Every era needs its own spiritual leader, and the realm of memes is no exception.
If the latest wave of hype around global Dogecoin billionaire Musk was the old-school meme evangelist, then Murad is the new generation’s super FOMO advocate for cult culture.
From a handful of meme coin projects in 2017 to tens of millions by 2024, a massive market has gradually formed. During this time, many meme coins have seen their market capitalization surpass billions of dollars, becoming a significant part of the crypto market.
Murad Mahmudov, as a witness and analyst of this trend, proposed the concept of the “Meme Coin Super Cycle”. In his opinion, meme coins are not just pure speculative tools, but the most powerful user adoption driver in the crypto world. He took an in-depth look at the key factors behind meme coin success and explained how to drive the growth of these projects through social media and community power.
In this edition of “LBank Pulse Focus”, we are honored to invite Murad, a leading figure in the field of meme coins, to share his deep thoughts on the future of meme coins, particularly his perspectives on crypto trends in 2025 and beyond.
Sharing it will help us understand how the rise of meme coins is driving global adoption of cryptocurrencies and leading future market development.
LBank: Could you share your professional journey with us? From studying at Princeton University to working at Goldman Sachs and then becoming a well-known figure in the cryptocurrency space, what has the experience been like?
Murad: I’m from Azerbaijan and studied in the United States, then spent a year in Beijing. During my stay in Beijing, I met the fourth employee of OKX, who introduced me to the field of cryptocurrencies. After graduating, I entered the traditional financial industry, working in options trading in Hong Kong and commodities trading in Singapore. From 2016 to 2017, I began participating in work related to ICOs, cryptocurrencies and blockchain, realizing that Bitcoin could become the next wave of revolutionary change. Since then, I have been dedicated to this field, including trading, investing, on-chain analysis, asset management, and now expanding into the DeFi space. In addition, I personally actively participate in projects related to the same corners.
LBank: You have some thoughts on the current “Meme Coin Super Cycle” and 2025. Could you expand on that?
Murad: The origin of meme coins dates back to Dogecoin in 2013. Each cycle has seen the scale of meme coins continually expand. In 2017, there was only Dogecoin; in 2021, there were 5,000 meme coins, and in 2024, the number of meme coins reached tens of millions. I believe this trend will continue until Bitcoin becomes a global universal currency.
Outside of the cryptocurrency space, persistent inflation and global money supply pressures are the main driving forces. This pressure pushes people to compete, surpass their rivals, and keep moving forward.
At the same time, artificial intelligence is replacing many jobs and competition between sectors is becoming increasingly fierce. Additionally, people are realizing that traditional real-world communities and institutions are gradually losing their influence and importance. All these factors are pushing people towards cryptocurrencies, meme coins and such crypto communities.
Within the industry, from 2015 to 2017, people could still buy high-quality projects like ETH and BNB, which at the time had a market cap of only $30 million. Today, some projects are launched with a market capitalization of up to $30 billion. Successful crypto projects in the past have all been supported by very strong grassroots communities. The formation of a community core depends on the ability of ordinary citizens to participate early and cheaply and thus enrich themselves.
The basic philosophy of my strategy is: 10,000 people each holding $1,000 far outweighs 1 person holding $10 million, or 10 million people each holding only $1. The greater the proportion of such holders in a community, the more attention, passion and media influence it will bring. This is the key to boosting the development of meme coins.
LBank: In your opinion, what qualities should possess even successful pieces?
Murad: The most critical concept is that of “critical mass,” meaning that the community must have the conditions necessary for explosive diffusion. For example, having 100,000 holders, a market capitalization of $500 million and gradually starting to be listed on major exchanges. I think meme coins with large market caps generally rise steadily with lower downside risk; while even coins with low market caps carry higher risks, with a probability of success less than 1%. In contrast, mid-cap meme coins offer the best risk-reward ratio, especially those with strong and continuously growing communities, such as SPX 6900, GIGA, MOG, POPCAT, APU, and HarryPotterObamaSonic10Inu.
