the naming letters, donations from Vitalik Buterin and Vitalik Buterin selling coins to boost the market, and the revival of Cult (sarcasm culture) MEME coins.
Meme coin speculation has evolved from a public chain diversion to a dispute over the capitalization of letters in the name
In this round of Meme coin market, the difference in uppercase and lowercase letters has become a unique factor in speculation. The main reason for all this is that Binance launched Neiro spot and NEIRO contracts at the same time.
The name of the token NEIRO originally originated from the prototype of Dogecoin. On May 24 this year, the prototype of DOGE, Kabosu, passed away, which caused mourning in the crypto community. In addition to mourning, Kabosu's owner announced on the X platform that she adopted a new Shiba Inu, whose English name was translated as 'NEIRO'. Then there were multiple MEME projects with the same name, covering public chains such as Solana and Ethereum, and there were different MEME projects with different capitalizations on the same chain. However, with the cooling of the MEME market, many NEIRO projects on public chains have disappeared in the torrent of history, and the top two in market value are only NEIRO and Neiro, which are case-sensitive on the Ethereum chain.
On September 6, Binance announced the launch of the uppercase NEIRO contract trading pair, and on September 15, announced the launch of the NEIRO token. Because the token ID in the official announcement was also uppercase NEIRO, many people mistakenly thought that it was the NEIRO project that had previously completed the contract launch. After the announcement was issued, the NEIRO token soared by more than 20%. However, just as the community was crazy about it and a large number of coins were bought on the chain, some sharp-eyed users discovered that the NEIRO token contract address launched on Binance was not uppercase NEIRO but lowercase Neiro tokens. The uppercase NEIRO tokens were then sold in large numbers by community users, and the decline on the same day exceeded 50%. The Neiro token started to soar, from a market value of approximately US$15 million at the time of the announcement to US$720 million today, an increase of nearly 50 times.
The naming strategy of Neiro and NEIRO was originally intended to distinguish different projects, hoping to use the difference in uppercase and lowercase letters to attract user attention. However, Binance's simultaneous launch of NEIRO contracts and Neiro spot has made the dispute over the capitalization of MEME coins a new hype.
The uppercase and lowercase drama has been staged on major public chains. Recently, the MEME token MOODENG, which was born based on the image of a hippopotamus in Pattaya Zoo, Thailand, also has an uppercase and lowercase dispute: Moo Deng and MOODENG. Unlike NEIRO and Neiro, Moo Deng and MOODENG are built on different public chains. The lowercase Moo Deng was originally built on Solana on September 10, and the uppercase MOODENG was issued on Ethereum on September 15, which is actually a latecomer.
The differences in the uppercase and lowercase names of these coins were originally intended to distinguish different projects, but now they have become a highlight of the MEME coin hype, and have even been given different meanings and values during the hype. For example, uppercase NEIRO is considered a strong coin, and lowercase Neiro represents a community project; Moo Deng on Solana is considered to be the first due to its earlier launch time, and Ethereum's MOODENG is considered to be the second due to its later release.
The crypto community is more confused about the dispute over the capitalization of Meme Coin. Many users are lost in the dilemma of which one to choose. Sometimes it is big and sometimes it is small, and they can't tell the difference. Investors have to carefully distinguish when choosing to avoid missing opportunities due to confusion over uppercase and lowercase letters. This differentiation strategy has brought freshness to the market, but also increased the complexity of speculation.
In this regard, some crypto users lamented that previously it was the rise of MEME coins on different public chains that caused capital diversion, and now it is the MEME project on the same chain and the same name that caused capital diversion due to different letter sizes, making the already weak consensus precarious, and will lead to further division and shrinkage of the market.
At present, the Meme project is not only the main battlefield on Solana. With the rise of projects such as Neiro and MOODENG, Ethereum is still the most anticipated place. At the same time, MEME projects on latecomers such as Sui are also attracting users' attention. For example, the recently launched MEME project HIPPO was also inspired by the hippo Moo Deng in a Thai zoo, and the token market value once exceeded Moo Deng on Solana.
