Author: Gyro Finance
There are always "dog" legends in the crypto market
Recently, the NEIRO contract, which was once called the new generation of "Dogecoin", was launched on OKX and Binance. Driven by the exchanges, NEIRO quickly soared more than 6 times. This launch also officially announced the slow demise of the competing product "Neiro".
The final outcome of MEME was put to an end by the exchange, which triggered heated discussions in the market. In the conspiracy theory competition between the bankers and the community, the industrial production of MEME was also put on the value system.
When it comes to NEIRO, people outside the industry may not be very familiar with it, but if it refers to Dogecoin, the recognition is much higher.
This 2013 Shiba Inu-shaped MEME was well-known on Reddit, where geeks gather, when it was first created. It quickly became popular around the world in 2019 under the promotion of Musk. In 2021, it became a typical currency that sparked the animal currency craze and was on the hot search list of Weibo in China more than once. To date, DOGECOIN has become a unique representative of the encrypted MEME culture. It not only has its own website and community, but also has a large community of followers. The total number of followers on the X platform has reached 3.98 million, and the number of Discord members has exceeded 30,000. Naturally, it has become the leading Internet celebrity in the encrypted field.
In fact, DOGE has a real prototype. It is a Shiba Inu named Kabosu adopted by a Japanese kindergarten teacher, Atsuko Sato, in 2008. Due to its advanced age, Kabosu died on May 24 this year at the age of 18. At that time, DOGE rose by 9% in a short period of time. The protagonist of this article happens to be the story that happened afterwards.
On July 28, 2024, Atsuko Sato posted on the X platform that she had adopted a new Shiba Inu member named 'ねいろ'. At that time, Trump was attending a speech at the Bitcoin Conference, and crypto users were holding their breath waiting for the outbreak of speech-type MEME. Shiba Inu turned out at this time. The crypto field, which is best at taking advantage of hot spots, naturally would not let go of this valuable material. However, when naming, the creator's considerations were quite complicated. The complex Japanese name is obviously not conducive to the spread of MEME. The simpler and more direct English name is the first choice in the industry. The literal translation of ねいろ in English is "Neiro". Around this English name, the dispute over the legitimacy of uppercase and lowercase letters set sail on the same day.
The fastest-reacting MEME token was the lowercase "Neiro" token built on the Solana ecosystem, which had a market value of $49.7 million on the same day. Later, the Neiro token contract was also deployed on the Ethereum ecosystem. At about the same time, the uppercase "NEIRO" token also appeared on Solana and Ethereum.
As the two sides were competing fiercely on various chains, the well-known trader Ansem also intervened and attached a K-line link of lowercase $Neiro on the X platform. Users received the signal and funds quickly poured into the lowercase dog. However, facing the real and fake Monkey King, Sato Atsuko tweeted that she only supported @ownthedoge $dog with IP copyright (the decentralized autonomous organization Own the Doge purchased the image copyright related to the Dogecoin prototype Kabosu. The organization did not disclose the purchase price.), and other tokens had nothing to do with it. Lowercase Neiro fell in response, and a more dramatic change occurred again. Ansem joined the uppercase "NEIRO" Space to speak, and the pattern reversed again. NEIRO's market value soared to nearly 40 million US dollars, while Neiro's market value fell back to 20 million US dollars.
After a series of dramatic operations, the uppercase and lowercase tokens on Ethereum stabilized on the second day, and the market value gradually converged and rose. On July 31, the market value of the uppercase NEIRO token had reached 70 million US dollars, and it seemed to be a new generation of golden dogs, but it once again ushered in a crisis of trust.
Bubblemaps revealed on Twitter that there were a large number of insider trading in the $NEIRO tokens issued on Ethereum, with about 78% of the tokens being allocated in advance and then transferred to more than 400 wallet addresses. According to further analysis by the media, the suspected insider trading addresses all came from a mixer address marked as Cointool, and the funds were transferred in at 22:13 on July 27, with the amount transferred being around 0.05 Ethereum.
Despite being exposed, the market value of NEIRO still soared to 170 million after the FOMO rise. In this sense, NEIRO's insider trading share is as high as 130 million US dollars, which is the largest insider trading among MEME coins. However, it was also due to the scandal that NEIRO's rise was weak and gradually slipped. On September 4, the market value returned to 2.6 million US dollars.
Price trend of capital Neiro, source: Coinmarketcap
On the other hand, lowercase Neiro has come back to life by accident. When the token was first launched, the Neiro community followed the current common practice and transferred 4% of the total Neiro tokens to Vitalik's address. The conventional operation did not bring any benefits, but by coincidence, Vitalik just sold all the MEME tokens he had obtained on August 5. Neiro took advantage of Vitalik's reply and created a new hype hotspot. Combined with the team's strong operation and publicity, the currency rose by 50 times in the following week. Although it quickly fell back afterwards, it also attracted market attention again. As one rises, the other falls. During the rise of Neiro, NEIRO was nearly halved.
