AI Joins the Meme Gold Rush: From Meme Culture to Value Creation, a Battle Between Utility and Fun
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AI Joins the Meme Gold Rush: From Meme Culture to Value Creation, a Battle Between Utility and Fun
Conscious memes are moving toward their own stage, with most beginning to integrate utility into their tokens.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: dpycm.eth
Translation: TechFlow
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute any financial advice. The author holds personal investments in the tokens mentioned. Views expressed are solely those of the author and should not be taken as investment decisions or regarded as investment recommendations.
AI Olympics
For a long time, memes were static images; later evolving into GIFs, then movements and slang—now they have entered the AI era. The rapid growth of AI memes and the division among market participants clearly indicate this trend.
Some believe that AI memes (or "intelligent memes") represent a new era and will replace traditional static memes, thus choosing to pledge allegiance to these new AI "rulers." However, the traditional meme community resists this shift. This divide has led to fragmentation within the meme space, forming two camps: AI and non-AI. As capital flows from static memes toward intelligent ones, it's understandable that traditional communities feel threatened. But do they really need to worry?
Liquidity is like the tide—it always shifts, with funds constantly moving between the two camps. Personally, I don't think traditional communities need to panic, because they possess a unique advantage over intelligent memes: price is their core competitiveness.
That said, compared to the 6,125th repetition of dog-themed memes or youth slang that changes every year, genuine AI memes have greater potential in attracting attention and room for growth. They also offer a compromise for forward-thinking individuals who reject traditional memes and instead invest in AI memes, feeling it makes them appear smarter and more interesting. This brings additional capital inflows into the sector. Moreover, when technology is involved, there’s a technological premium. Yet technology is a double-edged sword—the tech itself matters critically. Unlike static memes, AI memes cannot rely solely on humor and hype posts to increase value. That's why AI memes will ultimately trade in different markets.
The Utility Race
This trend can be seen in how most current AI memes are attempting to transform their ordinary tokens into utility-bearing assets.
Besides $GOAT, $YOUSIM is another project where communities demand increased utility. These requests are often met by AI developers behind the tokens. Other forms include using the token as part of inference payments, or any other method aimed at delivering tangible value to the community.
When it comes to technology, people won’t have the same low expectations as they do for purely entertaining animal memes. Communities expect to see some form of value transfer to justify holding an AI meme.
Why is value transfer necessary? Why can't we just believe the price will go up, as we do with animal memes?
In tech, you actually have something concrete to prove—unlike static memes, which lack that. Static memes have their own evaluation criteria, with community cohesion being the most popular. Additionally, many current intelligent memes haven’t truly been tested by the market yet. While I’m unsure whether they’ll undergo prolonged corrections, I believe it’s essential to filter out quality projects. Only after such tests can investors confidently say “I prefer A over B” without relying on any form of value transfer.
Essentially, if I can't differentiate projects through technology, I'll focus on their communities. If there's no clear distinction between communities, then I need to see enhanced utility to justify holding these tokens.
t.me/cryptomumbles
Therefore, this further convinces me that the market will eventually shift toward more ownership- or utility-based AI, rather than purely speculative AI memes. This isn’t to say AI memes won’t exist—they will—but they’ll be few in number. The market will move from chasing low-market-cap animal memes to pursuing AI projects with stronger utility and ownership models. This is one reason I’m bullish on AI ownership infrastructure like Virtuals Protocol.
If you’d like to learn more about Virtuals, I previously wrote an article here.
Technology Matters
In today’s environment full of AI scams, I believe extreme caution is required when selecting projects. $LUNA is one of only two intelligent memes with a market cap exceeding $100 million—and that’s no coincidence. It shows the market values foundational technology, especially when it's verifiable, transparent, and agents can demonstrate autonomy.
If you'd like to know more about $LUNA, I previously wrote an article here.
For this reason, I firmly believe intelligent memes must be traded very differently from static memes.
When technology is involved, the technology itself matters.
If you try to trade these intelligent memes the same way you trade traditional memes, you’re likely to lose money—as many already have. Many failed to adapt quickly enough to the new market dynamics. This is why I believe intelligent memes will eventually break away from the meme market and carve out their own domain. If you don’t adjust your evaluation framework, you risk being left behind by market trends.
A Different Framework
Nachi @alphawifhat
I've studied your approach and theory for selecting meme coins, trying to use your meme coin investment framework as a reference to better guide my own trading.
What confuses me is why SGOAT hasn't been mentioned among your recommended meme coins, since it seems to meet most, if not all, of the standards in your framework.