Donate to V God to attract attention and use the celebrity effect to drive the price of the currency
In addition to the capitalization of the naming letters, donations to Vitalik Buterin have become another hot spot for Meme coin speculation. As the spiritual leader of Ethereum and the crypto world, Vitalik Buterin often plays an important role in Meme coin projects. Some MEME coin projects will donate the funds raised to Vitalik Buterin or his related foundations, hoping to enhance the credibility and influence of the project. For example, the creator of ShibaInu (SHIB) in 2021 once airdropped 50% of the total supply of SHIB to Vitalik Buterin's wallet address, which quickly attracted the attention of the crypto community and triggered a hype of zoo MEME coins; Neiro also donated to Vitalik Buterin.
In fact, most Meme projects only hope to attract attention by donating to the founder of Ethereum, using the celebrity effect to push up the price of the currency, and trying to gain the attention and trust of the community. This connection with industry leaders is a major gimmick for Meme coins to attract investors. It can effectively attract the attention of a large number of investors in a short period of time and become a highlight of hype.
The Hippopotamus MOODENG, a meme project on the Ethereum chain that attracted much attention during the National Day, became popular by donating to Vitalik Buterin. Since Hippopotamus originally originated from the Solana chain and its market value quickly exceeded 100 million US dollars, it became well-known to the community. The uppercase Hippopotamus MOODENG on the Ethereum chain is a latecomer, and its market value has not yet exceeded 10 million US dollars, so it has not attracted much attention from users.
On October 5, Vitalik sold Meme tokens on the chain, including MOODENG. After the news broke, the market value of MOODENG tokens soared to 10 million US dollars within minutes and started a steady rise. The MEME projects ITO and KABOSU sold in the same batch also saw a sharp rise after the sale. ITO rose by more than 222% in a short period of time after being sold, and KABOSU rose by more than 70%.
On October 7, Vitalik sold MOODENG again, and then donated 260 Ether (about 642,000 US dollars) to the charity Kanro. He also publicly thanked MOODENG for bringing positive results to the real world.
Some community users believe that this is a rare positive evaluation of the MEME token by Vitalik Buterin. By donating and charity, the virtual coins in the currency circle are sold and the value is transferred to solving some real problems. It can be regarded as a move of Crypto from virtual to real.
Vitalik Buterin's sale of coins and public thanks have generated great interest and attention in the market for MOODENG, a Hippo token on Ethereum, and pushed the price of MOODENG to soar. Its market value quickly exceeded $100 million from the million-level, and its popularity also surpassed that of Hippo on Solana.
As the narrative of Ethereum Neiro and Moodeng's connection with Vitalik Buterin has become popular, direct donations from the MEME project to Vitalik Buterin's wallet address has become a new hype trend. Vitalik Buterin's move to sell coins will attract the attention and follow suit of investors, thereby driving up the price of the coin. Currently, MEME coins are transferred to Vitalik Buterin's wallet address every hour.
Some crypto users even designed a SOP for the success of the MEME project by donating MEME coins to Vitalik Buterin: the MEME project donates to Vitalik Buterin - Vitalik Buterin sells coins (to attract attention) - Vitalik Buterin tweets to express his gratitude for the donation (to push up prices) - the project is listed on the exchange.
Cult mockery culture Meme coin revival
Cult Memecoin is a token that combines interconnected pop culture and cryptocurrency. These coins are usually created around specific communities or pop culture phenomena and often have strong community-driven characteristics. They are often presented in a humorous or satirical way, such as Dogecoin, which was originally created as a joke, Shiba Inu (SHIB), who calls himself the "Dogecoin killer", and the popular PepeCoin, which was based on the popular Pepe frog.
On Token2049, MEME coin analyst Murad published (MEME coin super cycle) which aroused widespread discussion in the crypto community. The list of MEME tokens he counted and screened was widely circulated in the crypto community and once became the bible of Meme coin transactions.
Murad’s Meme Coin List selection criteria is to select tokens that have been online for at least six months and have experienced a crash, with a market capitalization between $5 million and $200 million, and are mostly built on Solana and Ethereum.
Yesterday, the on-chain detective ZachXBT disclosed the Meme coin holdings of Murad's on-chain address. He held approximately US$24 million worth of MEME coin assets. The top four are SPX, GIGA, RETARDIO, and POPCAT, and their recent trends are very encouraging.
