X Space Review | The Future of Memes, Exploring the Development Trends of the Meme Space Post-Hype

Recently, the crypto market has been cooling down, with both mainstream assets and once popular project tokens experiencing varying degrees of pullback. In such a market environment, it seems that only Meme coins still hold a hint of popularity. However, as the frenzy gradually fades, where will the Meme track head in the future?

On April 3, BlockBeats invited Gate.io's Wallet Growth Lead, Darian, DD Community Founder Xiao Wei, and crypto KOL Dog Head Advisor to discuss and share insights on the topic "The Future of Meme: Exploring the Development Trends of the Meme Track After the Frenzy Subsides," delving into new opportunities for the future of Memes.

Rhythm BlockBeats: Please have the guests introduce themselves briefly and share their most focused Memecoin track or project.

Darian: Hello everyone, I am Darian, the Head of Operations Growth at Gate Wallet. Personally, I am a crypto industry "old-timer" who has experienced two bull-bear cycles. Before introducing the track I am focused on, let me briefly introduce Gate Wallet. It is a full-chain, decentralized, non-custodial wallet. Currently, users of on-chain transactions generally face the issue of high fees, while our wallet consistently maintains a "zero fee" strategy. For seasoned players, the advantages of such low fees are self-evident. Additionally, we provide new users with generous airdrop rewards. For example, users can often receive airdropped tokens worth $30 to $50 when trading on our platform. You are welcome to experience it.

Getting back to the main topic, from last year to this year, I have primarily focused on three tracks. First is AI-related projects, which is the direction I started focusing on earliest; second is the celebrity track and political track, which have been quite hot in the recent quarter. I have been continuously tracking many projects in these three major directions. A representative case is from early November last year when I noticed that A16Z founder Marc Andreessen made a $50,000 small donation to ai16z. When I met Shaw, the founder of ai16z, he was not yet well-known in the community and was just a relatively unknown developer. During his project with ai16z, I was also involved in early community outreach in the Chinese community. This is one of the earliest and in-depth AI track cases I have participated in this cycle.

Xiao Wei: Hello everyone, I am Xiao Wei, the founder of the DD community. I got involved in Meme projects starting from the BOME bull run. At that time, Meme was a market hot spot, and personally, it was my first time participating in such projects. I entered the circle relatively early, starting from Inscription. At that time, Dog Head Advisor and I entered the circle together, and we were almost participating in Inscription-related projects every day. But for us, Shiba Inu represented a brand new opportunity, so after BOME, we have been deeply cultivating in the Meme field. I have also written many related tutorials to drive community development.

Memecoin Strategist: Hello everyone, I am the Memecoin Strategist. Previously, I was active on-chain with Lil' Wayne, mainly researching various Alpha projects. Later, due to market changes, our direction shifted, focusing more on research and practice in the Meme domain. Currently, I mainly focus on the Meme sector on Solana, actively participating in various communities and projects on the Solana chain. At the same time, I also participate in and follow other chains like BSC.

Rhythm BlockBeats Interviewer: Meme has become a major narrative in the crypto market since last year and is now in a clear transition phase. Have you ever bought a Meme? What is your favorite Meme? Why?

Darian: Before we begin, I'd like to share a somewhat bittersweet story for me. I've been in the crypto space for about five to six years, considered one of the early adopters. I truly started paying attention to the Meme track in 2021. At that time, I was working at a custody institution in the Asia-Pacific region, interacting with many project teams and platforms daily. The initial explosion of the Meme market in 2021 started with DOGE, with a staggering price surge, nearly 50x. During that period, I was busy with custody-related work at the company. One day, a friend called me, discussing many crypto-related topics, and finally asked if I could help him buy 100,000 RMB worth of DOGE. At that time, there was about a week to go before the DOGE surge. However, from the analysis perspective of our custody institution, I did not believe Meme coins had actual value, so I advised him not to buy. Later, that friend never contacted me again, and I missed out on that Meme market surge.

I rekindled my interest in the Meme track when a friend recommended PEPE to me. That was when I truly began to understand the community culture around Meme and the atmosphere behind it, gradually getting involved. Over the past two years, I have mainly worked in the on-chain growth and wallet-related fields. I believe memeing is one of the most direct ways to feel the market's pulse, almost becoming a daily "work task" for me. However, due to my busy work schedule, I cannot monitor the market all day like many on-chain experts. Currently, I am more involved in wallet applications and am quite familiar with many of their functions, including the GMV metric and our own wallet tools, with the goal of better meeting user needs. I now use the Gate Wallet daily to screen targets on the AI recommendation list, significantly reducing the workload of selecting coins. I generally scan the list two to three times a day to get a rough idea of the market status and the main trading trends. If the market is doing well, I can also identify some potential Alpha opportunities.

