The frenzy and the cold reflection of the same corners: is 2025 a story or a bubble?

Original title: Carnival and the cold reflection of Meme coins: next stop 2025, is it a story or a bubble

Original author: Nomos Labs

Few people considered that the birth of Meme Coins could be a “cultural experiment” in the crypto world: how much can a joke be worth? How many waves and ripples can a humorous quip create in the financial world? From $DOGE to $SHIB, and now to the skyrocketing rise of $Neiro this year, these seemingly “absurd” coins are repeatedly refreshing people’s views on the narrative power of Meme Coins.

In 2024, the Meme coin market remains vibrant amid uncertainty. It is not only a symbol of entertainment in the cryptocurrency circle, but has also become a haven for speculators and a barometer of market sentiment. However, if we examine the stories behind the price surge, we will discover that a familiar yet strange logic drives this carnival: Meme culture, market sentiment, and technology narratives are redefining the value boundaries of Meme coins.

1. How can Meme Coins tell a good story about emotion?

On the surface, Meme Pieces are a continuation of Internet meme culture, but their real charm lies in their ability to quickly gather emotions through storytelling, thereby shaping a short-term “group frenzy.” Yet no one has been able to clear the fog and find the certainty and connotation comprised of countless stories within this “bubble” regarding the long-term value of Meme Coins.

A joke, but a cultural resonance

The first $DOGE Dogecoin can be considered a complete “parody”. He had neither complex technical support nor ambitious application plans, but with a Shiba Inu meme he became the spokesperson for Internet meme culture. In 2024, this meme narrative has become even more amplified, with new players not only attracting attention through “jokes” and “humor” but also beginning to play the cultural emotional card.

For example, $Pepe’s sad frog, whose frog image has long been a classic of Internet culture, became popular not through technical strengths but through its community distribution and cultural recognition. In a short period of time, the size of $Pepe’s community exploded, becoming this year’s biggest dark horse in the Meme Coin space. It is clear that As long as one can grasp the “emotional points” in Internet meme culture, Meme pieces can quickly tell a story and build consensus.

Community oriented: more of an emotional game

Behind the popularity of a Meme piece is a crazy community. Elon Musk’s support for Dogecoin, $Pepe’s “frog army”, these community members are not only investors but also proactive “content creators”. They enjoy “creating memes”, attracting people on social platforms and even turning Meme pieces from a “joke” into a “trend”.

The example of $SHIB is quite typical. In 2024, it has not only maintained its popularity through meme culture, but also attempted to attract long-term users through tech narratives, like its Shibaverse metaverse project, which while still in its infancy beginnings, offered the community a new “show”. -out of point.”

From here we can see that for Meme pieces, meme culture is the base color, but their real charm lies in their community-driven narrative ability—telling a story that resonates emotionally, making everyone “want to ‘buy and dare to buy’. “.

2. A magnifying glass for market sentiment, a refuge for speculators

However, the underlying logic of a “good story” that can drive change in the market requires a “profit motive.” The reason Meme Coins may remain popular is not just because they are “fun,” but also because they have become a high-volatility safe haven for speculators during crypto market downturns.

Soaring prices: the “myth of wealth” most appreciated by speculators

Looking to the year 2024, the most striking trend has undoubtedly been the rise of $Pepe. From the beginning of the year to the middle of the year, the price of this sad and funny frog increased more than a hundred times. The market was attracted to these parts not because of their powerful technology or applications, but because they are easy to use. “hype.”

Meme coins have a low issuance threshold, extremely low unit prices, and seemingly unlimited room for growth. This characteristic is particularly favorable to retail investors: even with just a few hundred dollars, they can chase the imagination of “10x or 100x”. For investors who “entered late”, this high-risk, high-reward speculative variety has become the best choice to catch up with the wealth effect.

Market fluctuations: an “emotional outlet” in a bear market

Interestingly, when the overall crypto market enters a period of fluctuation, the popularity of Meme coins rises against the trend. This is not because Meme coins themselves have strong fundamentals, but because hedge funds need a new “emotional outlet.”

