Why are Chinese meme coins going crazy?
TechFlow Selected TechFlow Selected
Why are Chinese meme coins going crazy?
A panoramic dissection from culture, psychology to finance.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsText by: 0xGrandpa
I. What Are We Witnessing
In early 2026, the crypto market is undergoing an unprecedented cultural reversal:
Western traders are searching on X for the exact meaning of "I'm fucking here," trying to understand why these five Chinese characters can support a token worth hundreds of millions in market cap. Memes originally from Chinese internet culture—such as "Laozi" ("I, the old master") and "Binance Life"—have become daily topics in global crypto communities.
This marks the first large-scale overseas expansion of Chinese subculture in the form of financial assets—and the first time a meme or slang phrase can absorb hundreds of millions in real capital within 72 hours.
Yet these tokens lack any traditional value foundation: no whitepaper, no technical team, no use case, not even a coherent narrative. Still, their market caps can surge from tens of thousands to hundreds of millions within 72 hours—or halve in just three hours. All conventional financial valuation tools—P/E ratios, cash flows, technology roadmaps—fail completely here.
They’ve been replaced by a new pricing logic: attention is value, consensus is truth, emotion is liquidity.
When He Yi replied “Wish you Binance Life” on X, four days later that token hit a $524 million market cap. On-chain data shows someone entered with $3,000 and saw their position grow to $1.6 million. Countless others bought at peaks and lost everything during crashes.
Of course, this isn’t just a simple speculative bubble. The word “bubble” is too light—it implies some irrational deviation, as if things would return to normal once people regain rationality.
But the problem is: when consensus itself is the only anchor, and everyone plays the same zero-sum game, what does “normal” even mean?
The Meme coin price chart is the most honest emotional recorder of our era. It tracks not only price fluctuations but also the anxiety, frenzy, and disillusionment of a generation—some find life-changing opportunities here; far more leave behind permanent loss records.
II. From Internet Joke to Financial Asset
In December 2013, IBM engineer Billy Markus and Adobe employee Jackson Palmer spent two hours copy-pasting Bitcoin’s code, changed the logo to a Shiba Inu dog, and named it Dogecoin.
Their original intent was to mock the speculative mania around cryptocurrencies. Yet this “joke” rose 300% within 72 hours of launch. Reddit users began tipping strangers with it—buying pizzas, rewarding content creators.
Dogecoin proved a颠覆ive fact: in decentralized finance, consensus alone can become a source of value.
You don’t need to build a real product or solve concrete problems. As long as enough people believe it has value, it truly becomes valuable. And the most effective tool for generating consensus? Cultural symbols that trigger collective emotions.
From 2013 to 2021, Meme coins remained largely marginalized.
Early imitators like Nyancoin (Nyan Cat) and Coinye (a tribute to Kanye) mostly fizzled out—failing because they relied too heavily on single-symbol virality without sustained community operations or narrative evolution.
The turning point came in 2021, when SHIB (Shiba Inu) achieved over 100,000x growth in half a year. More importantly, SHIB demonstrated how newcomers could gain traction through “narrative stacking”—layering new storylines onto existing memes.
In 2023, platforms like Pump.fun enabled one-click token creation, pushing Meme coins into industrialized production. Thousands of new tokens emerge daily on Solana—from PEPE's “sad frog” to AI-themed and zoo-series tokens—resulting in extreme fragmentation and short cycles.
But during this phase, Meme coins were still derivatives of Western internet culture, with Chinese communities mainly following rather than leading.
The 2026 Chinese Meme coin boom represents a new mutation. It no longer merely imitates Western icons like Doge or Pepe, but directly transforms native Chinese internet memes—raw expressions like “I’m fucking here,” ritual blessings like “Binance Life,” and playful reworkings of traditional symbols like “Laozi”—into tradable financial assets.
Underlying this transformation is a collective pushback from Chinese crypto communities after years of “cultural discounting”:
We no longer need to explain to the West why this meme is funny—because the consensus operates within our own linguistic ecosystem.
III. The Real Forces Driving This Frenzy
Psychological Mechanism: Dopamine and the Fantasy of Changing Fate
Among all drivers of Meme coin mania, psychology holds the central role. This isn't mere "irrationality," but a highly amplified rational choice under specific conditions—when wealth accumulation paths in the real world become increasingly rigid, and traditional investment returns keep declining, the "extreme odds" offered by Meme coins become irresistible psychological bait.
Look at the data behind “Binance Life.” Launched on BNB Chain on October 4, 2025, the token surged to a $524 million market cap within four days after He Yi responded to the community with “Wish you Binance Life,” followed by CZ’s reply. Early participants enjoyed over 6,000x paper gains. On-chain data shows address 0x8844 invested just 5 BNB (~$3,000), which grew to $1.6 million in days.