As for my favorite Meme coin, personally, I don't have a particularly strong preference for the coin itself—neither liking it nor disliking it. In the past two years, my trading style has shifted towards day trading and trend trading of mainstream coins. I no longer make predictions, emphasizing discipline and rhythm instead. One could say my style is a bit of a "hit and run" mentality—take profit when you see it. This approach has its pros and cons. For example, last year, I first encountered the AI Meme track through the Chinese community. Many projects shared at an early stage saw significant gains, often starting from dozens of multiples. However, due to my habit of swing trading, I often sold off shortly after entering, missing out on the subsequent massive price increases. Even though I sold off many Meme coins prematurely, I still have high expectations for the potential of this track.

Serena: My favorite is actually the POPCAT Meme coin, but I was unable to get on board before. I could only watch as it kept rising. At the time, it was on the Ethereum chain, and I started paying attention to it when it was at $0.025. Later, it rose about 7 times, then fell back from its peak. Throughout the process, it had at least two or three obvious buying opportunities, fluctuating by 5 times up and down. I was always on the sidelines observing and couldn't enter in time, which was quite regrettable. Afterward, I started looking for similar projects and discovered the coin FROG, which can be said to be a counterpart to POPCAT. I started following it in the group at the whitelist opening and project launch early stage. They did a great job with their packaging on visual content like emojis. Later, although the project team ran away, the CTO took over, so I think this coin overall has great potential.

Doge Strategist: I actually like quite a few Meme coins because I have a broad range of interests. If I have to name my favorites, I can list three: LUCE, BAT, and FIGHT. I have participated in and achieved some good results in these three projects. Among them, the one that left the deepest impression on me is FIGHT. It happened to be the time when TrumpCoin was launched. Due to some of my personal inherent thoughts, I did not gain much profit from TRUMP. My usual habit is not to chase after flagship projects but to prefer exploring those hot topics derived from the flagship, such as related concept coins, forks, or tokens strongly associated with it.

If we were to say, besides TrumpCoin, what is the most related token to Trump? The first thing that came to my mind was FIGHT. I remember that day, I bought a considerable amount of chips around 1M and held all the way through. Because TRUMP was rising very sharply at the time, it drove a series of related tokens to follow suit. At this point, funds from many communities also began flowing into these peripheral tokens. Later, the price of FIGHT rose to about 69 or 70M (can't quite remember), and I exited when it was over 50M. This time, I was determined. Although not all in, it was a small all-in, and the final result met my expectations. I also led my community members to participate, and everyone bought quite a bit. So for me, FIGHT left a particularly deep impression.

Rhythm BlockBeats: From Peak to Cooling Down, What Major Issues is the Meme Track Currently Facing? Is it the Impact of the Market Cycle or the Track Itself?

Darian: I think the current situation can be summed up in one sentence: the Meme track is currently in a state of "entropy increase," leaning towards the middle to late stage. The most direct manifestation is situations like the drastic drop in ACT on April 1, which often occurs in the extreme stages of the later part of a cycle. Most memes have lost their independence, and in the past one to two months, trading and volatility have been close to zero. Isolated events, such as whale sells, liquidity disruptions, or fee adjustments, can trigger drastic market fluctuations.

Prior to this, Meme coins had been constantly building up an imaginary enemy throughout the cycle, namely traditional altcoins, attempting to "suck" their liquidity. However, this opponent no longer exists, and liquidity itself has collapsed. The gameplay of Meme coins is also in a state of interruption, and the wealth effect has almost disappeared. The current number of tokens that can successfully launch is very limited, with many tokens only able to conduct small-scale launches on Pump.fun or some issuance platforms. From a market capitalization perspective, the market has shrunk from its previous multi-billion scale to possibly only a million-dollar level, and this issuance frequency is also very low, with perhaps only one or two projects per week.

Some KOLs have attempted to inject attention or funds into the market in the short term through "risk control" or information manipulation, partially alleviating the state of entropy increase. However, overall, the structural chaos of the entire Meme ecosystem is still intensifying. Without fundamental changes, this trend will not stop. This state can be observed through several indicators: first, the birth and death rate of tokens, that is, the speed of new coin listings and project removal, has already indicated market turmoil. Secondly, there are now many AI-based analytical tools that can measure the degree of information dissemination, allowing for the judgment of the spread of emotions and heat. Lastly, the change in on-chain addresses, especially the significant fluctuations in the number of small wallets, also reflects the drastic changes in user participation.

