作者：0xLeoDeng，LK Venture Partner & Investment Lead
How to find the most promising target among millions of Memecoins?
In the crypto world, Memecoin is a never-ending drama. They perfectly integrate Internet culture with cryptocurrency. From the early $Doge to $Shiba Inu, to the rising stars such as $GOAT and $PNUT, these seemingly "unorthodox" projects have created a market value of billions of dollars. However, behind this carnival, there are also countless "junk coins" and scams.
The value of Memecoin comes not only from community consensus and the power of network communication, but also from the faith of holders - the investment attitude known as "Diamond Hands". In the extreme volatility of the market, diamond hands symbolize unyielding confidence and long-term optimism about assets. "Diamond Hands" is not only an investor label, but also a manifestation of faith. When the market fluctuates, only firm holders can seize the opportunity of the next round of outbreak.
So, how do we define the value of Memecoin? How do diamond buyers find potential targets among millions of currencies? Let’s start with a “pyramid chart” and gradually solve this puzzle.
1. Memecoin’s Pyramid Ecosystem
Image Links:
https://x.com/MustStopMurad/status/1851690032639148044
The above picture is a Meme ecological pyramid provided by Murad, which well shows the different levels and value logic of Memecoin. From the bottom "junk coin" to the top "faith coin", each layer represents a different narrative depth and market positioning:
1. Bottom layer: Celeb Coins, Shitcoins & Trash
Characteristics: Purely relying on hot spots or celebrity effects for hype, with almost no technical support and no actual application scenarios, and only relying on short-term traffic to survive.
For example: Celeb Coins, which are purely based on celebrity popularity; Shitcoins & Trash: They have no innovation and are launched quickly to make money.
Comment: These coins are like "one-time internet celebrities", their value quickly returns to zero once the limelight is over.
2. Irrelevant Memes
Characteristics: Funny themes and nonsensical content, but no clear narrative and community support.
For example: GrumpyCatCoin (with the theme of angry cartoon cat expression); some Fork coins of Pepe (strongly follow-up nature and no uniqueness).
Comment: Although these coins may attract some interesting attention in the early stage, they lack long-term value and are destined to be only a short-term phenomenon.
3. Phrase Coins (Non-Cult)
Features: The theme is based on popular phrases in the crypto circle, using slang to attract attention, but it only remains at the conceptual stage.
For example: WenLamboCoin: named after "Wen Lambo" (a stalk in the cryptocurrency circle: when will you buy a Lamborghini); HODLToken, borrowed from the stalk "Hold On for Dear Life" (a classic term in the cryptocurrency circle).
Comment: Phrase coins are more of a joke, which may stimulate investment enthusiasm in the short term, but have limited long-term development potential.
4. Animal Coins (Non-Cult)
Features: Animal-themed, more interesting and spreadable, with some community support, but no strong narrative.
For example: TigerKingCoin: based on the theme of Netflix documentary (Tiger King); BabyDogeCoin: claims to be the "son" of Dogecoin.
Comment: AnimalCoin has a certain degree of community drive, but it will be easily forgotten without further innovation or branding.
5. Schizo Coins (Non-Cult)
Characteristics: The themes often contain absurd, surreal or niche cultural elements, attracting specific audiences, but the market scope is limited.
For example: FlokiCoin: Derived from Musk’s dog’s name “Floki”, it became popular for a while; CultDAO: Tried to create a “cult” culture, but its long-term influence was limited.
Comment: Although these coins have unique niche charm, most of them find it difficult to break through circle restrictions.
6. Culture Coins (Non-Cult)
Characteristics: It is combined with Internet subculture or specific circle culture, has certain narrative and community support, but has not yet fully formed the "belief" level.
For example: PEPE: Based on the famous Pepe frog emoticon culture; POPCAT: The world's first Memecoin with cat images as the theme, based on the world-renowned "Popcat" click game emoticon package.
Comment: These coins are based on specific cultures and attract a relatively stable fan base, but require deeper narratives to break through the development bottleneck.
7. Cults: Lifestyle, Brands, Subcultures (belief level)
(1) Lifestyle, Brands, Subcultures
Features: No longer just a coin, it is a symbol of lifestyle and brand, attracting highly loyal followers.
