Memecoin is the theme that cannot be avoided in 2024, classic memes such as Dogecoin and Shiba Inu have an average increase of more than 5 times in 2024, and the return on investment of emerging memes such as hippo (MooDeng) and squirrel (PNUT) is as high as 100 times. Overproduction of tokens and high circulation and high valuation of VC coins have made this bull market a non-negotiable bull market. As a result, Memecoin has been extremely active in this round, becoming an indicator of liquidity on the chain, a whistle-blower of new narratives, and a thermometer of market sentiment.
This year saw Memecoin go from a frenzy of speculation to a gradual move towards mainstream culture and consensus effect, and a great transfer of wealth took place. In this process, the issuance method is constantly innovative, the asset type is changing rapidly, and mainstream acceptance and adoption has promoted its vigorous development. Every change hides a hundred times more opportunities to get rich. Looking back at the 2024 Memecoin supercycle, let's witness a year of change and opportunity.
Infrastructure is improving day by day
The prosperity of this Memecoin super cycle is inseparable from the continuous improvement of infrastructure. Whether it is the innovation of the underlying issuance method at the B end or the optimization of the user experience at the C end, Memecoin has provided conditions for the rapid expansion of funds and users.
Innovation in distribution methods
The traditional Memecoin issuance method is similar to ordinary tokens. As an attention economy, Memecoin market hot spots change rapidly, but the current asset issuance cycle is long and the way is complex. The user preferences and hype rhythm of the major public chains are not the same. These make it difficult to focus market attention and liquidity, and it is difficult to push up asset prices quickly in a short period of time.
PUMP.FUN: The core engine of the supercycle
This year, the money boom triggered by BOME and SLERF, although its presale model has changed its issuance method to a certain extent, attracted the attention of the market. However, the money rugs frequently occur, and the above problems have not been effectively solved. The emergence of PUMP.FUN has effectively solved this situation, Memecoin release cycle began to shorten, funds continue to flow, and users gradually concentrated, laying the foundation for the opening of Memecoin super cycle.
PUMP.FUN was created by founder Alon in January 2024, but there were few followers at the time, and it did not gradually enter the public eye until April. Nearly 5 million Memecoins have been issued, accounting for nearly 70% of Solana's daily token issuance, making it the highest-grossing protocol on Solana. As the Memecoin supercycle engine, the optimization of asset issuance methods is its core advantage. It allows users to create tokens without any technology (after the update in August, there is no need to pay the creation fee of $2). Fair in-stock fundraising plus reasonable price Curve successfully reduces the cost of asset issuance and improves the speed of asset issuance. This is an effective solution to the problem of Memecoin hot spot conversion under the current market and the difficulty of concentrating capital speculation.
What's more, PUMP.FUN's success isn't just about innovation. Its user positioning, product design is also quite excellent. From the point of view of the client side, it solves the real problem of most people in the Web3 market, "users want to get a higher multiple of revenue in a simpler, faster and low-cost way". From the product side, it is one of the few projects with a complete commercial closed loop, and the profit source is clear. (1% of the transaction fee of the platform before launching Raydium, the "loading fee" during the packaging and launching Raydium is 6 SOL.)
According to Dune data, as of December 23, PUMP.FUN has deployed nearly 5 million Memecoins since its launch, with 300,000 daily active users and 170,000 new addresses per day. According to DefiLlama data, PUMP.FUN's nearly 30-day agreement revenue reached $94 million, with cumulative agreement revenue of nearly $300 million.
PUMP.FUN imitation disk frequent, micro innovation
PUMP.FUN started the Memecoin supercycle, and the subsequent iterations have made the supercycle even more prosperous.
Sun.pump: Memecoin Launchpad is the fifth piece of the public chain
A large number of capital inflows and market attention have made various public chains have launched PUMP.FUN imitation disk, and Memecoin Launchpad has become the fifth piece of public chain standard.