Among them, the abstract index token SPX, which ranks first in positions, has risen about 20 times in the past half month. The project is a derivative of the story of reversing the S&P 500 index, and the narrative is that a cute girl saves the cryptocurrency circle; GIGA is the Meme token on Solana, which has risen by more than 200% in the past 7 days. The project was originally a tribute to the legendary Ernest Khalimov's original Gigachad. It is also a satire on social expectations, triggering discussions about toxic masculinity and so on; the MEME project POPCAT is derived from the popular naughty cat emoticons on the Internet, and has risen by about 90% in the past 7 days; and RETARDIO positions itself as a symbol of courage, resistance and community cohesion.
These MEME coins have one common feature, that is, they all have some Cult temperament, that is, they are covered with a layer of nonsensical, non-mainstream, abstract appearance elements, usually related to popular Internet culture, memes or specific subcultures, and are called Cult Memecoin.
Precisely because of cultural identity or user group base, Cult Memecoin is usually driven by the community and relies on social media and viral marketing to spread.
Some crypto users have pointed out that most of the Cult Memecoins on the market are old projects that have experienced a round of increases and washouts. When choosing, users should look for the bottom rather than the top, communities that continue to promote tokens, an increasing number of new holders, and elements similar to Cult culture.
A good meme needs to have "special narrative and tone + strong spontaneous community + strong publisher"
According to the Coingecko data platform, the total market value of the Meme coin sector has exceeded US$50 billion, and the number of asset types included is more than 2,000, making it the sector with the largest number of currencies in the crypto market.
Crypto KOL @ririfish once expressed that the MemeCoin market is growing stronger and stronger. They are no longer a tool for short-term speculation, but represent a new trend of decentralized culture and consensus. The reason why these projects have long-term market resilience is that the community is not just a passive investor, but the core force driving the development of the project. The community has given these tokens lasting vitality through the spread of memes, social interaction and participation in project development.
Crypto asset player Vincent@thecryptoskanda has repeatedly emphasized that MemeCoin is no longer just a crypto track, it has become a "property", which is reflected in the fact that MemeCoin is no longer just discussed around price fluctuations, but is gradually integrated into the decentralized culture, representing an identity and market consensus. They embody the unique power of the decentralized community and transcend the traditional IP-driven model.
Crypto KOL @CXOegg wrote in his latest tweet that a good MEME has "special narrative + meme's own tone + strong spontaneous community + strong market maker", none of which can be missing.
Ririfish also pointed out that the success of MemeCoin does not rely solely on the support of IP, but on the unique narratives they create through the community. Even projects without strong brand support, such as Shiba Inu and Pepe Coin, have still gained a foothold in the crypto market with the power of the community. The growth of these MemeCoins shows their unique cultural symbols constructed through community interaction, meme dissemination and collective creation.
In general, if MEME coin wants to succeed, it first needs a fascinating story. The design of the token and the community culture must be unique and attractive to resonate and stimulate investors' interest, and stand out from many projects. At the same time, there needs to be a strong spontaneous community. An active community is the key to promoting the success of MEME coin. The power of the community can influence market sentiment and investment decisions. In addition, there needs to be strong supporters and traders behind it who can drive the price of the coin at critical moments.
For example, before Neiro was listed on Binance, there were many pictures of its promotion in the Northwest community. Community members were marketing in overseas regions such as Turkey and Vietnam, and the CTO team was donating to charity organizations. The Hippo MOODENG project community on Ethereum revealed that it had made three donations to the Thai zoo and conducted offline marketing in North America. Through airdrop donations, it attracted the attention of Neiro's top whales, Pepe developers, and Vitalik Buterin.
Regarding how to participate in MEME coins, @CXOegg said that there are currently tens of thousands of plates on the market every day. The same narrative has different names (Ticker), the same name competes on different chains, and now the same name on the same chain has various dramatic events due to different capitalization. This makes it difficult for users to bet on a potential project in the early stage.
There are currently three strategies to choose from: one is to directly choose mature old memes with high market value that have passed the test of a round of market fluctuations, such as PEPE, WIF, etc.; the second is to take over medium-sized MEMEs with a market value of several million or tens of millions, but individuals need to have very strong ability to identify and screen projects; the third is to keep an eye on new projects on the primary market chain, but the failure rate is very high.
