Author: LGHT for The Network Company Source: paragraph Translator: Shan Eoba, Jinse Finance
In the crypto market, there are two obvious characteristics that make me feel that someone is either a novice or destined to self-destruct:
1. Blind, endless promotion of assets
2. Lack of clear market positioning and attention allocation
In simple terms, it's the followers of the "buy this" camp, or the extremists of the "no utility" camp.
The market is not your backyard
Shared ideas among friends and economic competitors in the market are vastly different, even though these economic competitors are more like allies than competitors.
The market is ruthless. It is about profits, working capital and resources, which means life and death.
If you think I'm exaggerating, you can look up the main cause of death in wars - hunger, i.e. the collapse of the supply chain.
In the Western world, marketers are often undervalued, and topics such as sales, distribution, production and financing are often mocked (sometimes rightly so).
But we also often overlook some facts:
• The farmers we respect are actually the creators of the market.
• The charitable organizations we trust are actually the beneficiaries of the market.
The essence of the market is large-scale human collaboration. As the "Cluetrain Manifesto" says: "The market is a conversation".
Cryptocurrencies as a market
Africa, Asia and South America are the regions with the highest cryptocurrency adoption rates.
In these continents, economically unstable countries are constantly cultivating more crypto talents.
Why? Because when currency is unstable, resources are scarce, and production opportunities are limited, human collaboration becomes extremely difficult. And the crypto market provides:
Stablecoins —— as a more stable currency option
Global connectivity —— allowing people to have more channels to access resources
Emerging markets —— providing greater production and creation opportunities
Cryptocurrencies are no longer limited to the lawn your parents raised you on, the crypto market allows anyone with Wi-Fi and creativity anywhere in the world to participate, breaking the geographical constraints and creating more and more "market conversations".
Cryptocurrencies are just a mirage
North America, Europe and Australia are the largest market creators in the crypto industry, but their focus is completely different.
This is what the industry calls the "casino".
Countless articles, reasonable negative reports and billions of dollars have flowed into the casino. The focus of market discussion is mainly on the creation of tokens. Or the creation of token issuers. Or the infrastructure created for issuing tokens.
In short:
• Pumpfun —— creating a market for the issuance of new tokens
• Coinbase/Uniswap —— creating a market for issued tokens
• SuperRare/FND —— creating a market for NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens)
• Opensea —— creating a market for issued NFTs
These are indeed part of the sales, distribution, production and financing system of the crypto market. All six continents are participating, but those who are obsessed with the casino mentality are often the representatives of self-destruction.
Memes are not products, the market needs foresight
As someone well-versed in the "crypto casino" game, I can confidently say: we have issued countless tokens. We have written massive analytical articles (including myself). We have made the most exaggerated predictions about these tokens, while tirelessly promoting them, yet refusing any actual entrepreneurial efforts for fear of "affecting the potential success of the tokens".
Mastering memes means a lot of work
Last year, I accidentally became the manager of a memecoin, which gave me a deeper understanding of this field:
1. The famous saying "Mastering memes means mastering the world" is misunderstood by many, who treat it as a goal rather than a direction.
2. Memes are the units of culture, but spreading culture and building an economy around culture are two different things.
3. Bitcoin (BTC), US Dollar (USD) and Ethereum (ETH) are all memes, but they have specific market functions.
4. Branding is the packaging for memes to enter the market.
Recently, the crazy surge of memecoins has led many to believe that finding the "right meme" is the key to success.
Of course, there are exceptions, such as Dogecoin, which seems to prove this point. But I would say that Dogecoin's success is precisely an "exception to the economic rules".
• Stablecoins are the "US Dollar" of the internet.
• Memecoins represent the "stocks" of the internet.
• NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) represent the "collectibles" of the internet.
This has created a whole new market, revolving around sales, distribution, production and financing.
Decentralized Investment Index
If you view memecoins as internet stocks, then the more genuine value proposition is to gain investment opportunities that have been denied in traditional finance. And to issue public offerings to retail investors rather than corporate political factions.
The case study of Nike's IPO further illustrates this background.
Nike was founded in 1964 and operated as a private company for 16 years before going public in 1980, during which time all stock appreciation was controlled by qualified investors.
Nike's pre-IPO stock accessibility timeline:
1.Private financing (1964-1970s) —— Nike's early capital came from founders, early employees and venture capitalists, who had exclusive use of the company's equity during its development.
2.Later private market (mid-1970s - late 1970s) —— As Nike expanded, private equity firms and accredited investors gained access to Nike through insider financing.
3.Pre-IPO institutional allocation (1979-1980) —— In the final stages before the IPO, investment banks and institutional investors gained pre-IPO allocations to ensure they obtained shares at favorable prices.
4.IPO day (December 1980) —— After 16 years of private value accumulation, Nike's stock was only then opened to retail investors - usually at a premium, after insiders had already locked in the upside.
Nike's IPO was a success, but the timing of public market access was fundamentally different from the experience of early investors. When retail investors had the opportunity to buy in, much of the explosive growth had already been captured by those who had entered the market before the IPO.
Meme Market Fit
A thought experiment:
If you had purchased Nike stock at its IPO, would you have invested $10,000 in this company with the Nike logo or in a new brand that had no revenue, products or services, but the meme looks cool?
A reasonable rebuttal to this claim is that we know Nike was a profitable company at the time of its IPO. We know nothing about this "new brand with a cool meme".
This is our larger point about memecoins.
The benefit of bringing private equity into the public market is that retail investors have the opportunity to gain the multi-fold returns that have long been inaccessible through the credential system.
The cost is that you have to take on huge risks with your money. Just like "founders, early employees and venture capitalists", "private equity firms and accredited investors" and "investment banks and institutional investors" have taken on countless non-Nike ventures.
This is how the lack of direction and focus reveals a kind of "useless" extremist who is likely to self-destruct.
Demanding that your memecoin community be unconstrained or lack any market function (other than viral media propagation or undefined potential) is like demanding that the market sell, distribute, produce and fund an internet stock with no fundamentals. By definition, this is absurd.
It's as absurd as sending your stock quote auto-collector to irrelevant conversations, hoping a bigger fool will buy into this scale, and then you can ride off into the sunset.
Imagine:
I walk up to a couple dining at a Turkish restaurant and repeatedly say "Buy $NIKE" to every table.
Create Nike, come up with Nike's logo and "Just Do it" slogan, issue $NIKE stock within the first week of the company's founding, and then insist on keeping things undefined from that point on.
Cryptocurrencies are full of inexperience and self-destruction
The crypto industry is still young - both in terms of the time people have been involved, and the age of the participants.
So this article is not a criticism of certain people, but rather an attempt to elucidate two obvious economic truths: memes are not products, and the market is not your backyard.
That is to say, things like Nike's triumph, Disney's magic and fantasy, Apple's innovative spirit are valuable brand narratives and market guidance that can attract attention, shape brand image, and even drive consumer behavior.
But they are not products in themselves.
The infectiousness of meme brands is indeed fascinating, as it can combine with products, business strategies, and even broader brand movements to create powerful market effects.
But no matter how passionate you are about a meme, the world will not change the market reality because of your obsession.
As an old proverb says, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink."
