$DOG big pump 400%, Crypto Assets may be redefining and measuring "value"

In the past 15 days, Meme coin DOG•GO•TO•THE•MOON ($DOG) has continued to pump rise by more than 230%, breaking through the previous high, reaching a maximum of $0.0062. In the same period, the mainstream L2 protocol Token fall of long Bitcoin ecology exceeded 50%. These are what we call "value coins".

Although the short-term ups and downs may not mean much, looking back at previous bull markets, leading MemeCoins have shown remarkable performance. $DOGE saw a price increase of over 150 times in the last bull market, with a market cap close to $90 billion; other MemeCoins such as $Shib, $People, $ELON, $AKITA, etc. also performed well.

On the one hand, from a VC coin point of view, many so-called value coin are often market capitalization high, and dumb buying stand guard directly, sucker are play people for suckers afraid; But on the other hand, it is also necessary to think about whether MemeCoin really contains some important "special value"? This special value, for different groups, because of the relationship between whether the cognition is in place, may be an explicit value, or an invisible value, has been consciously or unconsciously accepted by the majority of the encryption community, and developed into a general consensus.

Such a change is enough to arouse people's attention and re-examination, we are accustomed to the concept of "value coins", its connotation is changing, how to redefine it?

Let's talk about the so-called value coins. In the original cognitive structure, value coins are supported by value, and these value supports basically include:

Technology Innovation: such as Block Expansion, Smart Contracts, AMM, Oracle Machine, Multi-Signature, various privacy/encryption technologies, etc.

Innovative applications: such as DEX, collateral, lending, derivatives, stablecoins, liquidity pools, interest rate swaps, aggregated yield, etc.

Value Capture: For example, $BTC is digital gold, $ETH is the platform token for smart contracts and DApps, $UNI is a DEX and becomes the infrastructure for various DeFi protocols, etc.

Economic Model: A good value coin often has a strict (or at least serious) token economic model, which reflects the careful design of protocol tokens in mathematical models, resource integration, token distribution, value capture, and value flywheel, etc.

Ecological Development：Surrounding encryption protocols, forming an ecological system of upstream, midstream, and downstream, the development of the ecosystem can expand and capture the value of protocol tokens, making them grow and sustainable. For example, the thriving Ethereum and Solana ecosystems.

Mainstream Recognition: For a considerable period of time, an encryption protocol has gained recognition and investment from VC, highlighting its value, and its protocol token has become the object of everyone's pursuit.

l……

It can be seen that value coins are obviously not in the form of a single coin, but rather a comprehensive presentation of encryption technology, encryption protocols, product applications, and ecological development. However, memecoins seem to go against the grain, even appearing to be a joke in the serious atmosphere of the crypto world. What are its characteristics?

From the perspective of the currency itself:

Low unit price

The supply is huge.

l has no practical use

The price fluctuates greatly

lack of a rigorous economic model

Do not emphasize technology, fundamentals, and ecology

It looks more like just a single coin

Most have a short lifecycle.

l……

However, from the perspective of participants, MemeCoin often has the following characteristics:

Interesting: Not serious, fun and interesting, like $Lowb, although it was not successful, but I think it's interesting

Easy Empathy: Using a certain shared knowledge of things as a representation, it can empathize to the greatest extent, such as Dogecoin, $PEPE

l Community-driven: It is not the project party and the VC driven from top to bottom, it is the community that gathers consensus, spontaneously participates, and participants pay for their own recognition

Emotion-driven: When the community comes together, with the help of celebrities or the community, it often generates strong FOMO emotions, FOMO get on board, FOMO get out of positions

Cultural attributes: A good Memecoin will gradually develop some cultural attributes. These cultural attributes can reflect or manifest certain inherent connotations and demands of different social groups to some extent, making the MemeCoin more durable.

l……

The above shows that MemeCoin lacks rational elements such as technology, application, and economic models, but possesses humanistic and social attributes, which can meet the emotional needs of individuals, communities, and even social organizations.

From the current development momentum of MemeCoin, whether it is MemeCoin issued in previous cycles, such as $DOGE, $PEOPLE, $SHIB, or the newly released $PEPE, $DOG, $ORDI, $BOME in this cycle, they all show a strong empathetic narrative and are competing for liquidity with so-called value coins.

