Original Title: The Revelry and Cool Reflection of Meme Coins: The Next Stop 2025, Is It a Story or a Bubble?
Original Author: Nomos Labs.
Few have considered that the birth of Meme coins might be a 'cultural experiment' in the crypto world: How much can a joke be worth? How many ripples and waves can a humorous quip create in the financial world? From $DOGE to $SHIB, and then to this year's skyrocketing $Neiro, these seemingly 'nonsensical' coins repeatedly refresh people's views on the narrative capacity of Meme coins.
In 2024, the Meme coin market remains vibrant amidst uncertainty. It is not only an entertainment symbol in the crypto circle but also a paradise for speculators and a barometer of market sentiment. However, if we peel away the stories behind the price surges, we will find that there are both familiar and strange logics driving this revelry: Meme culture, market sentiment, and technological narratives are redefining the value boundaries of Meme coins.
1. How can Meme coins tell a 'good story' about emotions?
On the surface, Meme coins are a continuation of internet meme culture, but their true charm lies in quickly gathering emotions through storytelling, shaping short-term 'mass hysteria'. However, no one has yet been able to cut through the fog and find the certainty and connotation made up of countless stories within that 'bubble' regarding the long-term value of Meme coins.
It is a joke, and it is cultural resonance.
The earliest $DOGE Dogecoin can be said to be a complete 'prank'. It has no complex technical support nor ambitious application plans, but with a Shiba Inu meme, it became the spokesperson of internet meme culture. In 2024, this meme narrative is further promoted, with new players not only attracting attention through 'jokes' and 'humor' but also starting to play the cultural sentiment card.
For example, the sad frog of $Pepe, whose frog image is already a classic in internet culture, is popular not due to technical highlights, but through community dissemination and cultural recognition. In a short time, the community size of $Pepe has exploded, becoming this year's largest dark horse among Meme coins. It is not hard to see that as long as it can capture the 'emotional point' in internet meme culture, Meme coins can quickly tell a good story and gather consensus.
Community Driven: More like an emotional game.
The popularity of a Meme coin must be backed by a crazy community. Elon Musk's support for Dogecoin, the 'frog army' of $Pepe, these community members are not just investors but also active 'content creators'. They are eager to 'create memes' and draw people on social platforms, even turning Meme coins from a 'joke' into a 'trend'.
$SHIB is a typical example. In 2024, it not only relied on meme culture to maintain its popularity but also tried to attract long-term users through technological narratives, such as its launched metaverse project Shibaverse. Although it is still in the early stages, it has provided the community with new 'show-off points'.
We can see that for Meme coins, meme culture is the base color, but their true charm lies in community narrative ability — telling a story that resonates emotionally, making everyone 'want to buy and dare to buy'.
2. The magnifying glass of market sentiment, a safe haven for speculators.
However, regardless, the underlying logic of a 'good story' that can influence market changes requires 'interest-driven' motives. The reason Meme coins can remain popular is not only because they are 'fun' but also because they have become a high-volatility safe haven for speculators during periods of market downturns.
Price surges and the 'wealth creation myths' that speculators love to tell.
Looking back at 2024, the most eye-catching trend was undoubtedly the surge of $Pepe. From the beginning of the year to the middle of the year, the price of this sad yet funny frog realized more than a hundredfold increase — the market was attracted to such coins not because of their strong technology or applications, but because they are easy to 'speculate'.
The barriers to entry for Meme coins are low, with extremely low unit prices and seemingly unlimited potential for growth. This feature is particularly friendly to retail investors: even with just a few hundred dollars, they can chase the illusion of '10 times, 100 times' returns. For those investors who 'entered the market late,' this high-risk, high-reward speculative variety has become their best choice to chase wealth effects.
Market fluctuations, the 'emotional outlet' in a bear market.
Interestingly, when the overall market trend of crypto enters a period of fluctuation, the popularity of Meme coins actually rises against the trend. This is not because Meme coins themselves have solid fundamentals but because speculative funds need a new 'emotional outlet'.
