Meme, as a highly unique presence in the cryptocurrency field, undoubtedly relies on meme premiums to drive its rise. How do you view Meme? This article is written by author MATTI and compiled, organized, and written by TechFlow.
Summary:
Why do airdrops and memes (MEME) always lead new adoption and hype cycles?
Background:
The meme coin frenzy: The abstract art meme trend is back.
Table of Contents:
Speculation has become a new form of consumption
Analysis of (3,3)
The transformation of memes
In the past bull market, meme coins, especially Doge, emerged as a true type of cryptocurrency. However, it’s not just meme coins that are affected by meme premiums; in fact, every successful token is influenced by them. I even believe that every product packaged within a brand contains a meme premium.
Meme premiums are a phenomenon where people assign higher currency value to an idea for the following reasons:
– Seeing others also value the idea
– Expecting more people to value the idea
Meme premiums are an ongoing imitation beauty contest. It is a pure form of speculation that has existed before humans knew what financial speculation was. As Plato told us through Durant:
“In a world dominated by social media, speculation has become a new form of consumption. Serious things have become entertainment, and entertainment has become serious. We pollute politics with entertainment, turning wars or inflation into spectacles to watch. Cryptocurrencies are part of this cultural shift.”
In the previous cycle, crypto degens were depicted as the dark and edgy side of the crypto world, but they achieved that cycle. NFT memes, meme coins, and yield Ponzi schemes became entertainment. Even the collapse and scapegoating of Three Arrows Capital, Do Kwon, and SBF were spread, and everyone seemed to consume this content with an enjoyment mindset.
While the most “serious” crypto investors discuss crypto infrastructure SaaS, crypto degens have grown stronger. I believe we are in the most spectacular degenerate phase in crypto history. We are going crazy, whether it’s meme coins, SocialFi, GameFi, or re-staking.
Compared to the previous cycle, meme premiums are more implicit, but in this cycle, they will become completely explicit. Crypto will become more degenerate than ever before. This may mean that you don’t have to buy Doge to invest in memes. You can buy any coin because the truth is clear: every coin is a meme coin.
Analysis of (3,3):
I previously explained that, apart from the brand and subsequent customer demand, Coca-Cola’s stock has no fundamentals. I propose that trading coins is a form of consumption, just like drinking sugary drinks. Coca-Cola’s stock is just a sticky Lollapalooza (RIP Charlie Munger).
Charlie Munger was not a loyal fan of cryptocurrencies; he referred to them as “cryptoshit” and “cryptocrapo.” While his infinite wisdom will be deeply missed, his outdated views on what can be bought and sold are not.
Anyway, I believe if Munger were in his 20s or 30s, there would be a chapter in his “Poor Charlie’s Almanack” about meme premiums.
Further reading:
Buffett’s comrade, Charlie Munger, fires again: Cryptocurrencies are “crazier than the internet bubble,” and China’s ban is right.
I’m just suggesting that we use these experimental structures worth trillions today to correct some outdated wisdom. They may be small in scale and have a low probability of individual success, but they are growing. Instead of normatively rejecting them, cynics should try to better understand them. After all, technology is the foundation of social development, not the other way around.
Let’s strive to understand cryptocurrencies as consumer goods rather than normatively opposing their consumption methods. Capitalism is driven by the market, and the market is driven by consumption.
Speculation is also a form of consumption. Every brand in the world relies on meme premiums. The (3,3) narrative that dominated OlympusDAO in 2021 clearly expresses meme premiums.
This is where we find ourselves on the adoption curve of cryptocurrencies: the transition from memes for the sake of memes to practical memes (also known as SocialFi). I hope at this point we can all agree that our tokens largely rely on meme premiums—and there’s nothing wrong with that.
In this cycle, memes will be directly monetized, reducing the demand for investing in meme coins. Memes, as coordination tools, are priced as a social game. If you see the value of stupid meme coins shifting towards smaller coordination experiments with “infinite” upward potential, I wouldn’t be surprised.
Our equivalent of DeFi summer may be a meme summer wrapped in a SocialFi narrative (currently, the Blast season seems like a Shillen point). Instead of investing in an overplayed single meme like Doge and its derivatives, people may engage in various small games with a certain purpose.
After all, money is a coordination game, and price is a signal. The (3,3) of OlympusDAO showcases a meme with everything: GameFi, SocialFi, and a serious attempt at utility. It is a true meme coin, even more important than Doge.
Because if you only see a meme coin as just a meme coin, then the magic of this idiotic crowd is destined to be short-lived.
Learning how to price memes has always been the alchemy of finance. The memes of the age of market wizards are different. From the invention of derivatives to meme coins, finance has been evolving as the market spreads to the boundaryless digital world.
Harnessing the power of crypto means understanding reflexivity, not as a rise or fall in prices, but as a transformation of fundamental value. The world can change with the market. Meme premiums are potential energy that can be converted into momentum.
The late 2020s and 2030s may be the golden age of meme value-oriented crypto hedge funds, embracing the reflexivity inherent in digital assets. Cryptocurrencies may have been denying themselves for some time, but only when we accept their true nature can we maximize their true value.
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