The major public chain ecology in the upper, middle and lower reaches have begun to support Memecoin. On BSC, platforms such as Four.meme and Flap attract market attention by constantly launching activities and co-signing; On the Base chain, Ape.Store, Rug.fun, Trugly.meme and other publishing platforms attract users through various kinds of gameplay; On BTC Layer 2, there are also many imitation disks, such as LnPUMP.FUN, SatsPUMP.FUN, CPUMP.FUN, etc. And the Sun.pump on the Tron chain led the whole Tron chain to "prosper again" by "single-handedly". For a time, hot money surged in the Tron chain, quickly emerged from the circle, Gas on the chain soared, and the long-dormant currency price of TRX hit a new high in nearly three years. But since then TRX has been trending lower and the price is now back down to 0.24 USDT.
Watch him rise, watch him collapse. Memecoin, as a traffic inlet to quickly attract users, can bring a wave of dividends to the public chain, but how to undertake ecological construction is worth thinking about.
MakeNow.Meme: Optimization of market-making models
MakeNow.Meme is no longer popular, but it attracted a lot of attention when it first launched. Last day, it issued more than 2,600 memecoins, earning more than 230+ SOL. Compared to PUMP.FUN, its issuance mechanism not only simplifies the asset issuance method, but also provides a new direction for the market making model.
The asset issuance method is simplified - on Twitter, post a tweet and @official account in a fixed format (tweets start with $sign and stock code, plus token description/video/picture, etc.), and wait for the official account to reply to the token contract address in the comment section.
Optimization of the market making model - a fair firing method on the surface everyone needs to sweep the chain to get the contract in the first place. But in fact, the KOL, the project party may be able to privately reach an agreement with the platform to buy low-price chips in advance.
According to Dune data, MakeNow.Meme gradually died out after only a week of creation, leading to the end of being ignored. This may confirm the core narrative and main logic of Memecoin is the pursuit of fairness.
Moonshot: Back DEX Screener natural stream
Moonshot was developed by DEX Screener around June of this year, and although it is backed by DEX Screener and even embedded in the platform, its data is still small compared to PUMP.FUN. Although it has the blessing of natural traffic, it does not seem to do a good job of traffic acceptance and transformation, does not display MetaData before launch, launch history can not be easily checked, and the function lacks transparency.
Its data performance since its launch has been relatively flat. This may indicate that the traffic inlet has always existed, and how to convert users is the key.
Optimization of user experience
In addition to the innovation of asset development methods and the diversion of capital, the optimization of user experience is also the reason for the large-scale outbreak of Memecoin in this round.
TG Bot: Optimization for Web3 users
Behind this Memecoin super cycle, it is inseparable from the development of tools and on-chain robots, whose functions are rapidly updated in continuous iterations. From sniping and shooting to security checks to correlation analysis. Powerful tools and robots escort gold mining on the user chain, and promote Memecoin to the public from the demand side.
During this period, Memecoin trading tools have expanded from the mobile side to the web side. For different segments, there are multi-chain compatible professional trading websites, such as gmgn.ai, Bullx, Photon, etc. There are also convenient and fast TG bots such as Banana Gun, Tojan, Bonkbot, etc. With the help of the Memecoin gold rush, these service tools specifically for Memecoin transactions have gradually transitioned from comprehensive to deep, and tools such as linked wallet analysis, Twitter monitoring, and security detection have become increasingly perfect, and the product business model has been verified. In this process, the number of TG Bot users is also increasing, the highest daily active users of 140,000, the highest average daily transaction volume of nearly 500 million US dollars, although there is still a long way to go compared to on-chain DEX, but under the influence of Memecoin super cycle, this segment is still a blue ocean.
MoonShot: Optimization for Web2 users
In addition to Web3 users, Memecoin is also the most direct way for Web2 users to enter and understand Web3. However, there are still many problems in Memecoin trading, such as high security risks, multi-decentralized platforms, and difficult Gas acquisition. The MoonShot by PUMP.FUN incubation team Alliance DAO solves this problem to some extent.
It is a mobile application built on the Solana network that focuses on Meme transactions and supports users to purchase Memecoin directly through fiat currency deposit methods such as Apple Pay, credit card and PayPal. The simplification of this community login and fiat deposit process brings more new users and new funds to the Solana ecosystem, opening up the link between on-chain Memecoin and funds outside the circle. But now, as the wealth effect wanes, MoonShot user activity is also gradually decreasing. How to effectively convert Web2 users has always been a problem in the field of encryption.