Unlike traditional coins, Meme coins do not have complex valuation logic and do not rely on strong ecological support; they rely solely on market sentiment. When other assets struggle to evoke emotion among retailers, Meme coins become the “stronghold” of emotional trading.

Thus, it is clear that behind the price fluctuations of Meme coins lies the amplification and reflection of market sentiment: for speculators, they are the low-cost, high-volatility choice; for the market, they constitute a real “emotional mirror”. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand why people begin to love hearing their stories and prefer them to create one captivating “riches story” after another.

3. Can Meme Coins add value through technological innovation?

We understand shifts in market sentiment, but we must also clearly recognize that relying on cultural narratives and speculative emotions can only bring temporary success. If Meme Coins want to go further and find the underlying logic that can support long-term value creation, they must rely on technological innovation to create new narratives and application scenarios.

AI’s “New Meme”: Strengthening Technology Narratives

This year, AI technology has become a hot topic in the crypto circle, and some Meme coin projects have seized the opportunity to launch AI-based features, such as AI-generated content. AI. Through this approach, Meme coin projects can quickly and cost-effectively provide ongoing interaction and entertainment experiences to a wide range of investors and community members. Additionally, AI trading strategies can leverage the benefits of AI algorithms to more accurately predict market trends, analyze trading data, and optimize investment decisions. Although the initial results may not have met expectations, there is no denying that the introduction of AI technology has injected new vitality and narrative threads into Meme pieces.

NFT Collaboration: Continuing Cultural Narratives

At the same time, NFTs remain an important “partner” for Meme coins, continuing to show their unique charm and potential in 2024. Especially in projects like $Pepe, investors can not only profit from purchasing and of holding Pepe pieces, but also highlight their identity. and status through unique NFTs.

The combination of NFTs and Meme Coins is no longer just a simple exchange of digital assets; it is a profound expression of recognition of community identity and culture. Through NFT-related gameplay, these projects offer investors a more personalized and emotional way to participate, making holding these Meme Coins not only an investment behavior but also an expression of community belonging. It is not difficult to imagine that as similar innovative gameplays continue to emerge, NFTs will remain an important “accelerator” for the development of Meme coin projects.

Attempts to combine payment scenarios with DeFi, thereby increasing token value leverage

Of course, in the imaginative crypto coin market, some Meme coins are also trying to expand payment functions. Just before the end of the year, DogWifCoin officially announced a partnership with Oobit to launch a new payment feature “Wif Pay”, allowing users to spend $WIF and earn 3% cashback.

Projects like $SHIB, on the other hand, combine with DeFi protocols to allow token holders to achieve more tangible benefits. For example, the $BONE governance token from the $SHIB ecosystem is widely used in liquidity mining on ShibaSwap, where investors can earn rewards by staking (BURYing) and providing liquidity (DIGging).

Such technological narratives continue and technological empowerment will be an important goal for the next stage of Meme Coins. Although this may seem like short-term “storytelling”, in the long term, only when technology narratives are realized can Meme Coins perhaps break free from the fate of “short-term speculation”.

Bottom line: Is the next stop for Meme Coins the rise of Meme economic culture or the bursting of a bubble?

Looking at the market in 2024, we can see that the rise of Meme Coins is driven by three key forces:

Culture: Meme culture and community consensus are the foundation of Meme pieces, allowing them to continually tell an engaging story;

Emotion: Fluctuations in market sentiment and pressure from speculators make them the most “explosive” assets;

Technology: New concepts and application scenarios are essential to make Meme coins more “valuable” in the future.

However, these three elements also carry significant risks: How long can the story be told? How long can the feeling last? Can the technology really be achieved? The answers to these questions will determine the future direction of Meme Coins.

But as we begin to look ahead to the future of 2025, it is certain that Meme Coins have gone from a “joke” to a unique phenomenon in the crypto market. Amid the increasingly turbulent and constantly erupting “golden cycle” of cryptocurrencies after the US elections, their vitality is far from over. It remains to be seen whether they will manage to free themselves from the carnival and enter a true “era of value”:

2025, let Meme coins answer.