Of course, regardless of the price of the currency, both large and small dogs have a very strong community foundation. The lowercase Neiro community has been highly praised by many KOLs for its push-style communication operations, and the technical team also participates in charity from time to time to enhance its popularity, and has a good reputation in the circle. NEIRO is not to be outdone. Since it has the blessing of rat warehouse capital, the team behind it is obviously not to be underestimated, especially in the Japanese KOL circle to which it belongs, its influence is prominent. In fact, when Bubblemaps questioned it, many KOLs such as @apipiro22, @mikky_8080, and @yukimaru_potty responded, saying that only with team tokens can they go further.
It was thought that the battle between the two parties would end in a hasty manner, but the intervention of the exchange changed the whole situation. On the evening of September 5, OKX and Binance successively launched NEIRO contracts. Since then, the price of NEIRO has soared from about US$0.03 to US$0.1952. It is now reported at US$0.19U, and the market value has returned to US$180 million. In contrast, lowercase Neiro has no power to fight back, and its market value has fallen by US$16 million.
Lowercase Neiro price trend, source: Coinmarketcap
It can be said that the exchange ultimately determined the legitimacy of the so-called NEIRO and decided the outcome of the two, but the fact that a token with obvious insider trading was promoted by a large exchange also caused fierce dissatisfaction in the market. In the discussion among industry insiders, they all believed that MEME became a victim of the confrontation between the camps, and the interests of the large exchange exacerbated this situation. MEME is no longer a free choice of the community, but has become a sickle for interest groups to harvest leeks.
The price trend of the two major currencies also indirectly proves this point. According to the observation of Rhythm, on the eve of the news of the listing, NEIRO soared without any favorable news after a half-month decline, but Neiro continued to be in a downward channel and ushered in a sharp decline. This shows that perhaps some interest groups have already known the behind-the-scenes news in advance and operated.
What is the value of MEME? Obviously, there are different answers for different subjects. Ordinary users regard it as a fairer opportunity to get rich quickly, while exchanges think it is a cash weight with traffic. There is no doubt that the market is won by the price. The project party is playing games in the balance of interests between the two parties to obtain more reasonable returns. No matter from which aspect, around the so-called attention economy, interests are the most important part for MEME ecological participants. When interests tend to be consistent, the operation of the exchange can make users revel and is praised as a strategic manifestation of adapting to the market, but when interests are reversed, public opinion is completely different. For example, in this coin listing event, the secret joy of the NEIRO community corresponds to the helpless abuse of Neiro users.
From a deeper perspective, MEME, as a product of culture, is a carrier of hype, but it also has values that are separated from this part. This is why many MEME tokens have been enduring. Even digital casinos are a personal free choice. This is also the point that industry insiders are most dissatisfied with. Listing coins on exchanges is itself a choice of standing, which overrides user needs and only serves interest groups with strong capital.
But it must be admitted that in today's crypto circle, MEME has become an industrialized mass product. When new hot spots appear, hot tokens emerge in endlessly. Under the bustling flow of money, it is not surprising that there are interest groups that capitalize and fuel the flames. Looking at any short-lived currency, it is inevitable that there are traders, otherwise there would not be many golden dog MEMEs whose "consensus" value soared hundreds of times in minutes or even seconds. This may be the main trend of the development of the MEME market.
Regardless of interest groups, sometimes the participation of a single person is enough to change the situation. For example, in the capitalization dispute, Ansem's two-sided operation caused the token to experience a reversal of yin and yang. But in an interview, Ansem only mentioned that he just made a mistake in operation and forwarded it before he was clear about the incident. But even though he clarified it many times in Space later, the FOMO market was indifferent in the end. After all, the traffic had arrived and the story ended. But until now, some people still say that he "killed" Neiro.
There are many interests intertwined behind the fairer market envisioned by users, but users can still choose whether to enter the game. What users can do is just to abandon their fantasies and try to find clues to get on the high-speed train of the dealer, rather than being run over by the speeding train. As for values, in the current market where the warehouse is not real, it will only usher in more severe tests.
Back to the MEME of the same name, it is quite interesting that this situation has become widespread. For example, against the backdrop of the popularity of Black Wukong, the MEME of the same name as Wukong has also begun to spread across various public chains, which is somewhat similar to the reappearance of Neiro.
It is foreseeable that the fierce battles in the arena of the same name MEME will continue. The final winner must be the one with the most voice or the most capital. Will the final result be full competition or will the bad money drive out the good money? It depends on one's opinion.