The narratives change rapidly
Memecoin, as the target that best reflects the economic phenomenon of attention in the crypto market, is the development trend of diversification of narrative procedures under the market boom in 2024. Looking back on various kinds of gods in the past, Memecoin narrative themes are not the same. But behind each type, there are specific market trends, community trends, and capital operation patterns, which can be roughly divided into four types according to past laws and characteristics: Event-driven Memecoin, community-driven IP Memecoin, celebrity effect-led concept Memecoin, and multi-dimensional emerging Memecoin. The various types of cross-influences are not completely independent.
Events trigger derivative Memecoin
Memecoin triggered by unexpected events can often gather extremely high attention at the beginning, and traffic and funds will quickly promote the rise of Memecoin asset prices in the process of attention. It is often difficult to reproduce suddenly from occurrence to rise, its core feature is the rapid outbreak of high short-term multiple but insufficient extension, and the need to find other power after the attention subsides. Objects like BOME, SLERF, FIGHT, BAN, etc., can all belong to Memecoin, which is dominated by event hype.
BOME (BOOK OF MEME) is a pre-sale project initiated by Pepe Meme artist Darkfarm, which raised more than 10,000 SOLs in pre-sale. Due to the widespread concern, the transaction volume of the online token exceeded 200 million US dollars, and the market value of Binance reached 1 billion US dollars after three days. Later, SLERF, which adopted the same pre-sale mechanism, accidentally destroyed LP and airdrop reserved tokens due to DEV, and the sudden incident and subsequent propagation made the price of Meme tokens show a spiral upward trend.
However, if the Meme triggered by an emergency does not receive continuous attention from the market, the price will converge and decline. The Fight token, derived from the slogan after Trump's assassination, once had a market value of more than $80 million, and now has a market value of more than 90%. Sotheby's vice president Michael Bouhanna launched the art concept Meme BAN on PUMP.FUN, and Binance dropped by 85% at its highest point.
Community-driven IP Memecoin
Memecoin of IP type tend to have a strong consensus, a long formation cycle and a long fermentation time, and a community can be formed after a long period of time. Such community-driven IP memes show strong resilience in the volatility of 2024. It may experience a long time to wash from its emergence to a new high, and its core feature is a high community consensus, a very CULT temperament or a strong resilience in repeated falls and rises. Similar Cult series POPCAT, SPX, APU and other MEW, NEIRO, MANEKI and others have formed IP targets.
MEW (cat in a dogs world) is a brave cat against dogs, after the token was launched in March this year, the market value of the pioneer of the "cat track" reached 1 billion, followed by another IP Maneki (Japanese lucky Cat) also referred to its 90% liquidity pool, 10% community distribution mechanism. Caused a brief Fomo. Another embodiment of community IP Memecoin is Neiro, Neiro is the name of the rescue dog recently adopted by the owner of the Shibainu network celebrity Kabosu, the prototype of the dog coin. The market value of the token is nearly 50 million dollars in two days. The price of the token fluctuates repeatedly around the public chain issues and capitalization issues, and the speculation of the asset continues from the chain to the exchange. Ethereum Lowercase Neiro won with the help of the community, reaching a maximum market cap of $1.2 billion. In addition, Murad, as a new star of the supercycle, is selected for tokens that have existed for at least six months and have experienced at least two 70% crashes. Therefore, although SPX's short-term rise has benefited from its influence, the importance of community IP is the reason why it has been reborn in the repeated decline.
The celebrity effect dominates the concept of Memecoin
The performance of Memecoin often forms a binding relationship with key people, celebrities can promote relevant ideas through specific Memecoin, and tokens will be further out of the circle because of the celebrity effect. Its core feature is that the fluctuation of currency price is correlated with the influence of celebrities and the strength of binding relationship. Musk-led DOGE, PNUT, TERMINUS, etc., and others such as JENNER, MOTHER, etc., all belong to this type.
The behavior and impact of celebrity coin issuance in this round of Memecoin super cycle is also different because of the emergence of Pump.fun, which is faster in pace and higher in multiple, attracting many Web 2 celebrities to participate in the next. The Jenner token, developed by Caitlyn Jenner, a member of the Kardashian family, rose 160 times in one night; Famous American female rapper Iggy Azalea's Meme MOTHER contract contained in his tweet on X exploded thirty times in two minutes, with a market value of more than $200 million. Musk concept coins are Memecoin players focus on the object, whenever he released on social media its concerns such as Mars concept (TERMINUS), government efficiency department (DOGE), political concept (PNUT) and other content, the related tokens on the chain will usher in a short-term rise.