So I believe that Meme coins are currently indeed in a state of entropy increase. However, I do not think this track has fundamental issues. From the birth of Bitcoin, it is inherently part of the "Meme" track. Bitcoin itself is the biggest "Meme." The emergence of the last cycle's Ethereum and ICOs also drove the development of the entire Altcoin sector in the form of Memecoins. Our current definition of "Meme coins" is more of a man-made division, and it is fundamentally no different from the ICO projects before the last DeFi Summer; both are mechanisms surrounding asset issuance. The difference lies in the issuance methods, market pricing methods, and narrative logics of each cycle, which will undergo changes.

Similar to the wave from 2021 to 2022, many DeFi OGs from the DeFi Summer era actually did not receive much reward during this cycle, which is quite normal. In the past, they focused on metrics like TVL, lock-up volume, and buybacks, but Memecoins often cannot be measured in value through these traditional means. Take ai16z, for example, these tokens are difficult to explain their value through fundamental or traditional investment logic. Investors who rely on old paths will find it difficult to assess, difficult to get involved, and the logic cannot be closed-looped. So the issue in this track is not with the "project," but rather the gameplay, users, dissemination methods, and narrative logic have changed. For users, this is a complete cognitive reconstruction. I believe this is also one of the important driving forces behind the continuous evolution of the crypto industry.

Weiyi: I also feel that "Meme Coins" indeed have a clear cyclical nature, just like the market trends we see in the primary and secondary markets, whether it's NFTs, rug pulls, they will all go through phases of prosperity and cooling. For example, before PVP came out, the entire market was relatively calm; but after PVP exploded, various chains imitated and launched their PVP platforms. At that time, we mainly participated in some Alpha projects, and there were many artists issuing coins at that time, so the wave in March-April last year was truly a "money-picking market."

But that kind of market cannot be sustained. Memes won't always have people hyping them, nor will there always be people who can gain a lot of wealth through a single coin. Many times, it's because of a long period of market dullness, followed by a sudden emergence of a new pattern, causing a massive FOMO outbreak and everyone rushing in. If the market enters an extremely scarce state again in the future, there may be an opportunity for this window to reappear. But looking at it now, this novel gameplay is already outdated, especially pre-sale. For example, a few days ago, I participated in a pre-sale, invested 20 BNB, and in the end, I only received 80U, not even enough to cover the gas fee loss. This indicates that the current market environment is no longer suitable for profiting through pre-sales. It must be a phase, when the tide goes out, it goes out. But I think, since we have been in this industry, continuously paying attention and participating, we will still encounter opportunities. The key is to remain patient and wait for the right moment.

Dogecoin Strategist: The first issue is that on-chain liquidity is no longer as abundant as before. Why is this happening? Mainly because everyone is getting smarter, information is spread rapidly, and opportunities are quickly consumed. The second point is the maturity of tools, which is crucial. Now, on-chain analytics tools are becoming more professional and convenient, leading to a significant increase in everyone's ability to access information, and blockchain scanning has become very accessible. It used to be "who has excellent blockchain scanning technology," and now it has turned into "who uses the tools well." When an industry gradually matures and becomes more automated, competition becomes very fierce.

When choosing memes in the early days, we didn't have as many metrics to refer to. As long as the front end was clean and the narrative made sense, we dared to join, and the accuracy was relatively high. But now, many project teams make the plate very clean and the logic very sound, which actually makes it more likely to become a trap. As a result, it's actually harder for everyone to get started, leading to insufficient on-chain liquidity. This is actually the process of the entire track changing from a blue ocean to a red ocean—the tools are becoming more mature, the participants are increasing, and the opportunities are decreasing. Of course, opportunities still exist, they just become fewer and harder to grasp. In addition, the impact of market cycles is also crucial. For example, Solana dropped by about 60% from its peak, which also had a significant impact on the overall market. At the same time, funds are constantly diverging. But I still insist on one thing: the Meme track still has opportunities, even in the cycle of bull and bear transition, Memes are still worth paying attention to.

Rhythm BlockBeats Interview: Recent Status of the Meme Market: Memes on BNB Chain and Solana are starting to rebound. Some believe that the growth of Memes on the BNB Chain mainly relies on "influential people" creating momentum, while memes in the Solana ecosystem tend to be more community-driven. How do you view the growth logic of these two major ecosystem Memes?

