The narrative of meme coins (Memecoin) initially surpassed other narratives in March 2024, with its return rate soaring from 96.6% to 1,713.1% within a month. Subsequently, despite high volatility, meme coins continued to maintain the highest return rates, becoming the most profitable narrative for much of 2024.
Against this backdrop, the traditional rise of altcoins and VC coins in the cryptocurrency market in 2025—relying on white papers, technical narratives, or institutional endorsements—has significantly declined.
Instead, a 'fast-paced' strategy mimicking meme coins has emerged: utilizing low-cost on-chain token issuance, leveraging social media like platform X to generate hype, sprinting to Binance ALPHA (such as Binance Launchpool incentives), and ultimately aiming for listing on Binance perpetual contracts and spot trading.
This 'memeification' path provides altcoins with new traffic entry points, but its long-term value and stability are highly questioned. This article will delve into the advantages and disadvantages of on-chain token issuance for altcoins, evaluate the risks for retail investor participation, and explore how altcoins can find balance between traffic-driven growth and ecological development while attracting funds and ensuring sustainable growth.
I. The Memeification Path of On-chain Token Issuance for Altcoins: Mechanisms and Background
Pathway Mechanism: The 'memeification' path of altcoins typically includes the following steps:
On-chain Token Issuance: Utilizing public chains like Ethereum, Solana, or BNB Chain to deploy smart contracts for token issuance, costing as little as a few hundred dollars.
Social Media Hype: Rapidly accumulate attention through KOLs on platform X, meme content, and community activities (such as airdrops), creating FOMO.
Binance ALPHA: Utilize mechanisms like Binance Launchpool and exclusive TGE to attract users to participate in mining by staking BNB or BUSD, further amplifying the hype.
Perpetual and Spot: List on Binance perpetual contracts (providing high-leverage trading) to attract speculative funds, ultimately locking in liquidity through spot listings.
Background Drivers:
Retail Investor-led Traffic Economy: From 2024 to 2025, the share of retail investors in the crypto market continues to rise, with platform X data showing that meme coin-related topics have an average daily view count exceeding 1 billion. Following iconic projects like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, new entrants like Pepe, Wif, Bome, Neiro, and Trump incentivize altcoins to mimic their low thresholds and high spreadability.
VC Coin Dilemma: Traditional VC coins have lost market trust due to hollow ecosystems, lock-up crashes, and aesthetic fatigue in technical narratives. Many VC coin projects in 2024 saw price declines exceeding 80%.
Exchange Catalysis: The Binance ALPHA mechanism provides a traffic entry point for projects, with over 60% of ALPHA projects in 2024 being lightweight tokens issued on-chain, highlighting the appeal of the 'fast lane'.
II. In-depth Analysis of the Advantages and Disadvantages of On-chain Token Issuance
The on-chain token issuance model of altcoins imitating meme coins shows unique advantages in traffic acquisition and fund attraction but is also accompanied by significant limitations.
Advantages
Low-cost and Efficient Traffic Entry
Low Threshold: The development cost of on-chain token issuance is extremely low; for example, deploying an ERC-20 token on Ethereum only costs a few hundred dollars, making it highly cost-effective compared to traditional VC coins, which often require millions in development and marketing budgets.
Rapid Dissemination: Through meme content, KOL promotion, and airdrop activities on platform X, projects can reach hundreds of thousands of users within days. In 2024, $Bonk attracted 600,000 wallet addresses within three days through airdrops and marketing on platform X, with daily trading volume reaching $150 million.
Community Spontaneity: The decentralized nature of on-chain token issuance encourages spontaneous promotion by the community, reducing marketing costs for project teams. The humor of meme culture (themes like 'dog' or 'frog') further amplifies the spread effect.
Flexible Fund Attraction Mechanism
Early Incentives: On-chain token issuance can attract early users through airdrops and liquidity mining, laying the groundwork for subsequent participation in Binance ALPHA. The staking mechanism of Binance ALPHA further incentivizes user participation, with over 1 million average participants in ALPHA projects in 2024.
Leverage Trading Opportunities: High leverage in perpetual contracts (up to 125x) attracts speculative funds, which can drive up token prices in the short term. For example, after its launch on perpetual contracts in October 2024, $Ai16z rose 150% within 24 hours, attracting $200 million in speculative funds.
Liquidity Locking: Listing on spot markets provides a stable trading environment for tokens, attracting long-term holders and reducing early sell-off pressure.
Adaptation to Market Sentiment
The memeification path aligns with the current retail investor-led market sentiment, as simple narratives (like 'dog culture' or 'anti-Wall Street') resonate more easily than complex technologies.
