Meme coins did not "ruin" this cycle, but rather accelerated the industry's maturation
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Meme coins did not "ruin" this cycle, but rather accelerated the industry's maturation
Although the risks are enormous, Meme Coins have reinvigorated market vitality with their characteristics of transparency, simplicity, and equal participation for all.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy Haotian
Some in the English-speaking community claim that meme coins have ruined this cycle. While I’ve mostly advocated for “technical narratives + long-termism,” I’d like to offer a counter perspective: Meme coins haven’t “ruined” this cycle—they’ve acted as a market catalyst that accelerated the industry’s maturation:
1) The market has shifted from "technology-first" to "attention-first." Meme coins are the most visible manifestation of this shift. Traditional tech-driven projects often have roadmaps spanning three to five years before delivering results, but the market no longer has the patience, trust, or willingness to wait. This impatience has created a time window for meme coins to attract liquidity through short-term FOMO-driven wealth effects.
2) Meme coins are forcing technical narratives to innovate. The old VC-model of inflating value via funding rounds, technical jargon, and stacked buzzwords has hit a dead end. The era of easily profiting from complex whitepapers with little real delivery is over. Tech projects are now compelled to focus on actual execution because investors have tasted the appeal of "simple, transparent, and clearly lucrative" meme coins—and can no longer tolerate "technically sophisticated but perpetually undelivered" projects.
3) Meme coins have expanded the overall market's boundaries and user base. No matter how elegant a technical narrative may be, it can only attract a niche group of knowledgeable elites. Mass adoption, however, demands simple, intuitive mechanisms that quickly build consensus.
As large numbers of ordinary users enter crypto through meme coins, a portion of them inevitably dive deeper into the ecosystem. This creates an unprecedented pool of incremental users for technical projects, directly addressing the long-standing issue of "great tech, no users."
4) The meme coin craze won't dominate the entire cycle. Yet the market vitality it generates will benefit much of the broader crypto ecosystem. Hot money chases returns—by nature, meme coins cannot sustain long-term wealth creation. Once most participants have experienced both the euphoria of quick riches and the pain of crashing to zero, they’ll naturally seek more balanced investment options (evolving into more mature investors).
At that point, projects that genuinely solve real problems, build user stickiness, and possess clear business models will undergo valuation re-rating—transforming from abstract concepts into tangible value. For technical narratives, this isn’t an end, but the beginning of a phoenix-like rebirth.
5) Meme coins represent a complete reshuffling of the VC-backed token model characterized by high FDV and low float. The traditional VC-led fundraising structure created a distorted market: sky-high valuations with minimal circulating supply, leading to inevitable post-TGE price declines. This model left almost no room for retail investors to benefit from upside, effectively killing the original crypto dream of "growing wealthy through holding tokens."
In contrast, despite their high risks, meme coins—with their transparency, simplicity, and egalitarian access—have reinvigorated market dynamics and restored a fairer, more open competitive landscape. It’s hard not to see a connection between the shrinking influence (or forced exit) of certain VC firms and the rising mainstream status of meme coins.
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Haotian | CryptoInsight