From the lifecycle of MemeCoin, some leading tokens still have a large number of holders after several rounds of bull and bear cycles. These holders, like holders of value coins, buy, sell, or hold leading MemeCoins for the long term, ensuring their market capitalization and price remain strong, trading is active, and liquidity is abundant, demonstrating the active vitality of these leading MemeCoins.

In terms of overall market capitalization, MemeCoin as a whole also occupies an important position in the market cap of cryptocurrencies, with a current total market cap of over $66 billion, surpassing the mainstream AI narrative of $40 billion.

At this point, MemeCoin can no longer be underestimated, nor can MemeCoin be overlooked. It has already entered the room. What exactly happened behind this?

Through the analysis of traditional "value coins" and "MemeCoin", we can summarize two development threads that are emerging in the encryption world:

1. From Reality to Virtual, Coexistence of Virtual and Reality

Virtual and real are relative, Crypto Assets are originally virtual assets, but Crypto Assets with technology, application, economic model, value capture, etc., can be described as "real", and without these support, relying on emotions, culture, and emotional attributes can be described as "virtual".

Starting from BTC, aiming to be a 'peer-to-peer electronic cash system', to ETH's 'a smart contract and decentralized application platform', to Uniswap's decentralized exchange (DEX)... Whether it's public chain tokens, smart contract protocol tokens, they all have precise positioning and scenarios, providing the so-called value support for tokens. This is a rational expression.

When it comes to MemeCoin, it is more like a group "playing tickets", expressing a preference (such as DOGE), a feeling (such as $PEOPLE), and a love or appeal (DOGE Elon Mars coin$ELON)...... And hobbies, feelings, love, emotions, and empathy are all emotional expressions, which are relatively virtual things. MemeCoin becomes its carrier, tokenizes it, and realizes value measurement.

Speaking of this, we roughly understand that the traditional so-called value coins have value because they are "actually available", which is a habitual cognition; MemeCoin captures the value of emotions, emotions, etc., and has real value, which is a newly established cognition. **

The relationship between the two is that the former represents "reality" and the latter represents "virtual", but it does not mean that "virtual" has no value. The so-called Dao is without traces, and there is great value hidden in "virtual". In the field of cryptocurrency, the combination of reality and virtuality, rationality and sensibility can complement each other.

And my opinion is that MemeCoin does not need practical support, although it is good to be virtual, boundless, TO DA MOON; but for practical people, virtual elements are very much needed, can't be too casual, need to be precise, missing a lot of fun, missing the imagination of the unreal, and missing the colorful dreams.

In this regard, I believe that the concept of "value coins" needs to be expanded, and its connotation needs to be recognized.

2. Both centralized and decentralized approaches coexist in the long term

The encrypted world starts with decentralization, goes through a trend towards centralization, and then moves from centralization to decentralization. These two states may coexist for a long time.

Simply put, the Bitcoin network is completely decentralized, while the emergence of Ethereum seems to be pushing towards centralization. One typical manifestation of this is the presence of project parties and VC coins, which essentially control the distribution of interests, making them highly centralized. For example, airdrops, governance, VC-led market capitalization and coin price, etc. This has made many investors dissatisfied and they vote with their feet - can I not participate?

And the emergence of MemeCoin, non-elite dominant, community driven, mass coaxing, gathering strength from the edge, silly Consensus is also Consensus, I like, I participate, this is a redefinition of value. No technology, no application, no ecological ...... But marginal emotions, emotions are condensed, and values are expressed and quantified. MemeCoin has made a comeback in promoting Decentralization and has become the "microphone" for the majority of retail sucker, and MemeCoin has become their voice and value carrier.

In the above analysis, we have discussed the concepts of 'reality and virtuality' and 'centralization and decentralization'. Both of these development trends are clearly demonstrated and show their own unique value. The conclusion we want to draw here is that we have gradually realized that the emergence of MemeCoin is the fusion of these two trends, which comprehensively reflects the 'virtualization of value' and the 'decentralizing force'. MemeCoin is another form of valuable currency, and its value is quantifiable and transferable.

Finally, I want to show that this article comes from personal thinking, belongs to throwing bricks and jade, if you can recognize the characteristic attributes and value of MemeCoin, for the current situation of "asset issuance is an important innovation and narrative", if you can innovate MemeCoin, or give Meme attributes to the so-called value coin, this is indeed a very meaningful thing. Of course, if the system framework can be established theoretically, it can guide MemeCoin to continue to release its potential huge value in practice.

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