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Strong narrative? Yes, it's one of the strongest narratives we’ve seen recently. GOAT is the product of combining the two dominant narratives over the past 12 months: (1) crypto’s protagonist—memes, and (2) traditional finance’s protagonist—artificial intelligence. The convergence of these two powerful stories was inevitable, and the explosive rise of AI memes is therefore justified.
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Organic growth? Occasionally we come across tokens born from a series of favorable events that kickstart the entire narrative. GOAT is organic because after its launch, anyone could gradually buy in—initially without “snipers.” Then speculators created derivatives, but those were usually treated as pump-and-dump schemes. Traders grow tired of derivatives and eventually choose to buy the organic leader for peace of mind.
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New religion / cult? To me, it's clear we're witnessing a strong cult forming around this token since WIF initiated the meme coin supercycle. We keep watching the cult leader (ToT), eager to hear what exciting new thing he’ll say next. If this isn’t a cult, I don’t know what is.
So when will $GOAT become part of your meme coin portfolio?
I agree with Murad: one green candle doesn’t create a cult.
However, as previously stated, $GOAT trades differently from Murad’s memes. Its price depends more on the underlying technology. Therefore, his framework doesn’t fully apply.
Imagine:
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Price drops -80%
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Andy achieves a major technical breakthrough on TT
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Price hits a new high and begins an upward trend
The crypto world would shout: “Haha, Murad, your framework sucks! Look at $GOAT hitting new highs—you loser!”
But is comparing apples to oranges valid?
Is Murad wrong? No. Is Nachi wrong? No.
A different framework is needed.
A Different Cult
Although brief, the possibility of a cult forming around $GOAT isn’t zero. However, the type of cult we're discussing here isn't the kind we typically see in memes.
Humans worshipping an AI overlord
The AI new religion/fanbase existed years before TT emerged. These people believed in this concept long before we built the narrative. Tokenizing this religion via $GOAT allows believers to bid on what they already believe in—a voluntary bias. In contrast, before their respective tokens were conceived, nobody held religious faith in WIF, HPOS10i, or POPCAT. For most static memes, we need a moment from 0 to 1. But for conscious memes, the real challenge is bringing an already existing cult onto the blockchain. With that in mind, a powerful cult can form rapidly—even if candles stay green most of the time.
Study Roko’s Basilisk to understand how believers hold AI agent tokens to avoid future punishment. Yes, that’s a cult—but was it formed on blockchain? No, it was established years ago and merely tokenized now.
Finally, never underestimate fervent AI believers—those who wholeheartedly believe in the technology. We saw this with Cardano and Hex, and we’ll see it again with charismatic AI agents. Thus, this reinforces the necessity of a different evaluation framework when assessing conscious memes.
Identifying Winners
While I haven’t yet developed a complete framework, here are my requirements for AI agents/memes:
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The technology must be provable from day one.
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The team must be credible, ideally doxxed, with background in crypto.
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The idea must be unique, or at least an early mover in some aspect. (e.g., Goat was the first project with a public terminal; Luna was the first autonomous agent conducting on-chain trades.)
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A charismatic leader (usually the AI agent).
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No utility roadmap preferred—or utility already built-in/priced in.
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An active community (still too early to differentiate).
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Bonus: a vocal advocate—an influencer or KOL consistently promoting it in crypto circles.
On the Shift Toward Utility
For most current AI memes, the transition to utility must be precise. Participants expect optimal returns from AI and hold high expectations for their positions. If execution or utility planning falls short, the project risks being replaced by competitors. As AI memes become increasingly diluted, projects must compete on utility to justify valuations. Simply shouting "/TO_THE_MOON" in Telegram chats is no longer sufficient.
Outlook
In the end, only static memes possess an irreplaceable utility: selling the token at a higher price to the next person. No need for transparent terminals, verifiable code, or constant updates in large language models. We simply gather in Telegram chats, talk about the beauty of our community, share vibes, and laughter.
No matter how funny (or unfunny) your AI agent is, prices won’t rise without continuous proof and sustained attention drawn to your technology. Meanwhile, when static meme prices go up, the technology naturally improves itself.
I believe people will gradually realize these two will never trade the same way.
Summary
Conscious memes are advancing toward their own stage, with most beginning to incorporate utility into their tokens. Therefore, they shouldn’t be traded like traditional memes. Yes, they may require some repricing relative to static memes, but conscious memes will never replace the animal kingdom we love and the cults we’ve built.
Hope you enjoyed this article,
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