LBank: How important is community engagement to the success of meme coins? Are there specific strategies?
Murad: Community activity is crucial and indicators to measure community health can be analyzed from both the supply and demand sides.
On the supply side, I focus on several key factors: the first is the ratio of “diamond hands” (the proportion of long-term holders), followed by the degree of decentralization, the fairness of the distribution of tokens and first performances. I want to see a high proportion of holders owning over $1,000 or even over $3,000 worth of tokens, as they are the most motivated “core force” to drive the project. From an on-chain behavior perspective, I prefer these holders to be firm rather than frequently engaging in speculative trading.
On the demand side, price is a key factor; a continuously rising price indicates that the community is actively attracting new members. Additionally, attention should be paid to distribution channels, cross-chain bridges, partnerships and stock exchange listings.
Finally, the influence of social networks cannot be ignored, notably X and TikTok. In fact, the roles of YouTube, Reddit and Facebook are also gradually increasing. A successful coin must have wide visibility on these platforms and continually expand its influence through them. Meme coins that perform well usually invest a lot of effort in this area and achieve significant results.
LBank: How do you think crypto trends will evolve in 2025 and beyond?
Murad: I think we need to distinguish between long-term stockpiling trends and short-term fad trends, especially those that have lasting vitality in “meme culture.” For example, memes like Doge, Pepe or GIGA have existed on the Internet for many years. At the same time, some fashions will only be temporary. Let’s take TikTok as an example; the key is determining whether a meme can survive for many years or whether it will simply disappear in a few months.
My general view is that the crazier and more inspiring the meme, the better. Because the stronger the inspiration, the more funds, time, energy and community members will invest. I think crypto trends in 2025 will be different from those in 2024 but will still be full of opportunities.
LBank: Do you think meme coins will drive widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies?
Murad: The core crypto assets will be centered around Bitcoin (BTC) as the primary means of storing value, while other layer 1 projects, such as Ethereum and Solana, will play relatively smaller roles. Stablecoins are expected to persist for the next 20 to 30 years.
Before the rise of meme coins, the positioning of altcoins was somewhat ambiguous. The emergence of meme coins has divided crypto assets into two categories: one is tokens with cash flow, gradually evolving into on-chain “shares”; the other is tokenized assets based on crypto culture, community, speculation and belief.
LBank: Do you personally think meme coins can drive global adoption of cryptocurrencies?
Murad: In this cycle, meme coins will become the main driver of cryptocurrency adoption. Many people first learn about cryptocurrencies through Phantom, Metamask, or exchanges, and meme coins attract people of all ages and cultural backgrounds with their simplicity: no white papers, complex technologies, or concepts tedious re-staking. They are the best entry point into the world of crypto because of the universality of memes.
Users will gradually come into contact with wallets, DeFi exchanges, cross-chain bridges, stablecoins and commodity assets like BTC. Meme Coins serve as a gateway, attracting users to the crypto industry, and this deeper exploration will encourage them to stay in this ecosystem for the long term.
LBank: In five years, do you think meme coins will still exist?
Murad: Dogecoin and a few other meme coins have already proven that meme coins can go through multiple cycles and continue to exist. They keep setting new heights. I believe Dogecoin will hit $1 during this cycle and set a new all-time high again. Additionally, there will be meme coins launching ETFs in the future.
LBank: Do meme coins need real-world utility to ensure their survival in a bear market, or can they retain their purely speculative nature?
Murad: In a bear market, utility is a positive factor; but in a bull market, utility can become a constraint. In a bull market, purity will lead to better performance for meme coins; whereas in a bear market, utilities can provide price support but can also limit upside potential. Projects like Shiba Inu and Floki have already proven this by increasing utility during bear markets. Future meme coins will add DeFi functionality, evolve into investment DAOs, and even create fashion and lifestyle brands.
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