GuShiio.com The game is likely to make a comeback, but with new rules and more absurd narratives to attract new players.
Author:Westie
Compiled by: Shenchao TechFlow
Let’s talk about the Memecoin cycle, aside from practicality, and not even the story. The core of this cycle is actually only one thing:How to get one step ahead.
Hot spots: ETF craze and the rise of Solana
The explosion this time is not an ordinary market sentiment, but a more specific event. At the end of 2023, the application of a Bitcoin ETF signaled that institutional funds are about to flood into the crypto market. Solana, on the other hand, rebounded strongly after the FTX crash, telling a story of recovery and re-legitimacy.
In contrast, traditional shanzhai looks too old. Many currencies carry the heavy burden of bear markets. Although there are roadmaps and white papers for VC-backed projects, valuations often appear artificial, more like strategies for exit than exciting innovations.
Memecoin brings a completely different experience:Simple, direct and interesting。They are anti-VC tokens with no white papers or even websites. There is only one Meme, one code name, and one release. Its appeal lies in its simplicity and high risk. Precisely because traditional copycats are too predictable, Memecoin has become the purest high-risk, high-return bet in the market.
BONK: The first step in the game of rushing
Then, BONK was born.
BONK is not complex and does not have a particularly prominent Meme attribute. But it was the first token to capture this wave of energy. People see its violent fluctuations and the benefits it brings, and gradually form an intuition that something is happening. This is different. This is fast.
Initially, rushing was not a conscious goal. It’s more of a mentality that it’s very volatile and maybe you can take a small gamble. But BONK’s performance first exploded, and then predictable fluctuations gradually and subtly defined the rules of the game.
Narrative transformation: The rise of absurdity in a limited pool of Meme
The narrative has changed. People in the crypto world are beginning to realize:“Memecoin is a game, and the key to the game is to find the next BONK, but to be more interesting.”
“What’s more interesting is not the progress in technology or the strength of the team.& ldquo; Being more interesting meansmore likely to spread。So how do you do it? At this stage, Memecoin’s gameplay is still very elementary, and there are actually few differentiated options. There are no complex strategies and no carefully woven narrative to refer to. In fact, those ready-made, Internet-native Meme resources are themselves very limited. Instead of choosing from a thousand options, you choose from a few sources that make people laugh.
Among these limited options, what is the most attractive? The answer is:Ridiculous.
In this context, being more interesting is almost the same as being more outrageous. Because in an immature Memecoin world, outrageous itself is a powerful signal. It catches the eye and can be spread quickly. More importantly, in a market where people still don’t know what a good Memecoin should be, humor and the feeling of instantly hitting the joke point have become the most powerful screening criteria.
Then, Dogwifhat (WIF) was born.
“Wif hat。& rdquo; A misspelled and meaningless Shiba Inu wearing a hat. This is simply the culmination of the Internet’s outrageous nature. For many people, the first reaction is to laugh out loud. This is its charm. This kind of humor, this kind of outrageous, sends a signal:
“This is new. This is unique. Is this early?” rdquo;
The rules of the game are gradually becoming clear, and it can even be said to be intuitively clear. Not just finding a Memecoin, but finding the coin that already had viral potential before the virus spread. Capture the current Internet stalks, Internet jokes and fleeting sense of absurdity. In those early stages, in that limited Meme pool, the coins that made people laugh the loudest and most outrageous often naturally became the winners.
To find such a coin, you have to run first.
Memecoin’s Hunting Ground: The Game of Speed and Manipulation
The gameplay is updated quickly.& ldquo; The early stage no longer just refers to the time point after the project is launched, it is already late after it is launched. The real early days are before going online——Before the public knows, the popularity explodes, and prices rise。
As a result, tools like Photon and memscope came into being. The game has become more tactical. Traders spend every day on memescope for Photon’s new Memecoin listing page. The gameplay becomes: Keep an eye on the memescope, constantly refresh, and buy as soon as possible. Pure early optimization competes in speed, reflexes, and endurance to stare at the screen for long periods of time.
“Memescope’s gameplay seems fair, but in theory, anyone with the tools and time can participate. But below the surface, a darker force is emerging: insiders are manipulating behind the scenes, making Memecoin and accurately manipulating the core indicators that memescope traders rely on to make decisions.
These projects are not always natural grassroots movements. In fact, more and more Memecoin are being carefully designed as profit tools. The routines of these insiders include:
-
Create Memecoin out of thin air:There was no real community or natural heat to begin with.
-
Control data indicators:artificially inflate on-chain transaction data, create false social media popularity, and even manipulate the ranking system of trend tokens to make them appear more popular than they actually are.
-
Precision Trader Tools:Knowing that memescope and similar tools have become the core of Memecoin transactions, we have specially designed methods to exploit these platform vulnerabilities.
