Author: Wenser, Odaily Star Daily

Before Trump sold NFTs, and now the Kardashian family's patriarch Jenner has started selling Meme coins through Pump.fun. The last time celebrities from all walks of life flocked into the cryptocurrency industry was during the boiling craze of NFTs from 2021 to 2022. Now, just like the "everything can be NFT" trend, the Meme coin craze is expected to take over from NFTs and become a new battleground for countless celebrities, public figures, KOLs, anonymous teams, and others to harvest.

This article provides a brief comparative analysis of Meme coins and NFTs for readers' reference.

Analysis of Commonalities: Are Memecoins and NFTs Twin Brothers?

In the article "3-Minute Overview of the Meme Coin History: Past and Future," we mentioned that Meme coins originated after Bitcoin's POW coins and were born in 2013 with DOGE generally considered the "first Meme coin," even predating the emergence of NFTs. Therefore, based on their similarities, Meme coins are the "older brother," and NFTs are the "younger brother." Specifically, the two share commonalities in the following aspects:

Similar Origins: From the community, to the community

The primary commonality between Meme coins and NFTs is undoubtedly their community attributes. Whether it's the well-established Meme coins like DOGE and SHIB, or the emerging projects like PEPE and WIF, as well as NFT OG projects like Cryptopunks and BAYC, and top NFT projects in IP operations such as Pudgy Penguin, Azuki, and Weirdo Ghost Gang, a strong and united community is essential for the inception and subsequent development of a project.

This is one of the reasons why many NFT players can quickly integrate into Meme coins after playing NFTs, as a good project, whether in terms of community atmosphere or cultural aesthetics, tends to be relatively consistent. Whether it's a shared interest or mutual appreciation, playing together is essential for forming a community.

Similar Symbols: From the zoo to celebrities

The symbols of Meme coins and NFTs are also a major commonality. Whether it's animals like dogs, cats, mice, monkeys, frogs, pandas, penguins, or celebrities like Trump, Kanye West, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Steve Aoki, Snoop Dogg, they are commonly used visual symbols in Meme coin and NFT projects. The combination of Trump and Pepe images in Meme content has even been used for his campaign materials.

It's no wonder that there were reports of Biden's campaign team planning to hire a meme manager in an attempt to win the support of young voters. After all, memes are a "cultural common denominator" that can resonate, and both Meme coins and NFTs can serve as carriers of memes.

Trump & Pepe Meme Content

Similar Thresholds: Meme and "small pictures"

In terms of entry thresholds, Meme coins and NFTs also share certain similarities, such as:

1) Both have relatively low understanding costs, one being tokens related to memes, and the other being "small pictures"; 2) Both have relatively low purchase thresholds, one being tokens with several zeros after the decimal point, and the other being non-fungible tokens that can be minted for free with only gas fees; 3) Both have relatively simple selling operations, one being sold directly through DEX for on-chain transactions or on exchanges, and the other being traded through different NFT markets.

Of course, the relatively low entry thresholds for both are only in comparison to other cryptocurrency fields such as DeFi, GameFi, and SocialFi. After all, a wallet can be a barrier for countless Web2 users, leaving them only to sigh at the "airdrops" in the cryptocurrency industry.

Differentiation Breakdown: Are Memecoins More Addictive Than NFTs?

Compared to their commonalities, the differences between Meme coins and NFTs are more worth mentioning. For many people, the reason why they continue to lose more in the NFT field and see little improvement after playing Meme coins is due to a lack of clear understanding of the differences between the two, making it easy to fall into the more dangerous "PVP trap" and continue to lose, ultimately having to leave the market. Specifically, the differences between Meme coins and NFTs include:

Liquidity Differences

There's a saying in the industry, "Projects that only talk about floor price or unit price without discussing liquidity are all playing rogues." Indeed, the cryptocurrency industry is logically supported by countless liquidity, so it's difficult to find high-quality investment targets in the volatile market by only looking at the price of a single Meme coin or the floor price of an NFT.

Moreover, compared to the industry-standard quantity limits of 5K or 10K for NFT projects, Meme coin projects often have total supplies in the tens of billions, hundreds of billions, or even thousands of billions, combined with the fact that the main player base in the industry is still token players, and the relatively simpler trading operations on DEX compared to the NFT market. The liquidity differences between the two are significant, mainly reflected in:

1) Initial liquidity. Generally, the initial liquidity of NFTs is much lower than that of Meme coins. Some NFT projects can raise the floor price with just a few dozen ETH, while Meme coins require higher initial liquidity; 2) Liquidity rate. Generally, the liquidity rate of Meme coins is much higher than that of NFTs. If it becomes the focus in a short period, both liquidity and market value can grow rapidly, while NFTs are limited by the operational functions of the NFT trading market, making it difficult to achieve this rapid price increase; 3) Liquidity cliff. Generally, the liquidity cliff of Meme coins is steeper, and in extreme cases, the number of sellers and the amount of tokens sold can rapidly decrease in a matter of minutes or even seconds, which is more terrifying than the "disappearance of buy orders" in NFTs.