Projects can quickly iterate, adjusting narratives to incorporate hot topics like AI, the metaverse, or Web3, maintaining market attention.
Disadvantages
Vulnerability Driven by Speculation
Lack of Value Anchoring: Most on-chain token issuance projects rely solely on meme speculation, lacking practical application scenarios or technical support. 70% of on-chain meme coins fell over 50% within the first month after listing.
Low Community Loyalty: The communities of meme coins are often driven by speculators, and once the hype fades, users quickly dissipate. $Fartcoin reached a market cap of $1.46 billion in January 2025 but saw community engagement drop by 80% within a month due to the lack of subsequent updates.
Long-term Bottlenecks in Ecological Development
Insufficient Development Resources: The low cost of on-chain token issuance often means smaller team sizes and limited technical capabilities, making it difficult to support complex DApp development or ecological construction.
Homogeneity of Competition: The narratives of meme projects tend to converge (e.g., 'the next Shiba Inu'), making it difficult to form differentiated advantages. In 2024, over 80% of on-chain token issuance projects failed to launch substantial applications within six months.
Market Trust Crisis
The low threshold of on-chain token issuance has led to an oversaturation of 'air coins', diminishing investor trust in meme projects. 65% of retail investors believe that on-chain token issuance projects are '99% scams'.
The early airdrop sell-offs by 'coupon hunters' exacerbate price volatility, harming the interests of long-term holders.
III. Risk Analysis of Retail Investor Participation in On-chain Token Issuance
Retail investors participating in the on-chain token issuance of meme-based altcoins face higher price volatility risks than traditional crypto assets:
High Volatility Risk
Speculation-driven Price Fluctuations: On-chain token issuance projects often rely on short-term FOMO, leading to explosive price increases (such as 100-1000%) during the initial hype, followed by significant declines once the heat dissipates. $TRUMP surged 300% within 24 hours of listing on Binance but dropped 60% a week later (as the on-chain frenzy faded).
Leverage Trading Amplifies Risks: High leverage in perpetual contracts attracts retail investors to chase prices, but losses can be magnified during market reversals. For example, after a certain project launched on perpetual contracts in 2024, retail investors lost over $200 million due to high leverage liquidations.
Data Support: The average daily volatility of on-chain token issuance projects reaches 30%, far exceeding Bitcoin (10%) and Ethereum (15%).
Information Asymmetry and the Risk of 'Cutting Leeks'
Lack of Team Transparency: On-chain token issuance projects are often led by anonymous teams, making it difficult for retail investors to verify their true intentions. The risk of being 'cut' during the on-chain issuance and post-launch is extremely high. In 2024, 50% of on-chain projects were exposed for 'rug pulls' after price manipulation, resulting in heavy losses for retail investors.
Pressure from Coupon Hunters: 'Coupon hunters' attracted by airdrops tend to concentrate their sell-offs after token unlocks, leading to rapid declines in token prices. 50% of on-chain token issuance projects experienced declines of over 30% on the first day after the airdrop unlock.
Long-term Risks of an Empty Ecosystem
Retail investors often base their investments in meme projects on short-term price increase expectations, but projects lacking ecological support struggle to maintain value. By 2024, 90% of on-chain token issuance projects had trading volumes below 10% of their initial issuance six months post-listing.
Retail investors, due to their lack of professional analytical skills, are easily misled by KOLs on platform X, often chasing prices and becoming trapped at high levels.
Risk Summary: Retail investors participating in on-chain token issuance projects indeed face higher volatility risks. Although the potential for short-term surges is attractive, the likelihood of sharp declines is greater. Holding thousands of worthless tokens is not just a saying. It is recommended that retail investors diversify their investments, allocating funds across multiple projects to reduce the impact of a single project’s collapse.
Focus on Ecosystem: Prioritize projects with DApp prototypes or clear roadmaps.
Control Leverage: Avoid using high leverage in perpetual contracts and set stop-loss lines.
IV. In-depth Strategies for Altcoins to Break Out: Parallel Tracks of Traffic and Value
To achieve breakout amidst the wave of meme culture, altcoins need to deeply integrate the traffic advantage of on-chain token issuance with ecological development. Below are three strategies:
Precise Targeting of Segmented Scenarios: From Traffic to Stickiness
Core Logic: Meme projects excel at attracting traffic but must convert users into ecological participants through practical applications. Focus on segmented tracks (such as on-chain gaming, decentralized social networking, or green finance), developing DApps that meet user needs and providing use cases for the tokens.
Implementation Pathway:
On-chain Token Issuance Phase: Attract users through airdrops and meme marketing on platform X, while releasing MVPs (such as a test version of an on-chain game).