Unlike mainstream coins, Meme coins do not have complex valuation logic and do not rely on strong ecological support; they rely solely on market sentiment. When other assets struggle to engage retail investors' emotions, Meme coins have become the 'stronghold' of emotional trading.
Thus, the clear market direction is that behind the price fluctuations of Meme coins lies the amplification and reflection of market sentiment: for speculators, it is the preferred choice for low cost and high volatility; for the market, it is a real 'emotional mirror'. Therefore, it is not hard to understand why everyone has started to enjoy hearing their stories and prefers them to create one fantastical 'wealth creation story' after another.
3. Can Meme coins still score points with technology?
We understand the changes in market sentiment, but we must also clearly recognize that relying on cultural narratives and speculative emotions can only lead to temporary popularity. If Meme coins want to go further, they must find the underlying logic that can support long-term value compounding through technological innovation, creating new narratives and application scenarios.
AI 'new memes' create technological narrative empowerment.
This year, AI technology has become a hot topic in the crypto circle, with some Meme coin projects seizing the opportunity to launch AI-enabled features. For instance, AI-generated content allows Meme coin projects to provide continuous interaction and entertainment experiences for a wide range of investors and community members quickly and at low cost. Moreover, AI trading strategies utilize the advantages of AI algorithms to more accurately predict market trends, analyze trading data, and optimize investment decisions. Although early performance may not have met expectations, it is undeniable that the introduction of AI technology has injected new vitality and narrative threads into Meme coins.
NFT linkage, the continuation of cultural narratives.
At the same time, NFTs remain an important 'partner' of Meme coins, continuing to showcase its unique charm and potential in 2024. Especially in projects like $Pepe, investors can not only profit from purchasing and holding Pepe coins but also showcase their identity and status by acquiring unique NFTs.
The combination of NFTs and Meme coins is no longer simply a digital asset exchange; it is a profound expression of identity recognition and community culture. Through NFT-binding mechanics, these projects offer investors a more personalized and emotional way to participate, making holding these Meme coins not just an investment action but also a declaration of community belonging. It is not hard to imagine that as more similar innovative gameplay continues to emerge, NFTs will remain an important 'accelerator' for the development of Meme coin projects.
The attempt to combine payment scenarios with DeFi has increased the value leverage of tokens.
Of course, in the crypto market, which is not lacking in imagination, some Meme coins are also trying to expand payment functions. Just before the end of the year, DogWifCoin's official announcement of a partnership with Oobit to launch a new payment feature 'Wif Pay' allows users to consume using $WIF and enjoy a 3% cashback reward.
Projects like $SHIB, for instance, have combined DeFi protocols to allow token holders to gain more tangible returns, such as $BONE, the governance token of the $SHIB ecosystem, which is widely used in liquidity mining on ShibaSwap. Investors can earn returns through staking (BURYing) and providing liquidity (DIGging).
Such technological narratives continue, with technological empowerment being an important focus for the next stage of Meme coins. Although it may seem like 'telling stories' in the short term, in the long run, only when technological narratives are realized, Meme coins may eventually be able to escape the fate of 'short-term speculation'.
Final Note: The next stop for Meme coins is the rise of meme economic culture or the bursting of a bubble?
When we look back at the market of 2024, we can find that there are three key driving forces behind the rise of Meme coins:
Culture: Meme culture and community consensus are the foundation of Meme coins, allowing them to continuously tell an engaging story.
Emotion: The fluctuations of market sentiment driven by speculators have made it the most 'explosive' asset.
Technology: New concepts and new application scenarios are key to making Meme coins 'worth more' in the future.
However, these three also carry obvious risks: How long can the story be told? How long can the sentiment hold? Can the technology truly be realized? The answers to these questions will determine the future direction of Meme coins.
But as we begin to envision the future of 2025, it is certain that Meme coins have transformed from a 'joke' into a unique phenomenon in the crypto market. Amidst the increasingly restless and continuously erupting 'golden cycle' of cryptocurrency following the U.S. elections, its vitality is far from over, but whether it can escape the revelry and enter a true 'value era' is another question.
2025, we invite Meme coins to answer.