Darian: I think the Meme track is currently in a state of "commercialization expansion." Why can ecosystems like the BNB Chain rise in this cycle? I think this is an embodiment of the "Maxwell-Tim effect"—that is, in a chaotic environment, someone creates a fractured information flow and manufactures "hype," especially those with top influence, they can guide the flow of traffic, thus creating local prosperity.

For example, in recent days, some Meme coins on BSC have also experienced a significant decline. We can see that the players on the BNB Chain and the Meme players on Solana actually have very different gameplay and logic. Solana's Memes are more diverse, with not only retail participation but also various DeFi combination plays. It is easier to form a spontaneous community nature. Moreover, in a complete cycle, its fluctuations are usually more frequent, and the volatility is more intense. From my observation, Solana's washout cycle is usually between one to three months.

In contrast, although the BNB Chain performed quite well in the first half of the month, looking at the recent market trends, the overall upward momentum was weak. Even when new head Meme projects appeared, their performance was relatively weak. Looking at the path, many projects on the BNB Chain are actually typical of a "top hype, bottom buy" model. From my perspective, this is a typical "hype culture"—guiding traders to enter by creating continuous hype. At the same time, leveraging the empowerment of major exchanges, such as Bonuses, Binance Alpha Launchpad, IEOs, voting mechanisms, and so on. This deep integration is a very key point for the Meme market. As Professor Xiaowei mentioned, the liquidity of ordinary projects is far less than those empowered by Binance Alpha.

Let's look at the differences in capital operation. Taking Solana as an example, from an institutional perspective, it is closer to an internationally dominated narrative led by the United States. To put it more bluntly, it is an ecosystem with "American heritage." This means that it has more advantages in global community culture and financial purchasing power. In the Chinese community, the concept of community is relatively weaker. In the United States, many communities, whether virtual or real, do have a clear sense of community consciousness and practice. In Chinese culture, the emphasis is more on individual independence and self-development, which also influences the formation and development of online culture.

This cultural difference is also reflected in trading strategies. Projects on the BNB Chain are often highly controlled and subject to partial concentration of operations, often experiencing a rapid rise of two to three hundred points in a short period, followed by a rapid collapse. On the other hand, the gameplay on Solana leans more towards continuous accumulation of small funds, achieving concentrated outbreaks at certain points through narrative coordination with community rhythm. Overall, Solana's trading mode is more meticulous and places more emphasis on community involvement. Many so-called "copycat" or "market makers" in the current market have basically adopted the trading methods of some mature tokens from Q4 to Q1 during this period. These differences reflect the distinctions in the ecosystem culture, trading mechanism, and community development path of different chains.

Little V: The first blockchain I came into contact with was Solana, followed by Base Chain and BSC, among others like Linea and so on. There are many blockchains, but overall, the most prosperous are still Solana and BSC. Solana has a relatively stronger consensus, making it easier to launch some high market cap tokens and projects. These two chains share a common point: once a project on one chain gains popularity, we will observe if there are corresponding opportunities to participate on the other chain. This approach does not actually require us to actively compete for projects but rather seeks opportunities through benchmarking. If a project on BSC suddenly becomes popular, we will look for a corresponding opportunity on Solana to participate, and vice versa.

The reason Solana and BSC have become the focus is related to the joint efforts of CZ and He Yi in the past, making the BSC ecosystem particularly thriving. Initially, when we were playing in the Meme market, we actually supported 20 to 30 chains for Pump, including Ethereum, but it never really took off. The reason is that market consensus still focuses on Solana. After that, many chains began to imitate Solana and indeed established many platforms. In the end, only these leading chains could survive. Even though there are many projects issuing tokens on BSC, the ones that truly have vitality are the leading projects. Many other chains have also made attempts, but we only need to focus on the leading chains.

Looking at the project's lifecycle, I believe Solana is more sustainable. The popularity of BSC may be only cyclical, such as some projects initiated by "Sun Ge," which may end in a day. However, Solana has a longer lifecycle and is easier to accumulate consensus. When choosing a chain, we need to consider its long-term value, whether the Gas fee is low enough, whether the user base is stable, and so on. Everyone's choices are different; some can make money on Solana, but not necessarily on BSC. Most early projects on BSC were largely of the "startup" type or had rug-pull characteristics, with many being "rug-pulls" where they deployed their own contract. Later, due to the emulation of the Solana model and some filtering mechanisms screening out some projects, coupled with CZ and their market hype, a wealth effect emerged, and everyone dared to participate.