-
Hire a market maker: Create false impressions when tokens are launched, create active trading data, and make the new coin immediately look hot on the chart.
-
Cooperation with KOL (Key Opinion Leaders): Pay Internet celebrities to call for orders, create the illusion that everyone is buying, and stimulate early FOMO (fear of missing out).
-
Deploying Twitter water soldiers: Form a team of robots or paid accounts to frantically swipe comments under tweets on large encrypted accounts, flood social platforms with token-related information, creating false popularity.
The traders watching memescope truly felt they had won the early games, but in reality they were always one step behind those who really controlled the rules of the game.
Two key points of Memecoin games-absurdity-have become the core drivers of virus spread, and insiders are ushering in their final Boss stage by manipulating early game creation exit liquidity.
Fartcoin: The extreme game of absurdity and attention
For those trying to create the next WIF, the next Memecoin that will quickly become popular, a key truth is emerging:To get the public to pay for your Memecoin, you have to grab their fleeting attention.In Memecoin’s world, attention is never won by complex stories or technical promises, but by pure and unnegligible visual impact.
Today, the early definition has completely changed:It’s not just speed, it’s not just pure absurdity, but through careful planning, creating the ultimate absurdity, the ultimate eye-catching means.
This is the moment when Fartcoin makes its debut.
Fartcoin。From the perspective of a Memecoin creator who wants to attract the masses, what better guarantee of attracting attention than launching a token called Fartcoin? This is not just absurd, but so outrageous that everyone can understand it instantly. The name itself is a topic maker, a natural click hit. It seems to be precisely designed to create the kind of sensational news that penetrates Internet noise: Look at how people are throwing money on something like this!” rdquo;
Fartcoin became the ultimate experiment in the attention economy in the Memecoin world. This is not just an ordinary token offering, but a deliberate and even cynical attempt to turn absurdity into an eye-catching tool and attract public attention. It became a distinctive and comical proof of concept: In Memecoin’s games, especially when the goal was to achieve true popularity and mainstream spread,Extreme absurdity is not just a desirable trait-it is a core marketing strategy refined into its purest and most provocative form.
Is there a Meme more outrageous than Fartcoin?
Internal games and new ways to play the market
Based on the manipulation methods of the memscope era, a more profound trend is emerging:Relying purely on the absurd animal Meme coin, despite its explosive popularity, has begun to reach a bottleneck, and the market is becoming more rational and smarter.
Narration requires a new direction, a way of playing with the guise of legitimacy. At this time, Meme with content began to emerge. Although the tokens are still Meme in essence, they are given a certain legitimacy through a layer of plausible deniability. As a result, AI tokens have become a new mainstream game. Suddenly, buying Meme is no longer just for a dog in a hat, but to invest in the future of artificial intelligence! This provides a seemingly reasonable reason for buying, and although it may be fragile, it transcends mere absurdity.
However, behind this shift in theme packaging, the core mechanics of the game and the roles of insiders have not changed. The real advantage still lies in the asymmetry of information. These internal groups simply quickly adapted to the new gameplay, using their early mastery of information to continue to take the lead in this new narrative. They learned about the issuance of AI coins earlier than others and continue to take advantage of this advantage to make profits.
Celebrity Memecoin: The pinnacle of absurdity and manipulation
Memecoin’s gameplay has evolved to a new stage: the first year of celebrity coin. Insiders have found that the most effective way to build the peak of viral spread and ensure that someone takes over and withdraws is to work with celebrities with huge influence. These celebrities often have many fans but have little knowledge of cryptocurrencies, so they have become spokespersons for insiders ‘operations.
What’s more interesting is that these behind-the-scenes traders often disguise themselves as high-level traders, implying (or directly claiming) that their profits come from their own technology rather than information advantages. This statement makes ordinary players even more frustrated, as they find it increasingly difficult to enter early games, as if they are always one step behind.
“Internal games are now naked in front of everyone, and their gameplay includes:
-
Become a publisher:Create tokens, control narratives, and create viral spread through stories that are extremely absurd or dressed in serious clothes. This is the ultimate early operation, completely controlling the rhythm of communication.
-
Become an insider:Look for token issuers that have great viral potential or appear to have real value, and deploy tokens before they are widely discussed on encrypted Twitter. Asymmetric information about the virus’s potential to spread is their greatest advantage.
-
Become an Internet celebrity:Build your own fan base, use your influence to get in on those absurd or serious tokens first, then amplify the narrative, create headlines, and ensure that someone takes over.
In the wake of this growing trend of viral absurdity and release narrative control, Fartcoin has demonstrated the ultimate power of absurdity. But then,TRUMP was born。
TRUMP。The hottest Meme in the world? Suddenly, even the carefully planned absurdity doesn’t seem enough. Ask yourself, who can surpass Trump in terms of topic popularity? Almost impossible.