Therefore, NFT players venturing into the Meme coin field should prioritize increasing their focus on project liquidity.

Information Differences

Meme coin projects and NFT projects have significant differences in their response to information, mainly due to the different mediums (tokens vs. NFTs).

For NFT projects, positive news is often categorized into several types, such as:

1) The project's founding team being a well-known team in the industry; 2) The project receiving a huge capital investment; 3) The project causing a huge sensation or attracting attention in the Web2 domain, and so on.

Behind these pieces of information lies the NFT players' expectations for "buyers." In other words, NFT players will only FOMO if they see more powerful players entering and able to buy, in an attempt to sell their "small pictures" to "value investors." Therefore, many NFT projects, even if they turn to issuing coins, will find it difficult to stop the downward trend of the floor price without strong capital intervention.

Meme coins, on the other hand, are completely different. For Meme coin projects with stronger community and meme attributes, the entry of capital or institutions often leads to holders rushing to sell. Perhaps it's because Meme coins embody more people's expectations for decentralization, or perhaps many people feel that institutional entry is the price peak.

In addition, unlike the "see joy, not sorrow" approach of NFT projects, in many cases, what is commonly considered "bad news" is actually good news for a Meme coin project. For example, the Solana ecosystem Meme coin project SLERF, after the founder mistakenly destroyed the liquidity pool, actually sparked significant attention from the crypto community. This incident led to the "Oh, Fuck" meme becoming famous for a period of time, driving the coin price to break through $1 and quickly list on multiple mainstream exchanges.

In other words, Meme coin projects care more about "whether more people are paying attention" rather than "whether this thing is good or bad."

Difference in Virality

Based on the aforementioned differences and the more viral nature of Meme coins as a cultural carrier compared to NFTs, the difference in virality between the two is also significant.

A good Meme coin can achieve dissemination to hundreds of thousands or even millions of people in just a few days or even hours. In contrast, no matter how hard an NFT project tries, the audience it can reach is limited to a relatively small circle, with only thousands or tens of thousands of people being the impact level that top projects can achieve.

After all, NFT images are limited, while the dissemination of memes is unlimited.

Difference in Opacity

Furthermore, due to the differences in audience scope and distribution methods, Meme coins have a stronger sense of opacity compared to NFTs. After all, NFT's "insider trading" often only occurs through whitelist distribution, with a relatively small number of addresses. In contrast, Meme coins have more participating addresses, making insider trading addresses more concealed and the selling methods more diverse.

The flexibility of tokens is far greater than that of NFTs, and this is quite evident.

Investment Strategy Choices

Therefore, based on these differences, the game difficulty for Meme coin players is actually higher than that for NFT players. Therefore, the investment strategy mainly boils down to three types:

• The first type is luck-based, purely relying on luck. If you happen to buy into a project like Golden Dog and manage to hold without selling, then you deserve to make money.
• The second type is casting a wide net, being patient, especially during the Meme coin craze. Investing a small amount of funds in individual projects and ultimately achieving a victory through the "horse racing" mechanism, where one or a few projects cover all costs and still yield profits, is also a good way out.
• The third type is tracking, suitable for alpha players who "live on-chain" and are sensitive to information. They can snipe early in the Meme coin launch (generally within 1-3 hours), then sell in batches based on the project's development and information, early gaining more chips and then gradually taking profits. This method has the highest difficulty, the greatest returns, and of course, the highest risk.

Dex Screener account homepage background image

Analysis of Unchanging Main Characters: The Times Have Changed, but the People Remain the Same

After discussing what has changed, let's talk about what hasn't changed, namely the main players currently in the field. We can categorize them into three types, as the times have changed, but the people remain the same:

Project Parties

In the past, NFT project parties mainly consisted of two groups: one group came from crypto-native teams, with rich experience in the cryptocurrency industry, whether in DeFi teams or industry professionals, and a relatively high success rate for projects. The other group entered the Web3 field from traditional industries under the influence of the wealth effect, achieving "Web2 upgrade," including celebrity projects, traditional company projects, IP projects, and more.

Comparatively, the current Meme coin project parties also include these two groups, but the former group has a slightly higher ratio. This is simply because the survival ability of the crypto-native crowd is stronger, able to survive bear markets and persist through bull markets, and is active in the current "monkey market." Traditional teams have either been eliminated or have quickly integrated, gradually understanding industry rules and norms, and have embarked on their own "harvesting" path.