Dog Head Military Advisor: Regarding the growth logic of MEME, I believe that CZ and the He family have a significant impact on the current surge on BSC. It can be said that half of BSC's market performance is due to their calls. Initially, it was indeed effective, but later, the frequent calls diluted the value instead.

At that time, almost everyone was engaging in "archaeology," and even every word and punctuation mark they said would trigger a round of speculation. The MEME project, which was first launched on AlphaZone, did bring a strong wealth effect. However, as more projects emerged, funds began to diversify, and the market gradually declined, leading to the current market situation. The main user group of BSC is Chinese, although it is a large group, the structure is relatively single. Long-term focus on CZ and HO's model makes it easy for users to experience aesthetic fatigue. Although they later attempted to shift to other narratives such as GameFi, it was still difficult to break away from the influence of this couple.

Another key issue is: BSC's infrastructure is not as good as Solana's. When the market surges, users will find that the user experience on BSC is inferior to Solana, especially users accustomed to Solana, often incur losses when operating on BSC. I myself have experienced this; sometimes, I even spend a long time searching for a tool. In comparison, I highly appreciate Solana's community-driven approach. Its ecosystem infrastructure is sound, the user base includes foreigners and Chinese, the community has strong driving forces, and many tokens eventually bring about a wealth effect.

For example, the recent STONKS project initiated by "Big Brother" is still supported by many believers despite its long duration. Some time ago, they even distributed coins to KOLs offline. In the crypto world, faith is very important. For example, projects like BTC, DOGE, etc., rely on community belief for support. Without community support, a currency is hard to sustain its long-term value. Therefore, I believe that community-driven initiatives are very important, and Solana performs exceptionally well in this aspect.

Rhythm BlockBeats: There is a significant difference in the transaction experience between the BNB Chain and Solana when interacting with Meme using a wallet. Could Gate Wallet share its usage experience on these two chains, and whether Gate Wallet will optimize the interaction experience for Meme transactions in the future?

Darian: Certainly, regarding Gate Wallet, we must admit that objectively, the current data performance is not as impressive as some of the industry-leading wallets like OKX Wallet. However, in reality, we have been focusing on the on-chain track and continuously paying attention to and recording a large amount of information related to on-chain data and user feedback. We plan to launch a brand-new version of Gate Wallet by the end of April, before Gate.io's 12th-anniversary celebration. This update will bring a comprehensive improvement to the transaction experience and underlying chain connectivity.

First and foremost, in terms of the transaction experience, there has indeed been user feedback in the past that our wallet had some shortcomings in terms of functionality. As a wallet product, the top priority is security, followed by the comprehensiveness and convenience of functionality, and finally, the highlights of some unique features. However, in the recent period, most users have been more concerned about the convenience and speed of cryptocurrency trading, overlooking the presence of risks. Such issues have already been reflected in the industry, such as exit scams of some DEX platforms, and the risks exposed by users authorizing operations through third-party bot tools.

Therefore, in this update, we prioritize enhancing overall integrity and security while ensuring user convenience. In the new version, we have introduced more data dimensions and richer data display functions to help users make investment decisions quickly within the platform without the need to switch to third-party platforms for data comparison and information traceability, thereby simplifying user interaction paths. In the past, our interaction paths were relatively cumbersome, but the new version will provide a more intuitive and easily understandable way of operation to help all users, including newcomers and heavy users, reduce mis-touch and misguidance. The UI has also undergone a comprehensive upgrade, achieving significant improvements in visual and operational experience.

Optimizing the underlying chain connectivity is one of the key focuses of this update. Previously, GMGN shared some comparison data on platforms (such as Binance and OKX) in terms of transaction speed on Twitter. After this optimization, our on-chain interaction performance is now close to the level of leading platforms. We will provide more detailed quantitative metrics, including transaction speed, on-chain pricing, on-chain state synchronization, and more. Additionally, we will significantly enhance on-chain success rates, address some transaction accuracy issues raised by users, and introduce a series of mechanisms to prevent sandwich attacks and front-running, ensuring the stability of on-chain transactions and user experience.

Overall, our core goal is to provide users with a more complete, secure, and efficient on-chain interaction experience. In the past, we focused more on the balance between security and convenience, but this time we are more focused on how to achieve true freedom and smoothness in on-chain transactions. Users no longer need to worry about operational issues and can focus on the transactions themselves. This is the key breakthrough and working direction for us in this iteration cycle. Thank you all for your support.

Rhythm BlockBeats: What is the core driving force behind the Meme track? Is it community culture, celebrity effect, or other factors? Which Meme projects have stronger long-term vitality?