Such a "3K-to-1.6M" wealth myth carries far more impact than any rational argument—it shatters ordinary investors’ psychological defenses.
When social media floods with screenshots of “someone turned $85 into $140K,” and stories of “smart money cashing out big” circulate endlessly, people systematically overestimate their chances of being the next lucky winner, while ignoring the silent majority who lose.
This cognitive bias is amplified to extremes in the Meme coin market. Blockchain transparency makes “wealth creation myths” verifiable, while loss stories drown in noise.
A deeper driver lies in emotional compensation.
Amid slowing global economic growth and stagnant social mobility, people face dual pressures of real-world anxiety and future uncertainty. Buying Meme coins psychologically takes on symbolic meaning—as a “ticket to change fate.”
While traditional investing demands long-term accumulation, risk hedging, and expertise, Meme coins require only “clicking at the right moment.” This simplified decision path itself offers psychological comfort—it suggests wealth can be attained independent of existing resources or social networks.
But the harshest reality is the game structure itself.
The Meme coin market is almost purely PvP (player versus player): every profit corresponds to another’s loss. This zero-sum dynamic creates a unique “chain of suspicion”: I worry you’ll sell first, you worry I’ll sell first—everyone guesses when “others will exit.”
This leads to a paradoxical outcome—the more rational traders tend to flee during the first pump, precisely because they recognize how fragile consensus is and how instantly liquidity can vanish.
That’s why most Meme coins follow a “peak at launch” pattern: everyone plays the same musical chairs game, yet there were never enough chairs to begin with.
Transmission Mechanism: Attention Hegemony and Traffic-Based Valuation
If psychological mechanisms explain *why people buy*, transmission mechanisms answer *why this particular coin and not another*. In a market where thousands of new tokens launch daily, dissemination efficiency becomes a life-or-death competitive barrier.
Chinese Meme coins enjoy a key advantage in symbolic contagion.
“I’m fucking here”—five characters encapsulating the directness and emotional release characteristic of Chinese internet culture—conveys a “rule-breaking” attitude without needing complex cultural context. “Laozi” repurposes a traditional cultural symbol into modern self-mockery and boldness. “Binance Life” cleverly turns a commercial brand into a blessing phrase, forming an intimate, ironic community code.
These symbols share common traits: visual simplicity (ideal for memes and logos), strong emotional resonance (quickly sparks empathy), and semantic ambiguity (leaving room for reinterpretation).
But symbols are just the beginning—the real determinant of spread depth is the traffic-based pricing mechanism.
In the world of Meme coins, there’s a harsh but true formula: traffic = valuation.
A single reply from He Yi on X, a single emoji from CZ—these seemingly casual interactions effectively inject “liquidity expectations” into a token. The “Binance Life” case proves this: within 24 hours of He Yi’s tweet on October 4, over 14 whale addresses holding more than $1 million each flooded in, and on-chain transaction volume spiked 300%.
Endorsements from top-tier KOLs create a kind of consensus—everyone assumes others will buy because of the post, so they rush in preemptively, ultimately fulfilling a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Even more concerning is the emergence of efficient cross-platform feedback loops.
A message first spreads in WeChat or Telegram groups, then appears as an explanatory post on Xiaohongshu, soon picked up by English-speaking communities on X (often accompanied by machine-translation errors and remixes). On-chain data reveals whales entering positions, followed by screenshots of exchange price charts circulating back on social media. A new wave of FOMO (fear of missing out) ignites.
The entire cycle can complete within 6–12 hours—a speed that renders any “calm analysis” slow and irrelevant.
However, a media paradox exists:
When a Meme coin reaches peak visibility—say, trending on Weibo or covered by mainstream financial media—it often means the attention dividend has already been exhausted.
Because the most valuable stage in a Meme coin’s lifecycle is when “limited consensus is spreading,” not when it becomes “common knowledge.” Once diffusion passes a critical threshold, the market enters a “dry-up of buyers” state—everyone who could possibly be convinced has already joined.
That’s why experienced traders often exit when mainstream media begins reporting—by then, the awareness curve has already peaked.
Social Sentiment: 'Anti-VC' Narrative and Virtual Tribes
Sociologically, the rise of Meme coins can be seen as a grassroots financial rebellion against elite capital. This isn’t an organized movement, but a spontaneous collective expression through market behavior.
The “anti-VC narrative” is its clearest manifestation.
In traditional crypto projects, venture capital firms (VCs) typically acquire large token allocations at extremely low prices during early stages, then gradually offload them onto public markets via vesting schedules—leaving retail investors at the bottom of the value chain from day one.
In contrast, the launch model of Meme coins—where nearly everyone buys at roughly the same time and price—is imbued with perceived moral superiority. It symbolizes rejection of traditional financial hierarchies.