Multi-dimensional emerging Memecoin
This Memecoin supercycle hype is no longer limited to native Web3 content, but spans multiple areas and covers a wider range of topics and themes. Within each plate, there are many kinds of speculation targets, and they are rapidly circling, attracting the attention of many fields. From TikTok traffic to new AI technologies, to frontier disciplines such as DeSci (decentralized science) and physics, the hype momentum of Memecoin has spread rapidly, and the fields involved have continued to expand, showing a trend of cross-border integration. Memecoin seems to have become a testing ground for emerging technologies, a testing ground for unproven tracks. The core feature of this type of Memecoin is novel narrative and wide circle. MOODENG, PESTO, CHILLGUY, GOAT, ACT, VIRTUAL, AIXBT, RIF, URO, etc., are all in this category.
Moo Deng, a baby hippopotamus born at a zoo in Thailand, became a social media darling on TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter's meme of the Year for his meme-laden emoji. At one point, the Moo Deng token on Solana reached a market cap of $700 million, making it the smallest Memecoin on Coinbase, which led to the demand for Meme hype for the Web 2 section. After this, the PESTO and CHILLGUY tokens also attracted widespread attention due to their strong Web 2 traffic, and their market value exceeded $500 million at one point.
And then the hype for AI agents is also hot. GOAT comes from the AI Bot - Truth Terminal (@truth_terminal), which was launched in June this year, and its market value skyrocketed to more than $1 billion ina short period of time, and then AI Memecoin such as ACT and ELIZA quickly occupied the minds of players on the chain. ai16z, zerebro, virtual, aixbt and other AI agent-related application coins have gradually developed into ecology. After Binance announced its investment in BIO, DeSci (decentralized Science) entered the public eye, and the tokens RIF and URO started a new round of speculation from the Pump.Science platform combined with experiments, with a market value of up to $200 million.
Mainstream acceptance and adoption
Memecoin has been widely concerned by institutions and investors from the initial marginalization of assets, and its user scale continues to grow, capital inflows continue to increase, and it is gradually gaining recognition and adoption in the mainstream market.
The liquidity of the market is clear from the inflows. Organizations are starting to deploy Memecoin; Major exchanges have launched Memecoin; Market makers actively hoard Memecoin. As of December 23, 2024, the overall market value of Memecoin has climbed to $230 billion, and shows a growing trend. According to a report released by Bybit in June, institutional investors increased their spot holdings by nearly $300 million in the first half of the year. Almost all crypto exchanges have launched multiple Memecoins, and Binance has launched more than 20 Memecoins (including futures and spot) since 2024, 80% of which have experienced significant market value growth after the launch of Binance. Five crypto market makers, including Wintermute, GSR Markets, Auros Global, B2C2 Group and Cumberland DRW, all hold stakes in Memecoin worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
In terms of user growth, the first is a significant change in attitude. A16Z, which was still debating value coins in the first half of the year, began to participate in speculation and accidentally gave birth to the first AI Memecoin GOAT. God V also has a vision for the future of Memecoin and is involved in MooDeng's publicity and charity work. Pantera partners have also publicly endorsed Memecoin as the easiest way for the next generation to experience the latest DeFi applications and bring them to Web3. NOT only that, more and more Web2 users are beginning to recognize the value of Memecoin, DeSci's scientific assistance experiments, Dogecoin's Marine garbage cleaning program, NOT as a social reward and red envelope function, etc., have created soil for Web2 users to understand and accept Memecoin. According to statistics, from the beginning of 2024 to the end of the year, the number of Memecoin users in the world has exceeded 50 million, and it is still growing.
Conclusion
BTC, as Web2's largest meme coin, has exceeded $100,000 and has been proven by the market. As an early participant of Memecoin, is it a dog gambler in pursuit of sudden wealth or an extremely forward-looking investor? Where will Memecoin eventually go? Will it be marginalized and gradually die out, or will it gradually develop and enter the mainstream?
Cycles rotate, time tests the truth, and answers are written in the future.
From infrastructure improvements to emerging narratives, here's a look at the 2024 Memecoin supercycle