Internet culture and Sentient AI will be the fastest-growing categories.
Author: Eli Nuss
Compiled by: Deep Tide TechFlow
In the past year, Memecoin has been the best-performing segment in the cryptocurrency space. Its total market cap has now surpassed $100 billion, making it larger than decentralized finance (DeFi) and even greater than the total of decentralized infrastructure networks (DePIN), gaming, and the metaverse combined.
Given the scale and diversity of this asset class, we attempted to map its entirety to uncover potential investment opportunities.
We analyzed the best-performing Tokens for each quarter this year, and the results confirmed our suspicions: Memecoin dominated the rankings every quarter.
In the first quarter, $POPCAT, $WIF, $MOG, and $MYRO performed outstandingly.
The standout performers in the second quarter included $PONKE, $SPX, $TURBO, $GIGA, $WOJAK, $BRETT, and $MOG.
By the third quarter, $SPX, $GIGA, $FUD, and $MUMU became the best-performing Tokens.
When trying to apply methodology to Memecoin, you quickly realize the importance of understanding the 'meta' trend. This is a common phenomenon in the cryptocurrency space, but its significance is greatly amplified in Memecoin. Here is an extended timeline aimed at highlighting some important 'meta' trend shifts and origins.
Before 2021, the market primarily had only Dogecoin. Then came Shiba Inu, regarded as the first true Dogecoin killer. People naturally flocked to Shiba Inu in hopes of replicating Dogecoin's success. This desire to find the 'next hot coin' ultimately formed a 'meta' trend. Shiba Inu's success sparked a wave of various dog and Elon Musk-related Memes in 2021, creating the first true Memecoin meta trend. In 2023, Pepe brought forth Memecoins related to frogs and boy clubs. By the end of 2023, the emergence of Bonk and Wif established Solana as the mainstream Meme chain, ultimately giving rise to pump.fun. This sparked widespread Memecoin frenzy in the first quarter, with new 'meta' trends forming almost every week or even every day. After reaching a peak in March, the market cooled during the summer. The Memecoin community and network effects framework proposed by @MustStopMurad became very popular, attracting significant capital inflow into 'cult coins' like SPX6900. Recently, as Bitcoin finally began to break out, we saw market enthusiasm rekindled, with new 'meta' trends forming around @truth_terminal's $GOAT, the cute hippo $MOODENG, and $PEANUT, may he rest in peace.
Due to the variety of 'meta' trends, we attempted to segment the market by category.
It can be seen that Dogecoin remains the dominant segment of Memecoin, primarily driven by Dogecoin itself. When we began to organize data a few weeks ago, the Sentient AI category was nearly non-existent, while the Martyr category was not yet formed (a tribute to the earliest $Harambe). This indicates that this asset class is rapidly evolving.
Since the launch of Pepe, Dogecoin's dominance has been declining, which is not surprising.
As new 'meta' trends continue to emerge, different fields are being pushed into the spotlight, and this trend seems likely to continue.
For example, crypto culture coins like $bitcoin gained attention in 2023 when there wasn't much new capital entering the market, but starting later that year, the entry of some new capital gradually shifted crypto culture to a broader internet culture (like $giga, $npc, etc.).
As we mentioned before, the rapid rise of $goat and $peanut is surprising. Although many AI Memes have reached nine-digit market caps, it may still be too early to categorize them as a new category separate from the 'meta' trend.
Earlier this year, other categories such as celebrity Tokens and political Memes also saw growth, but then gradually faded.
Over time, Memecoin may become a microcosm of the entire crypto market, with Dogecoin's status akin to that of Bitcoin (BTC). Some 'cult coins' communities may hold long-term, but most may fizzle out like NFTs in 2021.
Nevertheless, it is clear that seizing the initiative in the new Meme or meta trend contains huge opportunities.
I expect that internet culture and Sentient AI will be the fastest-growing categories. Internet Memes have been widely accepted and have a rich cultural background, giving them a natural advantage over other categories. Sentient AI combines cutting-edge technology with one of the most volatile asset classes, seeming poised to continue expanding its dominance in the Meme market.
In emerging fields, there are always opportunities to introduce new animals—the market's attention on zoo animals (like tigers, giraffes, zebras, etc.) is relatively low, which is surprising. As for completely new content, existing fan bases (like superheroes, sports, etc.) may achieve tokenization in creative ways.
In any case, I am very open to hearing everyone's feedback or learning other perspectives on the market. Please note that this is definitely not financial advice.