“Binance Life,” as the pioneering project of this Chinese Meme wave, gained popularity partly because it launched on Four.Meme, a grassroots launchpad—not distributed via private sales or presales. This became a core part of community consensus.
A deeper sociopsychological layer involves identity formation through “virtual tribalization.”
When someone buys “Laozi,” they’re not just acquiring a position—they’re joining a virtual tribe sharing a specific cultural symbol. Within this tribe, members reinforce belonging by shouting “Laozi is the pinnacle of Chinese Meme culture,” creating memes, and participating in community votes to demonstrate loyalty.
This tribal identity forms the sociological basis for why Meme coins don’t go to zero even after crashes—as long as community consensus persists, the token retains narrative space for a potential comeback.
But we must remain clear-eyed: this narrative is inherently contradictory.
In practice, it’s often manipulated by a few “smart money” players with informational and financial advantages. Ordinary investors who enter only after seeing social media buzz may pay prices dozens or even hundreds of times higher than early accumulators. The real rules still reside at the top of an information-asymmetry pyramid.
Philosophical Undercurrent: The Financialization of Nihilism
A core question about Meme coins: When we pay real money for a digital symbol with zero utility, what exactly are we buying?
Traditional finance says asset value comes from discounted future cash flows or scarcity and utility. But Meme coins overturn this logic entirely—they generate no cash flow, have no practical function (not even basic cryptocurrency features like payments)—their entire value rests on the circular reasoning: “others believe it has value.”
This value structure echoes Jean Baudrillard’s theory of “simulacra”: in postmodern society, symbols detach from their referents and become self-referential signs.
Meme coins are pure simulacra: they don’t represent value creation in the real economy, yet when enough people believe they have value, they possess real exchange value in the present moment.
This “consensus is truth” logic is both absurd and unassailable—because in a decentralized, unregulated market, the authority to define value itself has been decentralized.
More radically, the popularity of Meme coins reflects the “financialization of nihilism.”
When grand narratives collapse, when people no longer believe technological progress guarantees a better future, when “long-term value investing” repeatedly proves slower than luck and timing, “meaninglessness” itself becomes meaningful.
This mindset is especially prevalent among Gen Z investors, who grew up in the low-growth era after financial crises and inherently distrust the idea of steadily accumulating wealth—making them more willing to engage in high-risk, high-volatility games.
IV. Financial Reality: Who Actually Profits in This Game?
Back to the most practical question: who profits in this frenzy? Who loses?
First, traditional financial valuation frameworks seem obsolete here. Metrics like P/E (price-to-earnings) and P/B (price-to-book) cannot explain how a token with no cash flow can be worth hundreds of millions. Instead, social media mentions, KOL influence, and community activity become key indicators. When a token’s market cap vastly exceeds what its attention level can sustain, a sharp correction is likely imminent.
Second, beware the “liquidity trap.” When a Meme coin’s narrative reaches emotional peak—discussed everywhere, covered by mainstream media—that’s the moment of maximum visibility. But it’s also the turning point where financial liquidity begins drying up, because all potential buyers have already entered. Only existing players remain, trading among themselves. Any small shock can trigger panic selling.
The December 10, 2025 “He Yi account hack incident” is a classic example. Hackers used her compromised account to post fake endorsements, causing a token to spike temporarily. They invested ~$19,000 USDT across two wallets, sold high for ~$43,000, netting ~$55,000 in profit. But once CZ debunked the rumor on X, the token crashed 78% within 30 minutes, trapping countless latecomers.
In Meme coin markets, building consensus takes time—but collapsing it takes an instant.
Finally, we must see the game for what it is. The financial essence of Meme coins remains an ultra-high-risk zero-sum game. Behind every “$85 to $140K” success story lie hundreds of silent losers whose holdings went to zero. On-chain data tells all: behind the 14 millionaire-level profitable addresses in “Binance Life,” there are over 47,000 losing addresses, with a median loss of 62%.
In a system with no value creation, only value transfer, wealth concentration is inevitable.
V. At Which Crossroads Do We Stand?
The 2026 Chinese Meme coin boom is essentially a sensor of generational sentiment. It records, in the most direct and brutal way, the anxiety, humor, resistance, and greed of our time.
- In an age where certainty is increasingly scarce, people crave extreme uncertainty to counteract the banality of life;
- In a society with frozen class mobility, even a game destined to make most people lose remains more attractive than resignation.
This frenzy will eventually fade, like all speculative bubbles before it. But its traces won’t disappear.
Consensus can be financialized. Cultural symbols can be priced. Attention can be traded.
No matter how we judge all this, one thing is certain—
We have entered unprecedented times, where the definition of value is being rewritten.
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