On November 14, Litecoin, which had been silent for a long time, posted a remarkable message on its official Twitter: "In view of the current market environment, I decided to redefine myself as a meme coin."
This seemingly joking but meaningful statement quickly caused a stir in the crypto market. The price of Litecoin rebounded strongly, soaring from $72 to $82, a 10% increase in a short period of time, once again focusing the market's attention on the new positioning of this "veteran".
In response to LTC’s announcement, the meme coin spokesperson DOGE specially created a new but slightly “shabby” meme mascot image for LTC. Greg, an internet celebrity who often interacts with Musk, gave it the name “LESTER”.
The meme coin trend is back, and market sentiment is reaching a climax
As an old meme currency, DOGE has experienced rapid growth after Musk's successful bet. Data shows that in the past seven days, DOGE has increased as high as 80.55%, and other old memes have experienced significant growth. Currently, the total market value of the meme sector reaches US$114 billion, accounting for 3.75% of the overall market value. Among the top 100 currencies by market capitalization, meme coins account for as much as 13%, and their 7-day average increase reaches 202%, of which PNUT’s 7-day increase is as high as 1,929%.
At the same time, projects, institutions and influencers such as Polygon, Yearn.finance, TRON DAO, Manta Network, IoTeX, OKX Wallet, Renzo and Franklin followed the format of Litecoin’s tweets and made memes.
As the core hub and operation center of the crypto world, all major exchanges have actively or passively joined this "identity recognition" trend. Well-known exchanges such as OKX, HTX, Gate.io, etc. have released their own mascots. Among them, LBank, which is considered by the outside world to be a MEME KING, was also "passively" involved. According to data, a Twitter account named "LBank Mascot Lucky" published LBank's related mascot Lucky, which not only triggered active interaction and forwarding from LBank's official account LBank.com, but also LBank's official avatar was directly changed to the mascot lucky, instantly raising the market's enthusiasm.
Data shows that just 9 hours after LBank's mascot meme coin Lucky went online, the number of holders exceeded 1,000 and the market value exceeded US$800,000.
LBank has integrated meme culture into its external image, which is not only a keen capture of market trends, but also a confident expression of its inner strength. As an important participant in the meme market, LBank has already accumulated profound experience and significant achievements in this field. According to bitcoin.com New, as early as July 2023, LBank Labs established a US$10 million special fund for the meme sector. From promoting market liquidity to exploring potential projects, LBank relied on its professional team and keen Market insights have successfully helped multiple meme assets achieve breakthrough development.
According to incomplete statistics, LBank has launched hundreds of meme assets, including MOODENG, NEIRO, MIGGLES, SPX, FIGHT, ACT, MOODENG, GOAT and other Gem MEMEs, all of which have achieved a get-rich-quick effect of more than 500% increase, among which PEPE has the highest increase of 1,277 times and MOG has the highest increase of 749 times. MOODENG, GOAT and ACT, which were first launched, all saw huge increases and were subsequently launched on Binance.
From technology to emotion: the transformation of market ecology
The rise of meme culture has not only triggered the rotation of market hot spots, but also profoundly affected the ecological structure of the crypto market. Traditional crypto projects used to focus on technological innovation and long-term planning as the core of their appeal, but in the current market environment, this model has been difficult to maintain users' continued attention and growth.
Take Litecoin as an example. Its "self-deprecating" marketing strategy proves that through emotional resonance, humorous narratives and the rapid spread of social media, crypto projects can regain the market spotlight in a short period of time. This strategy centered on entertainment and interactivity is changing the behavior of investors and providing new development directions for traditional projects.
Moonshot, a platform that focuses on meme coin trading, recently announced that its fiat currency inflows hit a new high, attracting a large number of non-crypto users to participate. Top trader Eugene pointed out that DOGE's recent breakthrough not only increased its own value, but also opened up higher market valuation space for other meme coins.
In contrast, many crypto projects that once attracted much attention for their cutting-edge technology and future vision have gradually become marginalized under the dual pressures of market cooling and fierce competition. To make matters worse, these projects generally face selling pressure brought by the "unlocking period", and the large amount of cashing out by early investors and venture capital has caused prices to continue to fall, further shaking market confidence.
At the same time, the popularity of meme culture has also pushed the role of the community to the center of the stage. In this trend, the community is not only a creator of content, but also a promoter of market sentiment. By giving assets a more entertaining and labeled narrative, meme culture has injected new vitality and growth potential into the crypto market.
