Original title: The Revelry and Cold Reflection of Meme Coins: 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 much financial ripples can a humorous quip create? From $DOGE to $SHIB, and then to this year's spectacularly high-yielding $Neiro, these seemingly 'absurd' coins have repeatedly refreshed people's views on the narrative ability of Meme coins.
In 2024, the Meme coin market remained lively amid uncertainty. It is not just an entertainment symbol in the crypto circle but has also become a paradise for speculators and a barometer of market sentiment. But if we peel back the story behind the price surge, we will find that there is a familiar yet strange logic 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 an extension of internet meme culture, but their true charm lies in their ability to quickly gather emotions through storytelling, shaping short-term 'group frenzy'. However, regarding the long-term value of Meme coins, no one has yet been able to pierce through the fog and find the certainty and connotation within the numerous stories in that 'bubble'.
It's a joke, but also a cultural resonance.
The earliest $DOGE Dogecoin can be said to be a complete 'joke'. It has no complex technical support or ambitious application plans, but relying on a Shiba Inu meme, it became the spokesperson for internet meme culture. In 2024, this meme narrative was further promoted, with new players not only attracting attention through 'jokes' and 'humor' but also starting to play the cultural emotional card.
For example, $Pepe's sad frog, the frog image behind it has long been a classic in internet culture. Its popularity does not rely on technical highlights but on community dissemination and cultural recognition. In a short time, the community size of $Pepe exploded, becoming this year's biggest dark horse among Meme coins. It is not difficult to see that as long as one can grasp the 'emotional point' within internet meme culture, Meme coins can quickly tell a good story and garner consensus.
Community-driven: More like an emotional game.
The popularity of a Meme coin is invariably supported 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 keen to 'create memes' and attract people on social platforms, even turning Meme coins from a 'joke' into a 'trend'.
The example of $SHIB is very typical. In 2024, it maintained its popularity not only through meme culture but also tried to attract long-term users through technological narratives, such as its metaverse project Shibaverse, which, although still in its early stages, has provided the community with a new 'point of pride'.
From this, we can see that for Meme coins, meme culture is the foundation, but its true charm lies in its ability to narrate community stories — telling a story that resonates emotionally, making everyone 'want to buy and dare to buy'.
2. A magnifying glass of market sentiment, a safe haven for speculators.
However, no matter what, the underlying logic of a 'good story' that can drive market changes requires 'incentive-driven' dynamics. The reason why Meme coins can remain hot is not only because they are 'fun', but also because they have become a high-volatility safe haven for speculators during the downturn of the crypto market.
Price soaring, the 'wealth myth' 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 mid-year, the price of this sad yet funny frog achieved more than a hundredfold increase — the market is attracted to such coins not because of their strong technology or applications, but because they are easy to 'hype up'.
Meme coins have a low issuance threshold, with extremely low prices and seemingly unlimited room for growth. This characteristic is particularly friendly to retail investors: even with just a few hundred dollars, one can chase a '10x or 100x' imagination. For those investors who entered the market late, this high-risk, high-reward speculative category has become their best choice to catch the wealth effect.
Market fluctuations, the 'emotional outlet' in a bear market.
Interestingly, when the overall cryptocurrency market enters a period of fluctuation, the popularity of Meme coins actually rises against the trend, not because Meme coins themselves have strong 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 stir retail sentiment, Meme coins have become the 'stronghold' of emotional trading.
So it is clear that the market indicates that behind the price fluctuations of Meme coins is the amplification and reflection of market sentiment: for speculators, it is the preferred choice for low-cost, high-volatility; for the market, it is a real 'emotional mirror'. So it is not hard to understand why everyone has started to enjoy listening to them tell stories, and even more so, they have begun to create one after another near-at-hand yet fantastical 'wealth creation stories'.
3. Can Meme coins score more points with technological enhancements?
We understand the changes in market sentiment, but we must also clearly recognize that relying on cultural narratives and speculative emotions can create short-term spikes. However, for Meme coins to go further and find the underlying logic that can support long-term value compounding, they must rely on technological innovation to create new narratives and application scenarios.
AI 'new memes', creating technological narrative empowerment.
This year, AI technology has become a hot topic in the crypto circle. Some Meme coin projects seized the opportunity to launch AI-powered gameplay, such as AI-generated content. Through this approach, Meme coin projects can provide continuous interaction and entertainment experiences for a wide range of investors and community members quickly and at low cost. Additionally, AI trading strategies, leveraging the advantages of AI algorithms, enable project teams to more accurately predict market trends, analyze trading data, and optimize investment decisions. Although the early results 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 their unique charm and potential in 2024. Especially in projects like $Pepe, which allows investors not only to profit by purchasing and holding Pepe coins but also to showcase their identity and status through acquiring unique NFTs.
The combination of NFTs and Meme coins is no longer just a simple exchange of digital assets but a profound reflection of identity recognition and community culture. Through the gameplay bound by NFTs, these projects provide investors with more personalized and emotional ways to participate, making holding these Meme coins not just an investment activity but also an expression of community belonging. It is easy to imagine that as more similar innovative gameplay continues to emerge, NFTs will continue to be an important 'accelerator' for the development of Meme coin projects.
The attempt to combine payment scenarios with DeFi increases the value leverage of tokens.
Of course, in the imaginative cryptocurrency market, some Meme coins are also attempting to expand payment functions. Just at the end of the year, DogWifCoin officially announced a partnership with Oobit to launch a new payment feature 'Wif Pay', allowing users to spend $WIF and enjoy a 3% cashback reward.
Projects like $SHIB are combining DeFi protocols to allow holders to gain more real benefits, such as the governance token $BONE of the $SHIB ecosystem, which is widely used in liquidity mining on ShibaSwap, enabling investors to earn returns through staking (BURYing) and providing liquidity (DIGging).
Such technological narratives continue. Technological empowerment will be 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 implemented can Meme coins perhaps finally escape the fate of 'short-term speculation'.
Final note: The next stop for Meme coins is whether the rise of meme economic culture or the collapse of the 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 and the drive of speculators have made it the most 'explosive' asset.
Technology: New concepts and new application scenarios are key to making Meme coins more 'valuable' in the future.
However, these three also come with obvious risks: How long can the story be told? How long can the sentiment hold? Can the technology really be implemented? The answers to these questions will determine the future direction of Meme coins.
However, when 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 cryptocurrency market. Amid the increasingly restless and continuously erupting 'golden cycle' of cryptocurrencies following the U.S. elections, its vitality is far from over, but whether it can break free from the revelry and enter a true 'value era':
2025, please let Meme coin respond.
