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During this cycle, Memecoins, especially those based on Solana, became the leading narrative of the cryptocurrency market. These tokens have overwhelmed investor interest and overshadowed the performance of many large-cap altcoins.
Some experts weighed in on the market’s performance over the past year, discussing what made meme-based tokens the leading narrative of the cycle, and what could be next for the industry.
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The value of Solana’s “interventionist culture coins.”
Qiao Wang, Co-Founder of Alliance DAO, subscriber His thoughts on the market dynamics that led to the top narrative of each course. In X’s post, he noted that there is an “opportunity for retail to outperform the pros” in every cycle.
Alpha is to be involved in retail at a time when there is too much professional risk for professionals to participate in.
Wang explained that individual investors outperformed professionals during the first round by “simply using” Bitcoin. In the second cycle, investors capitalized on the Ethereum narrative, while decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) became leading retail opportunities during the third cycle.
Solana and “self-cultural currencies,” as Wang called meme currencies, have dominated the ongoing cycle. The popularity of meme-based tokens is often criticized for a lack of utility and “substance,” often resulting in a “quick buck” for their creators and a few early buyers.
However, Wang seems to suggest that the value of these tokens depends on the shared culture behind them, an argument that experts and industry figures have discussed before.
As reported by NewsBTC, cryptocurrency traders Ansem and Kel discussed the value of memcoins on the Unchained podcast. In the interview, traders explained that there is value to online memes and culture, which makes comparison with other altcoins “meaningless.”
They added that the cryptocurrency community is “very internet-centric” with its members understanding the financial aspect and having great knowledge of online culture. As such, cryptocurrency investors have realized that there is an opportunity to “monetize” the spread of memes in the industry.
Additionally, they point out that the “shared experience of linking” is another critical factor driving the meme-based token craze, as seen with Solana-based memecoin communities like Dojoyfat (WIF) and POPCAT.
Memecoins “absorb” market energy
On Sunday, Chris Burniske, co-founder of Placeholder, also participated take X to influence the memcoins craze. According to him, “The tendency of Memecoins to activate is all you need to observe to know that it will be bigger than we expect in the next expansion.”
In the post, Burniske revealed that he considers the “trend clear” that culturally significant NFT collections will be overtaken in 2021 by some memecoin sensations this cycle.
It is worth noting that on October 7, the total market capitalization of Solana memecoins exceeded $10 billion, as SolanaFloor I mentioned.
Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko He replied to Burniske, where he shared his theory on why memes have become the main narrative. Yakovenko considers that previous cycles “were also 90% memes and 10% products.”
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However, he points out that today the sector has a monopoly on the energy that has driven different narratives during other cycles: “My theory is that today’s memes have fully absorbed the meme energy that has driven other cycles, like the Summer of DeFi,” the Solana co-founder noted.
Accordingly, Yakovenko believes products should “make it value-based only” now, which could be a positive for the wider industry.
As of this writing, Solana (SOL) is trading at $151, an increase of 4% over the past 24 hours.
Featured image from Unsplash.com, chart from TradingView.com