I would like to put 'pump.fun' in quotes because its meaning has transcended being just a 'token issuance product' itself. Now, it has seemingly become what all chains consider to be the most direct, effective, and possibly the only 'lifeline'. Regardless of whether it’s a new chain or an old chain, regardless of the narrative these chains are pushing, or the goals the projects behind them want to achieve, the market situation presented to all of us is that as long as it’s a chain, just pump it, and let everyone have fun.
ApeChain, a chain launched by the former NFT king Yuga Labs, was expected to slowly heat up and seek support from the NFT community like Abstract, or release a 'black hole coin' $O with full art and meme vibes, refreshing, or like TreasureDAO (Magic), focusing on games related to Otherside.
As a result, I see Yuga Labs is also hungry; they chose 'pump.fun' and launched the Ape Express 'pump.fun' product.
So, is Yuga Labs' move successful? Judging from everyone's reactions, it doesn't seem so. People generally believe that those who still hold Yuga-related NFTs (not just BAYC, MAYC, but even CryptoPunks are already under Yuga) are 'old money' in the crypto circle, and these direct target groups, who are not short of funds, will pour in money crazily, leading to a vertical trend. However, up to now, the leading $CURTIS of ApeChain has only peaked at nearly 30M market value and has abruptly stopped, currently down by half from its high point.
'One-day tours' are disappointing, although everyone's expectations might just be a 'week tour' or 'month tour'...
'pump.fun' has sprung up like mushrooms after rain across various chains. On Aptos, there is pump.uptos:
On SUI, there is Move Pump (which also supports Aptos). Additionally, hop.ag is about to launch its own 'pump.fun' product.
On Sonic (formerly Fantom), there is Degen Express:
After the former CEO of dydx, Antonio Juliano, announced his return, the price only rose by about 25%, but after dydx Foundation CEO Charles dHaussy tweeted about 'the secrets of the moat, Trojan horse, and flywheel to be revealed at tomorrow's dYdX Day event', it instantly surged another 20%, leading many to speculate that dydx is also going to create its own 'pump.fun'.
On the Fractal chain in the Bitcoin ecosystem, there is also a Satspumpfun that has been heating up for a long time and is preparing to launch:
The situation of having a 'pump.fun' on every chain reminds me of last year's inscription bull market. I thought the inscription hype in the Bitcoin ecosystem had entered the IQ 50 stage and was coming to an end, but I didn't expect the inscription play to be transmitted to chains like ETH, Solana, Polygon, etc. Of course, aside from ETH and Solana, which still show some signs of life, the others can basically declare total defeat.
So, will various chains rushing to 'pump.fun' be the 'top signal' for meme coins?
I believe this is just the 'top signal' of this 'pump.fun' phenomenon of creating hot plays, and not even the top signal for hot plays or meme coins themselves. Just like after the inscription bull market ended, top inscription assets like $ORDI still have a reasonable market value and liquidity, but assets that solely rely on 'inscription' as their only consensus point, after the hype of this play loses attention, have no consensus to support long-term value, so their demise is also foreseeable.
The meme coin sector has developed to the point where its concept has been overused. Initially, people's understanding of memes might have been 'worthless and with an IQ of 50'. During the $DOGE era, understanding meme coins could have simply equated to that dog's photo. But now, top meme coins like $BITCOIN (Harry Potter), $SPX, $MOG, $JOE, etc., have all withstood several rounds of significant price fluctuations that tested their consensus. By now, I think there are not many players who still believe these coins will go to zero; this very notion is a reflection of the value of meme coins—there is no hierarchy in forming a solid value consensus pathway or narrative.
We can even look at Bitcoin; its value consensus is also unrelated to technology, and Bitcoin's own culture and meme attributes are quite strong.
Hot plays, or hot trading, are certainly not long-lasting. Just like we may watch many live streams when we're bored, today we might watch game streams, tomorrow chatting streams, and the popular live content may vary daily. However, we will all be regulars in a certain live stream room; top streamers have certain traits outside of their live content that can stabilize their viewer base (community), and the community helps create various clips of this streamer, attracting more people to enter the live room from the clips and become long-term viewers.
Vibrant meme coins are the same. Communities will spontaneously raid (promote their coins) on Twitter, create images/videos/songs, etc., believing in the power of belief. Of course, if it's simply 'we can break through the skies if we all believe', it's not enough to produce top meme coins because if everyone just believes that the price can break through the skies, it’s more accurate to say everyone just wants to cash out early.
Hot plays and hot trading will have their moments, but each major market shake-up will flow back to coins with strong community performances; these coins can now carve out a track for themselves, or they can be seen as the top stream of meme coins, which is what we commonly refer to as 'Cult' now. The content of 'Cult' is merely an abstract external manifestation; the core strength is that they can convince the market that their community is solid enough. Even when an abstract coin rises to the 'Cult' level, we might feel that this coin seems less abstract because the broader audience it attracts will gradually make the conveyed ideas more universal to attract more people.
Meme coins are actually the market's best rebuttal to 'VC value technology coins' and a 'return to order'—perhaps Crypto is not powerful enough to become the second U.S. stock market. It has convinced our generation of people, but it still needs to attract and persuade more young people. Using light and fun content to update the public’s serious impression of Crypto, and even one day giving birth to a Pepe-like global cultural symbol from Web3, is not out of the question.
Who can say that Bitcoin is not one of the biggest cultural symbols of our generation?