It's worth mentioning that one of the main forces behind this year's Meme coin craze is the former crypto artist BOME, who, with the efforts of Darkfarms1, has become a popular project leading the Meme coin craze and achieved the "listing on Binance within 3 days" achievement. BOME is a loyal fan and creator of Pepe memes and is also an NFT artist.

Participants

Unlike the relatively homogeneous composition of participants in the NFT race in the past, or perhaps the participants who entered NFT for purposes such as "for art," "for aesthetics," or "for collectibles," the participants in the current Meme coin industry have a more complex composition. They include wealthy whales, tycoons, and wild speculators, as well as small retail investors chasing dreams, and even ambitious young people "for improving their lives." Surprisingly, everyone's goals are remarkably consistent and pure: to make money.

Whether it's zero-sum games within the industry or external capital inflows, a Meme coin project that makes me money is a good project.

Different Types of Platforms

Different from the past dominance of NFT trading markets and the situation of "one blur, all NFTs gone," the emergence of Meme coins has actually contributed to the continuous development and improvement of different types of platforms. These include aggregation platforms like DEX SCREENER, DEX TOOLS, BirdEye, as well as robot tools like BananaGun, PepeBoost, Gmgn.ai, NFT Sniper, which attract countless funds through advertising, subscriptions, or fees during the Meme coin craze.

One can only say that opportunities are for those who are prepared, and so is money.

Dex Screener account homepage background image

The Everlasting Theme: Asset Issuance and Wealth Games

As time goes by and the bull and bear markets continue, many things have changed, but only two things remain unchanged:

Asset Issuance: From NFT Component Platforms to "One-Click Issuance"

In the past, NFT was a major way for asset issuance, but it had many issues such as art preparation, contract deployment (different standards like ERC-721, ERC-1155), project operation preparation, pricing strategies, KOL marketing, whitelist mechanisms, gas fees during minting, and more. This led to the emergence of different types of platforms such as NFT component platforms, NFT mint platforms (like mint.fun, Zora, Manifold), and floor-sweeping platforms (like genie). It's no wonder that some people joked, "Many NFT projects could just grab money directly, but they also give me a small picture."

Now, Meme coins have become the hottest track, where celebrities, artists, stars, L2 networks, and popular ecosystems can achieve asset issuance and market attention through Meme coins. Platforms like Pump.fun have pushed the Meme coin craze to the extreme, and the rapid increase in the number of Meme coins in the Solana ecosystem is also thanks to this.

This reflects a major long-term trend in the cryptocurrency industry: any model that can quickly issue assets will become part of the industry.

From the past DeFi Summer, to the GameFi craze, and now to the NFT Summer, it's always been like this.

Wealth Games: From Believing in Capital to Not Taking Each Other's Offers

Compared to the past, the landscape of wealth games has also undergone significant changes. The development of the cryptocurrency industry in the past often relied on the push of venture capital firms and cryptocurrency funds. On one hand, this was due to the need for financial support, as the entry of capital could bring more stable cash flow support. On the other hand, it was due to the influence of capital beyond funding, such as marketing, legal compliance, and endorsements.

And after the approval of the Bitcoin spot ETF in the United States earlier this year, the situation has changed.

The scenario of retail investors taking over from institutions in the past has been rejected by the market. Whether it's L1 public chains, infrastructure construction, L2 networks, or AI, DePIN, RWA tracks, the appeal is not as strong as the "at least seemingly" more decentralized Meme coin track.

On one hand, for the consideration of investment portfolio allocation, retail investors can enter the cryptocurrency market through the US stock market and buy Bitcoin spot. On the other hand, for the consideration of earning wealth through high leverage and high-risk games, retail investors are more inclined to invest in Meme coins with lower entry barriers, easier understanding, and no so-called "value empowerment and roadmap hype."

It must be said that this generation of retail investors seems to be less easily fooled than before.

Or perhaps the market environment has indeed changed.

Conclusion: Memecoin may become the "first lesson for crypto newcomers" in the future

At the end of the article, I'd like to conclude with a question.

Many people judge the market sentiment by the level of FOMO among off-market crowds. Some people use the inquiry of outsiders (especially the general public) about the timing to buy Bitcoin as a standard, while others use the purchase of Meme coins by outsiders as a top indicator, and sometimes it is indeed accurate.

But from a different perspective, when an ordinary person with limited assets enters the cryptocurrency market for the first time, looking at the tokens on exchanges or DEX, the colorful candlestick charts, and the different trading buttons for buying and selling, holding a few hundred or a few thousand dollars, will they choose to "play it safe, invest in Bitcoin, Ethereum," or will they choose "Meme coins with strong virality, strong emotional resonance, tokens with a single price so low that it can be ignored, and possibly have 10x, 100x, or even 1000x high returns"?

To be honest, I don't have a standard answer, and the answer lies in each person's heart.

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