In the crypto market, Meme first appeared in the form of ridicule and jokes, mainly driven by the community, and was once regarded as an emotion-driven market behavior. With its development and popularity, Meme is no longer just a joke or a joke, but has become one of the fastest growing sectors in the crypto market this year. Recently, SunPump, the meme launch platform of TRON Ecosystem, has attracted widespread attention, further demonstrating the popularity of the meme track. In this issue of TRON Knowledge Bureau, we will take you to understand the driving force behind the outbreak of Meme.
According to BDC Consulting data, since the emergence of Meme in 2014, its overall market value has experienced several major fluctuations. During the bull market in 2021, the overall market value of the Meme sector rose to the range of US$30 billion to US$60 billion. Then the crypto winter in 2022 caused its market value to fall to US$17 billion to US$21 billion. However, starting in 2024, the overall market value of Meme rebounded by 169% and returned to the historical high of US$60 billion in the first quarter. At the same time, the number of newly created Memes per day ranged from 40,000 to 50,000, and even reached around 100,000 during peak periods, reflecting the explosive growth of the Meme market this year.
There are several important factors behind the explosion of Meme. First, this year there has been a wave of opposition to venture capital (VC) dominance in the market, which has greatly changed the behavior patterns of users. In 2023, the small trend triggered by Ordinals gradually evolved into a strong anti-VC wave. Compared with the high-valuation, low-circulation VC Token, Meme has attracted a lot of attention and capital inflows due to its flexibility and community-driven characteristics. As the issuance of a large number of VC Tokens has increased the pressure on the market to take over, and users immunity to technical narratives has gradually increased, the market trend has changed significantly. Meme stands out in this environment with its full circulation, decentralization and other characteristics.
Social media also plays a vital role in the spread of memes. The huge traffic on platforms such as X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok has enabled memes to spread rapidly, and price fluctuations are often closely related to the popularity on social media, especially when influential figures like Elon Musk mention related topics. For example, in May this year, Keith Gill, the main promoter of the GameStop short squeeze, posted a tweet on X that exceeded 6 million views in just 5 hours, leading to an outbreak of related meme concepts.
Community support is another key factor in the explosion of Meme. Community users are not only supporters, but also promoters. They continue to attract new users by creating topics and sharing memes, and maintain the active atmosphere of the community. It is this strong community cohesion that makes it easier for some Meme projects to gain widespread popularity and user participation in a short period of time. It can be seen that the explosion of Meme is a reflection of community culture.
In addition, Memes relatively low price and threshold, as well as its unique fun, have also attracted a large number of novice users. These users are often attracted by get rich quick stories or the specific ideas that come with Meme, and show a complex love-hate relationship in the interweaving of emotions, consensus, fun, and the ultra-high volatility of Meme. The active participation of a large number of users also provides liquidity for Meme, and to a certain extent, pushes up the influence and overall market value of the Meme sector.
Although Memes were initially considered to lack real value, more and more practical applications have begun to emerge over time. In May of this year, Trump announced that he would accept cryptocurrencies including Dogecoin and Shiba Inu Coin as a form of campaign donations. In October last year, Japanese automaker Honda announced that it would allow the use of crypto assets such as Shiba Inu Coin as payment options. In addition, more merchants have begun to try to accept some mainstream Memes as payment methods.
It is also worth noting that the meme market also generally exhibits higher volatility and shorter life cycles. The prices of most memes may fall rapidly after reaching their peak. Therefore, rational participation is particularly important, and users need to pay close attention to market trends and public opinion dynamics to control risks in a timely manner.
Overall, the outbreak of Meme is not accidental, but the result of multiple factors, and is affected by market sentiment and hype cycles. Its popularity not only reflects the changes in the current crypto market trend, but also shows its huge potential in the future market. With more users, projects and platforms joining, the Meme market is expected to usher in new development opportunities in the future.