Binance ALPHA Phase: Showcase early data of DApps (such as daily active users, trading volume) to attract speculative funds while also appealing to developers.
Perpetual and Spot Phase: Launch a complete DApp, reinforcing the ecosystem with token incentives (such as in-game payments, social rewards).
Cross-industry Ecological Collaboration: From Insular to Cross-industry
Core Logic: The limitations of meme-based community dissemination are strong. Altcoins need to break through the closed ecosystem of blockchain through cross-industry collaboration, attracting Web2 users and traditional industry funds.
Implementation Pathway:
On-chain Token Issuance Phase: Collaborate with Web2 platforms (such as short videos or e-commerce) to launch token-based digital collectibles or points systems to attract non-crypto users.
Binance ALPHA Phase: Announce strategic partnerships (such as developing traceability systems with supply chain companies) to enhance institutional trust.
Perpetual and Spot Phase: Implement cross-industry applications (such as an on-chain advertising platform) to expand the user base.
Community Empowerment and Narrative Iteration: From Speculation to Co-construction
Core Logic: The community enthusiasm of meme coins serves as a traffic engine. Altcoins need to convert speculators into long-term contributors through DAO governance and in-depth narratives.
Implementation Pathway:
On-chain Token Issuance Phase: Attract followers through KOLs and meme content on platform X, distributing governance tokens to incentivize community promotion.
Binance ALPHA Phase: Launch a DAO, granting the community proposal rights (such as allocating marketing budgets) to enhance the sense of participation.
Perpetual and Spot Phase: Iterate narratives (such as 'Empowering Creators' or 'Web3 Inclusivity'), combining public welfare or support plans to enhance brand value.
V. Refined Pathways for Attracting Funds
Along the path of 'On-chain → ALPHA → Perpetual → Spot', altcoins need to optimize fund inflows through the following strategies:
Dynamic Balance of Token Economics
Logic: Token economics need to balance early incentives with long-term stability to avoid pressure from 'coupon hunters'.
Pathway:
On-chain Phase: Airdrop 5-10% of tokens, set lock-up periods (such as a 6-month unlock) to reduce sell-off risks.
ALPHA Phase: Attract users through staking rewards (annualized 5-10%) and destroy 1% of transaction fees to stabilize token prices.
Perpetual and Spot Phase: Use tokens for DApp payments (such as game items, social rewards) to increase demand.
Dual Track System of Hot Marketing and Value Anchoring
Logic: Hot topics drive retail investors, while value attracts institutions.
Pathway:
On-chain Phase: Combine AI or metaverse hot topics to launch conceptual products (such as AI on-chain prediction markets) and spread through meme marketing on platform X.
ALPHA Phase: Release DApp testing data (such as 100,000 daily active users) to attract institutional attention.
Perpetual and Spot Phase: Disclose ecological progress (such as cross-industry cooperation agreements) to consolidate market confidence.
Refinement of Liquidity Management
Logic: Liquidity is crucial after going to spot trading, requiring a balance of supply and demand.
Pathway:
On-chain Phase: Provide initial liquidity (10% tokens) on DEXs like Uniswap.
ALPHA Phase: Collaborate with Binance to ensure depth in the staking pool.
Perpetual and Spot Phase: Set up a buyback plan (such as using DApp revenue to buy back tokens) to stabilize the market.
VI. Future Trends and Open Reflections
The memeification path of altcoins is a product of market evolution. The low threshold and traffic advantage of on-chain token issuance offer projects quick launch opportunities. However, while traffic is easy to obtain, maintaining value is difficult. Successful altcoins must seek opportunities within the following trends:
Cross-chain Collaboration: Compatibility with multi-chain ecosystems (such as Ethereum, Solana) to reduce user migration costs.
Integration of Real-World Scenarios: Collaborating with industries like supply chain, entertainment, and finance to expand the user base.
Community Economy: Through DAO and token incentives, transform users from speculators to co-builders.
However, the ultimate path to breakthrough remains full of variables. Can the low threshold of on-chain token issuance cultivate true ecological value? Will the traffic dividend of meme culture fade due to homogeneity? Can memeification truly integrate with ecological development? Can altcoins find a dynamic balance in the game between traffic and value? These questions have no standard answers.
Perhaps the future path of breakout lies in continuous trial and error: embracing the viral spread of meme culture while anchoring deep values based on real needs; catering to the enthusiasm of retail investors while gaining the trust of institutions. The next stop for altcoins may be a cooling and settling phase after the hype or a new chapter after ecological breakthroughs, finding their unique path to breakout.
#Crypto #memecoin #Altcoins