Darian: I think the core driving force is an alternating process, starting with the native culture or spirit driving community development, during which there will be outbreaks of emotional points, and the capital trend and wealth effect also drive buying. I think the most concise description is the ai16z coin. Although the person behind it likes to cause trouble and has some character flaws, for this market, if you have paid attention to the AI track or this coin, you will find that it is a typical Western coin, from manipulation to the final surge, yielding at least hundreds of times returns. So this is an alternating process; community culture and the celebrity effect are more short-term influences.

I have done some commonality analysis of classic Meme coins and think there are several key points for the long-term vitality of Meme coins. First, it needs to have a genuine cultural spirit, whether it is low-key or high-brow. The key is to attract a group of people who pay attention to and spread this culture. Second, Meme coins have a lot of memes, and they can easily trigger spontaneous dissemination, which is a very natural and autonomous process. Third, most well-known or large projects have almost no founders. Also, from the ICO era to the end of 2021, the whitepaper was a topic of much discussion. I have helped others write many whitepapers, and to be honest, there is a lot of algorithmic logic at the Ph.D. level that I myself did not fully understand. For Meme coin projects, a whitepaper is usually not needed, or at most three pages, simply and clearly explaining is sufficient.

Furthermore, Meme coins usually have a whimsical or operable pattern. For example, BTC is the most classic Meme coin, with its pattern being digital gold plus a mining network. Whereas coins like SHIBA, although not very eye-catching in the early days of circulation, have formed their own set of patterns through the construction of a burn and deflation mechanism. So, for a Meme coin that can survive in the long term, the basic commonalities are roughly these.

Dog Head Strategist: In passing car insurance, if we want to talk about the most typical depreciation case, I think the most obvious one is the celebrity coin. At that time, especially after Trump, many presidents and celebrities started to issue their own coins. The earliest participants did feel like they were picking up money, why? Because they leveraged their celebrity effect, and everyone followed the trend to buy due to Trump's influence, causing the coin price to skyrocket. Although these coins rise sharply, their popularity usually does not last long.

I believe that celebrity-backed coins do indeed experience a strong core driving force in the short term. However, in the long run, community culture is a more critical factor. When you extend the timeline, you often find that few people are willing to continue holding the bag. Because these coins lack long-term emotional support, as time goes on, the price begins to decline, and eventually, no one pays attention anymore. For example, coins associated with Trump's wife, once they start falling, they keep falling, and no one mentions them again. Therefore, a secret narrative is also a crucial factor.

A good narrative can create a good meme and form a strong community. If this narrative is compelling enough, can tell a good story, and is spread effectively, the coin's meme factor can attract retail investors to actively participate, form a community, drive this secret narrative, and ultimately make more people aware.

Therefore, I still believe that community culture and a secret narrative have long-term vitality. For instance, although some coins may seem somewhat gimmicky on the surface, they can indeed survive for a long time, making them typical meme coins. In contrast, celebrity coins may attract attention in the short term, but in today's market environment, many people are no longer willing to try them, as no one wants to hold the bag.

Rhythm BlockBeats: How will the future development of Meme narratives evolve? Will it lean more towards GameFi, DeFi integration, or continue to maintain community culture and hype attributes?

Serena: First and foremost, the community is still the most crucial aspect. Without community support, relying solely on trends is unsustainable for the long term, just like projects such as Grok and Deepseek. They are just part of the information flow, and when the trend passes, they quickly move on to the next one, unable to establish long-term consensus. On the contrary, looking back at projects that have been able to build consensus and still survive to this day, such as MEW, WIF, PEPE, they have been able to maintain longevity. Their success lies in robust community support and long-term emotional accumulation.

I thought PNUT was pretty strong at the time, but this project was purely driven by capital, without strong consensus behind it. It was more about creating a wealth effect, attracting everyone to participate, and everyone hoped to catch this wave. However, I believe that community consensus cannot only be about price increases and price; that would be meaningless. I invested tens of thousands at that time, but in the end, I suffered heavy losses. There was nothing I could do, and the coin had no bottom to it.

As for meme coins, every time there is a rebound in the overall market, they are usually the first to respond because of their small market capitalization, making them easier to pump compared to traditional mainstream coins. So, I think when choosing meme coins, it's best to look for projects with small market caps, strong community consensus, and a meme culture, especially those involving foreign teams. It's evident that many domestic projects don't have the same scope, and many Chinese projects, even if well-packaged and promoted, still struggle to gain traction. Conversely, foreign teams can better drive these projects forward.

