The frenzy and cold reflection of meme coins: Is 2025 a story or a bubble?

Original Title: The Carnival and Cold Reflection of Meme Coins: Next Stop 2025, Is It a Story or a Bubble

Original Author: Nomos Labs

Few people have considered that the birth of Meme coins might 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 this year's skyrocketing $Neiro, these seemingly "nonsensical" coins repeatedly refresh people's views on the narrative capability of Meme coins.

In 2024, the Meme coin market remains bustling amidst uncertainty. It is not just an entertainment symbol in the crypto circle but has also become a paradise for speculators and a barometer of market sentiment. However, if we peel back the stories behind the price surges, we will find that a familiar yet strange logic is driving this carnival: Meme culture, market sentiment, and technological narratives are redefining the value boundaries of Meme coins.

1. How Can Meme Coins Tell a Good Story About Emotion?

On the surface, Meme coins are a continuation of internet meme culture, but their true charm lies in their ability to quickly gather emotions through storytelling, shaping short-term "group frenzy." Yet, no one has been able to clear the fog and find the certainty and connotation composed of countless stories within that "bubble" regarding the long-term value of Meme coins.

A Joke, Yet a Cultural Resonance

The earliest $DOGE Dogecoin can be seen as a complete "parody." It had neither complex technical support nor ambitious application plans, but with a Shiba Inu meme, it became the spokesperson for internet meme culture. In 2024, this meme narrative has been further amplified, with new players not only attracting attention through "jokes" and "humor" but also starting to play the cultural emotional card.

For example, the sad frog of $Pepe, whose frog image has long been a classic in internet culture, became popular not due to technical highlights but through community dissemination and cultural recognition. In a short time, the community size of $Pepe 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 coins can quickly tell a story and rally consensus.

Community-Driven: More Like an Emotional Game

Behind the popularity of a Meme coin stands a crazy community. Elon Musk's support for Dogecoin, the "frog army" of $Pepe, these community members are not just investors but also proactive "content creators." They are keen on "creating memes," attracting people on social platforms, and even transforming Meme coins from a "joke" into a "trend."

The example of $SHIB is quite typical. In 2024, it not only maintained its popularity through meme culture but also attempted to attract long-term users through technological narratives, such as its metaverse project Shibaverse, which, although still in its early stages, has provided the community with a new "show-off point."

From this, we can see that for Meme coins, meme culture is the base color, but their true 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 Safe Haven for Speculators

However, the underlying logic of a "good story" that can drive market changes requires "profit motivation." The reason Meme coins can remain hot is not only because they are "fun," but also because they have become a high-volatility safe haven for speculators during downturns in the crypto market.

Price Surge: The "Wealth Myth" Most Loved by Speculators

Looking back at 2024, the most eye-catching trend was undoubtedly the surge of $Pepe. From the beginning of the year to mid-year, the price of this sad yet funny frog achieved more than a hundredfold increase --- the market was attracted to such coins not because of their strong technology or applications, but because they are easy to "hype up."

Meme coins have a low issuance threshold, extremely low unit prices, and seemingly unlimited room for growth. This characteristic is particularly friendly to retail investors: even with just a few hundred dollars, they can chase the imagination of "10x or 100x." For those investors who "entered late," this high-risk, high-reward speculative variety became their 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 speculative funds need a new "emotional outlet."

Unlike mainstream 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 stir retail emotions, 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 are a real "emotional mirror." Therefore, it is not difficult to understand why people are starting to enjoy hearing their stories and prefer them to create one captivating "wealth story" after another.

3. Can Meme Coins Add Value Through Technological Innovation?

We understand the changes 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 compounding, they must rely on technological innovation to create new narratives and application scenarios.

AI "New Meme": Empowering Technological 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-enabled features, such as AI-generated content. Through this approach, Meme coin projects can quickly and cost-effectively provide continuous interaction and entertainment experiences for a wide range of investors and community members. Additionally, AI trading strategies can leverage the advantages of AI algorithms to more accurately predict market trends, analyze trading data, and optimize investment decisions. Although early results may not have met expectations, it is undeniable that the introduction of AI technology has injected new vitality and narrative threads into Meme coins.

NFT Collaboration: Continuation of Cultural Narratives

At the same time, NFTs remain an important "partner" for Meme coins, continuing to showcase their unique charm and potential in 2024. Especially in projects like $Pepe, investors can not only profit by buying and holding Pepe coins but also showcase 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 identity recognition and community culture. Through NFT-bound gameplay, these projects offer investors a more personalized and emotional way to participate, making holding these Meme coins not just an investment behavior but also an expression of community belonging. It is not hard to imagine that as more similar innovative gameplay continues to emerge, NFTs will remain an important "accelerator" for the development of Meme coin projects.

Attempts to Combine Payment Scenarios with DeFi, 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 enjoy a 3% cashback reward.

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

Such technological narratives continue, and technological empowerment will be an important focus for the next stage of Meme coins. Although it may seem like "storytelling" in the short term, in the long run, only when technological narratives are realized can Meme coins perhaps break free from the fate of "short-term speculation."

In Conclusion: Is the Next Stop for Meme Coins the Rise of Meme Economic Culture or the Burst of a Bubble?

Looking back 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 coins, enabling them to continuously tell an engaging story;

Emotion: The fluctuations of market sentiment and the push from speculators make them the most "explosive" assets;

Technology: New concepts and application scenarios are key to making Meme coins more "valuable" in the future.

However, these three also carry significant risks: How long can the story be told? How long can the sentiment hold? Can technology truly be realized? The answers to these questions will determine the future direction of Meme coins.

But as we begin to envision the future of 2025, it is certain that Meme coins have transformed from a "joke" into a unique phenomenon in the crypto market. Amid the increasingly restless and continuously erupting "golden cycle" of crypto coins following the U.S. elections, their vitality is far from over. Yet, whether they can break free from the carnival and enter a true "value era" remains to be seen:

2025, let Meme coins respond.