What is the most important trend in crypto? Memecoins all the way

Author: Ryan Whitehead, Global Marketing Director of Moonbeam Foundation, Blockworks; Translator: Deng Tong, Golden Finance

Forget halving. Forget ETFs. So, what is the most important narrative in the cryptocurrency space?

Memecoins.

Yes, those often-daunting anime, animal kingdoms, and animated zoos are the main entry point for new users into cryptocurrency. People always ask, "Where will the next billion users come from?"

The answer is clear - the only question left is whether dogs will wear hats.

Before fans of self-custody, real-world assets, and DeFi (of which I’m one) turn up their noses, let’s consider some very valid reasons for the continued popularity of memecoins and their associated airdrops.

First, entertainment. People love entertainment, and they don’t mind spending money on it. PwC analysts say the global entertainment and media market is worth well over $2 trillion, on par with the entire market cap of all cryptocurrencies. What is the utility of $DOGE, $PEPE, or $BONK compared to a governance token or stablecoin? Entertainment is a utility in and of itself.

People are also attracted to risk. According to ResearchAndMarkets.com, the global casino industry alone is worth more than $150 billion and growing. That doesn’t include sports betting, lotteries, or all the other ways people put in relatively small amounts in the hope of winning relatively large amounts. (In investing parlance, that’s “opportunity asymmetry.”) Obviously, buying memecoins carries a lot of these risks, but investing time, resources, and energy in a potential airdrop — where the amount and timing of the reward are uncertain — is also an undeniably gambling-filled experience.

Organizations and builders support memecoins and airdrops because they bring liquidity to the ecosystem. They also help capture a portion of the extremely valuable “attention economy,” which economists estimate is worth “trillions of dollars.” It’s fair to say that the $BONK airdrop and community event are the spark that reignites the Solana ecosystem. Or look at how Ordinals and now Runes have turned Bitcoin into a hot network, rather than a passive digital gold-like store of value.

From my experience, I can attest that silly memecoins can indeed have a very positive impact at the network level. New users are attracted by the entertainment value and the potential for airdrops.  Networks that are able to secure memecoin supply can direct those resources to targeted growth areas in strategic areas, in our case DeFi, Gaming, Real World Assets, DePIN, AI, etc.

While memecoins are sweet, the bitter part is this: Beyond memecoins, we have largely created a very bad, very difficult system in crypto from a user experience perspective.

Gambling and lotteries constitute the dark side of the traditional financial system, but at least it is an easy way to participate in it. Memecoins play a similar role in crypto and DeFi — they’re the best onramp we have.

If buying $DOGE or the latest Solana leads someone to explore the broader crypto ecosystem, then that’s a win for everyone who believes in the democratizing potential of blockchain technology and governance.

But if the rest of the crypto ecosystem offers such a poor user experience — or isn’t considered useful by new memecoin holders — then this year’s nascent bull run will become another poker structure, destined to collapse again. Either the bubble bursts or macroeconomic conditions change dramatically next.

Memeccoins are hot again right now. Now is the time for “serious” builders to network and demonstrate real value to new users, and to capitalize on the attention Dogecoin is generating, because there’s no guarantee they’ll last into the next cycle.