Author: Asher Zhang
Since the current bull market, except for the strong performance of Bitcoin and several mainstream tokens, the overall market performance has been mediocre. It is not that there are no new tracks emerging in the crypto market, but it is difficult to form a craze in the end. Many people even doubt whether the crypto market has entered the bull market stage. However, with the Federal Reserve about to enter a rate cut cycle, optimism in the market continues to rise, and expectations for the upcoming bull market are also beginning to rise. So, how is this round of bull market different from the past? And what tracks are really worth paying attention to?
Meme breaks out of the circle, DeFi builds a new tower
Since this round of bull market, many hot spots have emerged, such as AI, full-chain games, chain abstraction, DePIN, Layer2, re-staking, Bitcoin second layer, etc. These tracks have certain technical capabilities, but the popularity and duration are very limited. On the contrary, MEME, from the initial inscriptions and runes on the Bitcoin ecosystem, to WIF, BONK, etc. on Solana, and the recent hot Pump.fun and SunPump, etc., the MEME track has lasted for a long time and has broken out of the circle. It is worth noting that this round of MEME explosion is different from the past, and it is not a simple MEME concept.
Since the birth of Pump.fun, the MEME craze has continued to break through the circle, attracting many Web2 users and celebrities to join Web3. According to data collated by Subin Alon, a data analyst at crypto venture capital firm Hashed, more than 1 million Meme coin projects have been created on Pump.fun, a crypto project based on the Solana and Blast blockchains, since its launch in January. Pump.fun has become increasingly popular as the preferred place for retail investors to create and trade Meme coins, bringing in an estimated revenue of more than $50 million in just six months. This year, Pump.fun has also attracted the attention of celebrities including rapper Iggy Azalea, who launched a token called MOTHER on Pump.fun.
Recently, after SunPump went online, it caused some heated discussions in the market. It is similar to Pump.fun in mechanism. At the same time, with the help of Sun Yuchen's TRON ecosystem, it further connects DEX and CEX, which is essentially a further step forward for DeFi, rather than a simple MEME hype. Taking SunPump as an example, its core functions include: one-click coin issuance, binding curve mechanism, instant market access, liquidity injection and token destruction. The realization of these functions is essentially a sign of DeFi's further maturity. Although it seems to be just a MEME token, it involves many aspects such as token issuance, token circulation, and token supply and demand mechanism design. Therefore, platforms such as SunPump and Pump.fun are essentially another upgrade of DeFi, and a breakthrough in the application of DeFi+Meme.
Application is king, DePIN is expected to catch the AI ride
The crypto market has been weak recently. Except for the occasional hot projects in the Meme track, other mainstream tracks have performed mediocrely. The author believes that this is a great time to look for excellent chips. Overall, the DePIN (decentralized infrastructure) track, especially those closely related to the AI track, are worthy of attention.
The reason why DePIN is related to the AI track is worth paying attention to is mainly due to two aspects: 1) AI is the main track for future global development, the main investment direction of capital, and the development trend for a long time in the future; 2) DePIN is complementary to the AI track. Many crypto projects in the crypto market have huge computing power themselves, and some crypto projects are committed to providing AI and ML companies with GPU resource integration from model training to reasoning, and providing low-cost and high-efficiency cloud computing services, such as io.net. At this year's WWDC conference, Apple released Apple Intelligence, its new AI feature suite for all devices. Among them, OctaneX, a 3D design software supported by Render Network, was demonstrated on the latest iPad Pro.
AI is a long-term development trend, and crypto giants have also made early arrangements. Grayscale Decentralized AI Fund is the first fund that invests only in native tokens of decentralized AI protocols. Currently, the fund includes Filecoin, Near, Render, Livepeer, and Bittensor. Grayscale pointed out that people are worried that the future will be dominated by centralized AI, and crypto technology is expected to create a fairer and more transparent ecosystem. Although the combination of encryption and AI is still in its early stages, the prospects are broad. By leveraging the power of encryption, a fairer, transparent and trustworthy AI ecosystem can be built.
Meme and DePIN share equal footing, a new model for the development of the crypto market
From the perspective of the development stage of blockchain, blockchain technology has already matured initially. It urgently needs a breakthrough to impact the moat of Web2. At present, it has actually entered the stage where applications are king. From a technical point of view, many projects now look very powerful, but if they cannot really attract users, investors are less and less willing to pay. Although the hype of Meme is despised by many technical geeks and VCs, this does not prevent projects such as Pump.fun and SunPump from becoming one of the most profitable crypto projects. In addition to MEME, as mentioned above, Grayscale, crypto giants are actually actively laying out the DePIN track.
This round of MEME is different from the past. In essence, it further integrates innovation on the original DeFi, which greatly reduces the entry threshold of DeFi. In the long run, as more and more tracks and applications enter the crypto market in the future, it will be more inseparable from platforms such as Pump.fun and SunPump, and some more customized platforms may continue to emerge in the future. If the development of the MEME platform is a further step on the original basis, then the combination of DePIN and AI is a trend combination. The decentralization, computing power mining, and decentralized storage of the blockchain industry all have potential advantages in combination with AI.
In essence, DePIN represents an important direction for the future development of the blockchain industry. On this basis, there needs to be more applications on the blockchain to prosper the on-chain economy. Only in this case can DeFi create greater value.
Summarize
Although the blockchain industry has conducted application experiments from different dimensions before, such as social networking, blockchain games and other needs, it is actually difficult to shake the traditional Web2 giants in terms of volume. Since this round of bull market, the MEME craze has continued to be sought after by the market, and has attracted many Web2 users, which has gradually become the first stop for Web2 users to enter Web3. Although the MEME hype has been criticized, it has indeed brought new users to the industry. At present, there is still a lack of truly innovative and disruptive applications in the industry, and relying solely on DeFi is still limited in scale. At present, the combination of AI and the blockchain industry will undoubtedly be the next important breakthrough point. At present, the AI industry is also in the early stages of implementation, and combined with the technical advantages of blockchain, it is expected to usher in a new world.
