With the development of the cryptocurrency market, meme coins are gradually attracting the attention of institutional investors. According to a report from CEX Bybit, since 2024, institutional investment in meme coins has significantly increased. This article will explore the importance of memecoins in the current market and how venture capital firms are adjusting their investment strategies to respond to this emerging asset class. (Background: The death of the internet celebrity squirrel Peanut, supported by Musk, sparked a political movement in the US, and the market value of the meme coin Pnut once exceeded $100 million.) (Background supplement: The Vatican's mascot 'Luce' has sparked a religious meme coin craze, with the same-name Meme's market value soaring to over $60 million.) According to the report released by CEX Bybit in June, institutional investors' positions in spot memecoins increased from $62.5 million to $204.8 million during the period from February to March this year, peaking at $293.7 million in April. The most popular memecoins include DOGE, SHIB, PEPE, and BONK. Subsequently, after market sentiment deteriorated and memecoins faced sell-offs, total holdings dropped to $139 million, but this increase in holdings is still 125% higher than at the beginning of the year. It can be said that since this year, memecoins have increasingly become an important focus for institutional investors, and unlike previous fleeting memecoin fads, memecoins have become a significant narrative and hotspot in this market cycle. Starting in the second half of 2024, some VCs have also announced investments in memecoin infrastructure, transitioning from previously opposing memecoins to gradually accepting them. So how are these venture capital firms participating in memecoins? a16z A16z, full name Andreessen Horowitz, is a famous venture capital firm in the United States, founded by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz in 2009, headquartered in Silicon Valley. They were early investors in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Airbnb, and have continued to make strides in the Web3 and blockchain fields, having invested in Coinbase with considerable returns, and establishing multiple crypto funds, becoming one of the important investors in the crypto industry. However, as a mainstream venture capital firm, a16z's initial attitude towards the memecoins that seized the market was not very friendly. During the period from February to April this year, the memecoin market surged; the average weekly increase for 20 popular memecoins, including PEPE, reached six times, and the rapid listings of WIF and BOME on CEX seized market share from VC tokens. Eddy Lazzarin, the Chief Technology Officer of a16z Crypto, harshly criticized memecoins in a tweet on April 25, 2024, stating that they undermine the 'long-term vision' of cryptocurrency, taint the perception of 'the public, regulators, and entrepreneurs' towards the industry, and act as a 'casino for a relatively small group of people.' Chris Dixon, a managing partner and Chief Technology Officer at A16Z, also made a post disparaging memecoins, bluntly stating that memecoins are simply a casino. However, recently a16z has changed its critical stance towards memecoins in the first half of the year, frequently participating in meme coins. First, a16z co-founder Andreessen Horowitz tipped $50,000 in BTC to the robot account Truth Terminal on X, which gave rise to the recently popular Goat token (GOAT), pushing GOAT from an obscure project to a shocking historic market cap of $850 million, making Truth Terminal the first AI millionaire and consequently promoting the development boom of AI + Meme. Source: Marc Andreessen. Then on the morning of October 28, Marc released two pieces of content related to AI16Z, which quickly attracted attention. This 'AI16Z Fund' was established by the Twitter account 'Marc 'AI' ndreessen,' which launched the fund on daos.fun. The fund manages approximately 420 SOL of raised funds through AI dialogue, specifically investing in memecoins and simulating Marc Andreessen's personality. Before October 27, the fund's market value was around $4 million. However, after Marc retweeted a comic image of a T-shirt with the ai16z logo, the market value of AI16Z skyrocketed more than 20 times in just 12 hours, reaching a peak of nearly $100 million. Although some sources link it to the famous venture capital firm a16z, believing that the fund may have received support from the company, Andreessen Horowitz has not officially confirmed any relationship with this project. Therefore, it is currently unclear whether the token has truly received support from a16z or if it merely borrowed a similar name to attract attention. However, it is clear that a16z is no longer disparaging memecoins as before. DWF Labs DWF Labs was established in 2022 as a new generation of Web3 investors and market makers, investing in several well-known projects including dYdX, SushiSwap, Injective Protocol, Astar Network, and Morpheus Network. According to relevant information, DWF Labs has invested in multiple memecoins, including multiple investments in the pet Shiba Inu 'Floki' (FLOKI) as early as 2023, and further invested $12 million in 2024. These funds supported several development projects of FLOKI, such as FlokiFi (decentralized finance), an educational platform for the Floki Inu ecosystem called Floki University, and its metaverse game Valhalla. This series of investments not only pushed up FLOKI's price but also helped it successfully list on several major trading platforms. Additionally, on June 3, 2024, DWF Labs invested $5 million in Milady Meme Coin (LADYS). This funding aims to support the growth of Milady Meme Coin in the memecoin market, enhance its development capabilities, and promote community participation. In August 2024, DWF Labs collaborated with Floki and the BNB Chain to exclusively launch the Memecoin Simon’s Cat on the BNB Chain...

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