Example: Shiba Inu: Starting as an animal coin, it has developed into a branded Memecoin with a complete DeFi and NFT ecosystem.
Comment: These coins have transitioned from hype to "brand building" and started to build long-term value.
(2) Movements, Missions
Characteristics: These coins have a narrative that goes beyond cryptocurrency and represent a social goal or cultural movement.
For example: Dogecoin: It evolved from a "joke coin" to a "decentralized people's currency", and celebrities such as Musk gave it a strong sense of mission.
Comment: Top Memecoins are not only investment targets, but also carriers of cultural beliefs. Only Memecoins with social goals or cultural movements have the opportunity to reap billions of dollars in consensus value.
Pyramid Summary: Memecoin’s Success Principles
Underlying currencies: junk coins, meaningless Memecoins, which only rely on hot spots or short-term traffic and have a very short life cycle.
Mid-tier currencies: Cultural coins and animal coins, which have certain community support and narratives, but lack sufficient innovation.
Top-level currency: Faith coin, which has a strong narrative, a loyal community and branding potential, and has become a cultural symbol.
The core logic behind the pyramid: narrative + community + innovation
Narrative is fundamental: The top memecoins all have a powerful story that people remember and engage with, such as Dogecoin’s “decentralized people’s currency” story.
Community is key: Without an active community, there would be no Memecoin popularity. The loyalty of the SHIBA Army is the core of Shiba Inu's success.
Traffic determines life and death: From Musk’s tweets to viral spread on Reddit, traffic is the lifeblood of Memecoin’s survival.
However, even if we know these core logics, selecting a truly promising project from among the numerous Memecoins is still like finding a needle in a haystack. That is why we need a simple and effective screening rule.
2. M.E.M.E. Rule: How to Choose a More Valuable Memecoin
When choosing a more valuable Memecoin, I have summarized an easy-to-remember "M.E.M.E. Rule" to help everyone find opportunities in the chaos:
1. M - Mission
- Is the story interesting and spreadable?
- Does it combine culture or emotions to form a sense of belonging?
- Is there a clear value proposition?
Only Memecoin with a strong sense of mission can resonate emotionally with investors and make them willing to hold it for a long time.
2. E - Engagement
- Does it attract users to participate in interesting activities?
- Is the community growing?
- HODL > Trade, lots of "Diamond Hands"
Community is the heart of Memecoin, and without an active community there is no real Memecoin. People should stop trying to find the next 100x coin and instead look for the next community with room to grow 100x.
3. M - Momentum (market heat and liquidity)
- Is there any celebrity endorsement or event popularity?
- Are trading volumes and liquidity sufficient?
- Is there a sustained level of topic popularity rather than a one-off trend?
Market heat is the first step to open investors' wallets. Without public opinion and capital liquidity, nothing can be discussed.
4. E - Evolution (Innovation and Ecological Development)
- Is it combined with new hot spots in the industry (such as AI/DeSc)?
- Are you exploring the extension and implementation of offline scenarios?
Only Memecoin that can continue to evolve can survive in the competition for a long time.
Case Study
Based on the M.E.M.E. rule, Memecoins with development potential can be divided into three categories according to their risk and return characteristics: 1. Low risk, stable return; 2. Medium risk, medium return; 3. High risk, high return
The following is a list of Memecoins based on the M.E.M.E. rule and with the help of Chatgpt (for reference only, not investment advice)
Finally, attached is the deduction diagram of "The Logic of Binance Launching Memecoin" compiled by Crypto Monkey Brother, you can also compare and feel it.
Original link:
https://x.com/monkeyjiang/status/1856607604429963673
Choose Memecoin and find order in chaos
The world of Memecoin is a fascinating realm, from junk coins to faith coins, they reflect the diversity of crypto culture and humanity’s pursuit of narrative.
Murad calls the bull run since 2024 the "people's bull run," the most important wealth creation opportunity for retail investors since the early days of Bitcoin. In this cycle, we will see more than 10 Memecoin prices break through $10B.
I hope that through the pyramid hierarchical analysis and the M.E.M.E. rule, I can help everyone better understand the value and risks of these Memecoins, find their own wealth code, and become a "diamond hand" in the Meme world.