As for my personal choice, when it comes to investment, I usually choose the current hot trend, and I buy into it today. I don't get deeply involved in community building or long-term operation of a coin because, for me, that would require too much time and effort, and I don't have that much time to manage a community. I prefer to seize opportunities in the short term rather than engage in long-term community building.

Rhythm BlockBeats: For investors or projects looking to enter the Meme track, do you have any suggestions? How can one seize new opportunities in this market?

Darian: I wouldn't necessarily call it advice, but for Meme coin investors, as a participant in this track, I can offer some quick tips on risk assessment and capturing ALPHA. Generally, investors do not have much time to conduct in-depth analysis. Personally, I have developed an AIP Pool leaderboard in collaboration with the product and development team because I run a wallet and need to check relevant leaderboards daily. This leaderboard can help many ordinary users solve on-chain monitoring issues and time differences. Capturing ALPHA on-chain or analyzing coins does require a significant amount of time and experience. Through AI algorithms and mechanisms, we help users solve these issues. For ordinary investors, by following this AI leaderboard and combining it with their own filtering criteria, they can screen risks, identify early opportunities, and, accordingly, find early-stage opportunities.

Upon opening the AI leaderboard, I combine it with my own filtering criteria to screen for promising coins. Then, I analyze the smart money flow and some investment strategies to help me identify potential opportunities. For example, understanding the flow of smart money can help me grasp market trends, and based on this information, I can identify corresponding investment opportunities. This is also some of the actions we are planning to take in the upcoming version (to be released at the end of April), which will help me track funds quickly. By leveraging the strengths of existing tools in the market, I can identify some relative advantages or meme coins that may break out in the current cycle.

As for projects, I think it's more about collaborating with them, participating in ecosystem building, or engaging in trading competitions to help each other share liquidity pools and support the expansion and exposure of high-quality projects. These are some of my considerations as a wallet operator and growth strategist. Thank you.

Xiao Wei: To seize the Meme opportunity, I think you can refer to my previous experience. I have written many articles about Meme today, and basically, there are only a few ways to play, with the most mainstream ways being two. One is strategic, and the other is to focus on trends, buy at the bottom, seize the opportunity, and get significant results. Another way is to use large funds to allocate positions, make a second grab opportunity, and still achieve significant results.

How to seize these opportunities? First, you need to join a large number of groups because once you discover a meme, you need to quickly find its source, see who posted it, what angle it takes, and quickly analyze it. You can also use some tools, such as DBot, to analyze its narrative. After understanding the story behind it, you can judge whether you dare to enter the market. If you find a very early opportunity, you can buy first, analyze later, and decide whether to sell after analysis. Decision-making should be based on a deep understanding of the market and the project, rather than just blindly following the trend.

Additionally, you should also make good use of Twitter's search function, especially the PRO version, which allows you to track a CA in real time and receive the latest news. This way, you can know who has previously posted about this CA, who has bought it, stay informed about market trends in real time, and then decide whether to increase your position, sell, or continue observing. Furthermore, you need to join some monitoring groups or at least have your own smart alerts and monitoring tools. For example, we have created a rapid monitoring channel specifically tracking tokens with large transactions within one or two minutes. When the trading volume suddenly spikes and the price fluctuates rapidly, this tool can help us quickly capture this "conspiratorial" market response and make timely decisions.

I usually go through each one, so as not to miss any token information as much as possible. Then, I analyze and, combined with the methods I mentioned earlier, continue to pay attention to the dynamics of the CA in various groups. If a coin has already taken off before I even get on board, then that opportunity may have been missed, and there's no need to chase it anymore. If someone posts a meme coin with an angle, you can observe it, add it to your watchlist, and buy at the right time. This is basically my operational train of thought, mainly like this.

Top Dog Strategist: In the current market situation, if it were a previous recommendation, I would suggest trying play styles similar to Xiao Wei's. However, in the current market trend, my advice is: observe more, review more, judge whether you feel secure, and make decisions based on your own understanding.

If you think a certain narrative has potential, but behind it lies a very harsh market environment, then you should be cautious. In today's market, getting in may result in a lesson. Therefore, if you want to achieve results in certain coins, you must find differentiation from previous trends.

In the past, if you thought a narrative had potential, you would jump in directly, but now, you definitely need to use some tools to avoid pitfalls. Tools I often use include Debot, monitoring KOL tools to see which KOLs have posted about a CA, as well as some smart money rapid monitoring tools. We have also developed our own tools, all of which are used in conjunction with existing tools on the market.

