Author: Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly; Translator: Jinse Finance Xiaozou
Back in 2021, we thought GameFi should be like Axie Infinity. That meant integrating tokens into MOBA, MMORPG, or card games. The vast majority of these projects failed to attract users. But perhaps the most viral crypto 'game' has been right in front of us: crypto trading itself. Crypto trading is a fun, viral social activity offered by our industry that has attracted hundreds of millions into the crypto game.
But in recent years, crypto trading games have become less appealing to the average player—volatility has significantly decreased, and the technology has become more complex, requiring more specialization than ever to underwrite these assets.
Let's look at Meme coins. Meme coins are a gamified simulation of crypto trading, retaining only the most primal factors of crypto trading. No code audits, no governance forums, no technical roadmaps—just the volatility of facepalms, rug pulls, and memes. The rules are simple: follow some oddballs on Twitter, focus on the spectacle and participate, then expect the best outcome. Like all viral games, Meme coin trading is social, transcending language and culture, and is interesting at any skill level.
I once played an old NES trading simulation game called Wall Street Kid, where you played a stock trader, trading randomly drawn fake stocks like 'Yapple' or 'Reebucks'. There was no real research or analysis involved. It simulated financial fantasy without involving any actual work.
Meme coins are the modern version of this type of trading simulation game: chaotic, filled with alluring fantasies, and incredibly addictive.
If you understand Meme coins as a game, then suddenly, a lot of narratives about Meme coins will collapse. The idea that the Meme coin game is stealing market share from tech/VC coins is simply absurd—it's like saying Axie Infinity is doing the same thing. The Meme coin trading game drives demand for block space, just like any successful GameFi. This is beneficial for all the underlying factors of Meme coins!
Even at the height of Meme coins, they were not mainstream in the market. Before the U.S. presidential election, most trades still occurred in the 'tech' crypto space, with meme coin trading volume on Binance reaching about 25%. The industry is large enough to accommodate different companies simultaneously.
That is why the story of financial nihilism around Meme coins has never made sense to me. While Meme coin games are fun, we must remember that most people do not want to trade Meme coins. Meme coin maxis find this hard to understand. But most people enter the crypto world because they believe in the technology. Yes, they truly believe that crypto technology will change the world.
What reason do they have not to believe? This is exactly what we’ve been telling them—and what Satoshi told them—and what Elon Musk and Donald Trump told them. They believe us. So it's not surprising that they want to invest in technology. Cryptocurrency is, first and foremost, a futurist project.
In recent weeks, as volatility and the craze of only going up has returned, Meme coins have retreated. Regular crypto trading has become appealing to retail investors again, so in recent days, the trading volume of Meme coins has dropped to 10% of Binance’s trading volume. But at some point, it will charm again, and for those wanting to participate, Meme coins will once again become a more interesting game.
But if you understand it as a game, then you can see more clearly the position of Meme coin trading in the crypto temple. Meme games run very well because they leverage the advantages of cryptocurrency. They are chaotic, disruptive, and the entry experience is great, so it's no surprise that they attract millions into the crypto world. Meme coin trading directly taps into the core fantasy of cryptocurrency being fun.
So we should abandon the idea that Meme coins are a rebellion against the crypto industry. The correct understanding should be that Meme coin trading embodies the rebellious spirit just like cryptocurrency itself. Meme coins are not a rebellion against the core beliefs of cryptocurrency but rather a representation and celebration of them.