TROLL leads the charge, meme season returns—danger signs for the market?
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TROLL leads the charge, meme season returns—danger signs for the market?
Vitalik's concept triples in three days, while Musk's troll leads by far.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy Loopy Lu, Odaily Planet Daily
Recently, Bitcoin's upward trend has temporarily paused following the launch of ETFs.
Amid market volatility over the past few days, a new wave of meme-driven wealth creation has surged, led by TROLL.
Among the most watched meme coins, a clear celebrity theme is evident.
The Musk Theme: Is It Time for the Troll to Take Down Doge?
During the last bull run, Dogecoin—championed by Elon Musk—became a legendary wealth-generating asset. This week, the rapid rise of TROLL (meaning "troll," or internet provocateur) has sparked investor excitement, with the community hoping it could become the next Dogecoin.
On January 9, Musk changed his X profile bio to “(CTO) Chief Troll Officer,” a playful title that seemed trivial at first glance.
Yet as crypto’s self-proclaimed “Dog King,” every move Musk makes can spark a new meme trend. After the bio update, multiple meme coins named TROLL quickly emerged.
Eventually, one TROLL token with contract address ending in eb3a emerged as the dominant version, surging rapidly under the troll narrative.
Interestingly, TROLL’s surge was accidental. The token wasn’t newly created in response to Musk’s “Chief Troll Officer” title—it had actually been deployed back in April 2023. Before Musk’s profile change, the token had already lost 98% of its value from its peak. It was essentially a “zeroed-out” coin.
TROLL price chart before Musk became "Chief Troll Officer"
After Musk assumed the “Troll Officer” role, TROLL’s sharp rally triggered FOMO among investors. Just over a weekend, its market cap soared from around $1 million to $85 million, with liquidity reaching $2.2 million.
In just one weekend, TROLL’s price increased approximately sevenfold.
This isn’t the first meme coin tied to Musk to gain traction recently.
On January 10, X user Tim Urban posted a critique of the airline industry, quoting United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby.
Musk casually commented beneath the post: “Kirby is CEO.” This offhand remark turned “Kirby” into a viral meme concept almost overnight.
Suddenly, “Kirby Coin” became a trending meme. According to GeckoTerminal data, the largest Kirby-themed coin grew from zero to a $3.37 million market cap within six days.
Vitalik Buterin: Meme Coins Latch Onto Innovation Themes
Beyond Musk, Vitalik Buterin (V God) has also become a key inspiration for many meme coins.
This weekend, an earlier concept by Vitalik called Zuzalu resurfaced and gained renewed attention.
Zuzalu was a unique, community-driven social experiment initiated by Vitalik in Montenegro. It functioned like a temporary city where around 200 people lived together for about two months. Participants included students, professionals, and leaders across various fields, with financial support provided to those in need.
Zuzalu offered a decentralized living experience, driven by spontaneous conversations and group workshops. It served as a gathering place for intellectuals and innovators, focusing on areas like cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence, governance, and decentralized science. The Zuzalu community was not only diverse in nationality but also deeply engaged in fields such as biotech innovation and network state philosophy.
While Zuzalu itself didn’t attract widespread discussion in the crypto world as a project, during this week’s meme frenzy, the concept gained instant recognition, spawning multiple meme tokens.
Zuzalu Inu stood out as the top performer. Launched in March 2023,
GeckoTerminal data shows that before January 14, its price was just $0.000008 per token. Recently, it spiked to a high of $0.012—a 1,500x increase. Even at current prices, gains exceed 1,000x.
Before the Meme Throne: A Bloodbath Awaits?
Beyond these examples, Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko’s “Dumb Dragon” meme coin has also drawn significant community attention. Numerous meme coins are now flying high in this rally, each backed by their own celebrity “spokesperson,” all vying for the crown of ultimate meme king.
Memes come every year—but never the same ones twice
Currently, the market has fully entered meme mania season. Blockchaincenter.net’s Altseason Index stands at a high 76, indicating that 75% of the top 50 altcoins have outperformed Bitcoin over the past 90 days.
According to TradingView, Bitcoin’s share of total crypto market cap is currently 47.56%, and has been steadily declining over the past week.
Now, investors are anxious: how long can this last? Should they chase momentum or hunt for the next new thing?
Historically speaking, if we apply the parable of “marking the boat to find a lost sword,” rampant altcoin rallies often serve as a warning sign for the broader crypto market. The more pressing question may be: Is this altcoin boom the beginning of Bitcoin’s next leg up—or the prelude to the next major crash? Odaily Planet Daily reminds investors to remain cautious of high-volatility assets, closely monitor news developments and on-chain data, and beware of getting trapped in a pump-and-dump cycle.
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