The current meme market is indeed not as easy as it used to be, and retail investors need to be more patient and research-oriented. I recommend less action and more observation because the current market is not as easy to navigate as before. It's essential to protect your principal investment, as the secondary market is also not particularly favorable, with many coins seeing losses even in holding positions.

Rhythm BlockBeats: Lastly, please summarize your outlook on the future of memes in one sentence.

Darian: Currently, from listing to launch to fair launches, the meme coin playbook has become very mature, forming almost a complete industry chain. If you still want to participate in the on-chain arms race, in the end, only the top players will be left to compete with each other, and liquidity at the lower or middle levels will essentially disappear. The birth model and gameplay of meme tokens differ from those of meme coins five years ago. Nowadays, the participating group consists mostly of post-2000s, making it a fast-food model—price pumping is key. After the pump, you can choose whether to continue building the project. I remember when working with WhaleShark, he once said, "At its peak, many false believers will emerge, and only during dusk will true believers in faith construction appear." This statement actually makes sense. It reminds me of the theme I mentioned at the beginning. When the market reaches a certain stage of development, most meme coins will start to deteriorate, gradually entering a phase of selective elimination.

I agree more with what CZ previously said that most meme coins will eventually disappear as funds are reallocated. As for whether meme coins can integrate with meal ordering, I think it has a certain feasibility, especially in the short term. There have been successful cases in the past, such as GMT and Axie. However, these projects themselves carry the GameFi attribute in their cultural DNA. If one aims to break away from this instrumental attribute, I believe integration with GameFi or DeFi, while being a tool, must evolve into a tool that the previous community believers can truly understand and admire.

Ultimately, meme coins may evolve into a cultural or social infrastructure need. For example, it could become a reserve asset, represent certain cultural attributes, or even become a means of payment. I think these are all possible directions. In conclusion, it undergoes an evolutionary process. Currently, most meme coins still remain in the stage of cultural symbols, which is also a key issue that project teams need to consider.

Xiao Wei: I think we can view this situation as a "Meme Dog Crossing Bear and Bull Markets." This is a consensus between Ge Zhuo and me: this phenomenon will continue and not disappear. People always find new hotspots to participate in; it's just that there may be a relatively quiet period for a while, and then at some point, a new hotspot will suddenly stir market sentiment, repeating in cycles.

The real tipping point may come when the bull market starts, with the prosperity on-chain and the activity in the secondary market. However, I think on-chain and the secondary market are inversely related, exhibiting a sector rotation relationship. For example, when the spot market is surging rapidly, meme coins may not see much action as everyone is busy trading spot or futures contracts. And when the spot market's rally stabilizes, the market sentiment for meme coins may be reinvigorated, and everyone will start pumping dog coins again.

I have always been pursuing these two tracks, but I am more focused on Alpha, such as when a new platform is launched on the Lina blockchain, I will be the first to pump it. These kinds of new projects are more attractive to me. As for meme coins, I tend to be cautious and usually stay on the sidelines. Sometimes, when the market is unfavorable, simply holding your position can keep you in profit. So I also want to remind everyone to manage their capital properly and not be swayed by market speculation and hype. If you hold your chips, you will not miss out on the bull market opportunities.

Meme Coin Advisor: I have always believed that meme coins present an opportunity, although I have not been in this circle for long, as I am a post-2000s generation, younger than you old hodlers. However, I believe that the opportunity for meme coins always exists, and they will shuttle between bull and bear markets. During a bull market, the meme coin cycle will be more frequent, and although the activity may decrease in a bear market, it will still have periodic occurrences.

For example, on the Ethereum blockchain currently, although the market is not doing well, occasionally some meme coins emerge, and even those previously underperforming dog coins occasionally have opportunities for significant gains. I have a group with over 100 members. They all persist in playing these projects on the Ethereum blockchain, despite the current situation not being favorable. However, they are still waiting for an opportunity because occasionally some meme coins worth noting appear.

Although the current meme cycle may be relatively quiet, it still holds a significant market share between the bull and bear markets. Meme coins are unafraid of market conditions. Whether you are investing, exploring alpha in the secondary market, or participating in star projects, meme coins always need to be closely monitored. Especially their retaliatory effect. If you can get the right meme coin, its return will undoubtedly be several times that of other traditional value products, or even higher.

Space Link: https://x.com/i/spaces/1BdxYqDqbkyxX

Disclaimer: This content does not constitute any offer, solicitation, or advice. You should always seek independent professional advice before making any investment decisions. Please note that Gate.io may restrict or prohibit all or some services from users in restricted areas. Please read the user agreement for more information.