Imagine what you would think as a Memecoin trader when TRUMP went online. Anyone who pays close attention can see that this is a typical internal manipulation. 80% of the token supply is transparently locked out to insiders. On-chain data clearly shows the existence of token snipers and pre-issue rights. These were supposed to be warning signs, but in the face of TRUMP, they were no longer important.
Because this is Trump ‘s president-elect of the United States. This is the Memecoin among all Memecoin, the ultimate celebrity coin among all celebrity coins. Of course you will buy it. It feels like a new rule of the game. Even if the internal manipulation is obvious, it no longer matters to Trump.
Then MELANIA was released.
When MELANIA was launched, the entire market seemed to lose its vitality instantly. Everyone in the originally lively club suddenly woke up.The internal games that were already very obvious in TRUMP were completely exposed in MELANIA. The two operate in the same way, but MELANIA’s naked money making is more transparent. The difference is that TRUMP’s Meme effect briefly concealed everyone’s cynicism, but MELANIA has nothing to hide anymore.
In fact, this internal game has long been clear, but before MELANIA, people chose to turn a blind eye. Now, with the emergence of MELANIA, the scam has been completely exposed and the cycle has been broken.
TRUMP has also become the ultimate example: It clearly shows how in-house games reach their peak. This is not just a Meme, it is also a political and cultural force launched with the privilege of insiders and a predetermined aura of success.
Are there any bigger and more transparent internal games than TRUMP and MELANIA?
Echoes of 2021: The early cycle of NFT
Does the entire Memecoin cycle feel familiar? Back in 2021, that was the peak of the NFT craze.
What was the catalyst at that time? ETH prices soared, driven by DeFi Summer. NFT then became ETH’s high-risk, high-reward gameplay, a bet that could bring higher returns.
Soon, hot spots focused on the PFP (avatar) project.& ldquo; Community has become a buzzword, but in fact, the core of the game is finding the next Bored Ape, a project that can quickly increase value and cultural influence.
Like Memecoin, people realize that the key to games lies in the early stages. But in the NFT world, early days mean competing for the white list. Spending Discord, interacting with Twitter, and completing whitelist battles for various tasks have become the memescope of the NFT world, and everyone is desperately chasing pre-release opportunities.
The pursuit of the early stage continues to escalate. People realize that the earliest way to participate is to become a creator. Soon, celebrities began to pour in.
Steph Curry and Jimmy Fallon began showing off million-dollar JPEGs, while Logan Paul openly cut leeks to deceive fans. Who’s next? The NFT field also seems to have reached its peak driven by celebrities, and a sense of narrative fatigue is beginning to emerge.
Speaking of cyclical transformation NELK, the team that will mark the peak of the celebrity NFT craze in 2021, recently launched their own Memecoin Fullsend. If that’s not a signal, what is?
These similarities are shocking. Although the asset classes are different, the game mechanics behind them are exactly the same: the endless pursuit of the early stages ultimately leads to self-consumption. At some point, the game has no way out; you need to completely reset the game.
The Absurd End: The Resetting and Reflection of the Cycle
As the Memecoin cycle comes to an end, the echoes of the NFT craze are still lingering in my ears. When we see tokens like LIBRA go online, people seem to be putting their entire portfolios in just to try and recreate the glory of TRUMP trading. This phenomenon is what George Soros calls the Twilight Zone during the market cycle-a stage where people continue to participate despite knowing that games have lost their meaning.
As Soros points out, the core feature of this phase is that people continue to play the game even if they no longer believe in it. ldquo; The early belief in magic is gradually disintegrating, but the habit of chasing Memecoin skyrocketing is deeply rooted.
Soros also warned that eventually, a crossing point or tipping point will come, when the trend starts to reverse and market sentiment reverses, triggering a catastrophic acceleration of the decline (8), which is what we often call a crash. rdquo;
At this point, we have to ask ourselves:Can this narrative play new tricks? Are there more levels in this game?
Could there be a Meme more absurd than Fartcoin?
Will there be a bigger and more transparent internal game than TRUMP and MELANIA?
The answer is likely to be no. At least in this cycle, it is impossible.
Memecoin’s cycle, defined by the endless chase of the early days, seems to have come to an end. It is driven by hype, absurdity and early promises, but like all hype cycles, it is doomed to self-destruction. As the underlying mechanics of the game are seen through and the illusions are gradually disillusioned, this pursuit of the early stages eventually consumes itself.
However, human desire for the early years will not disappear. This psychology has long been deeply rooted in the culture of cryptocurrency.
Maybe the Memecoin cycle is over, but the desire still exists.The game is likely to make a comeback, but with new rules and more absurd narratives, attracting new players and once again eager to be the one who discovers early opportunities.
Friends, please take care.
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