If the user does not want VC coin or memes, then what does the user want?

Fu Shaoqing, SatoshiLab, Wànwùdǎo BTC Studio

1. Preface

Recently, the phenomenon of VC coins and memes has sparked widespread reflection within the industry. Many well-known figures have also raised similar questions in an attempt to find solutions. For example, in the discussion about the girlfriend coin, Jason (Chen Jian) raised questions about the mechanism of Binance's token listings. Recently, CZ's article "A Crazy Idea for Token Issuance" has also been exploring solutions to related issues.

All teams that truly work hard on their projects hope that the market can reward genuine contributors, rather than allowing Ponzi schemes, scammers, and speculators to take the industry's dividends and disrupt development.

This article will analyze VC coin and memes.

2. The Past and Present of VC Coin

The emergence of VC coins has its historical reasons. Although it may not seem perfect now, it played an important role at the time, and important projects in the industry all had VC participation.

2.1. The Chaos of ICOs in 2017 - A Dance of Demons

2017 was a pivotal year for the explosion of ICOs in the blockchain field, with financing exceeding 5 billion USD. The situation at that time can be described as a frenzy, where as long as a project had someone to endorse it and a well-written white paper, it would be snatched up wildly.

The main reasons for the explosion of ICOs include:

• The coin issuance technology is mature.
• Market Demand
• The rise of decentralized concepts
• Low-threshold investment

During this period, several classic cases were generated:

• Ethereum
• EOS
• TRON
• Filecoin

These cases reflect the advantages and disadvantages of ICOs.

The main issues exposed by ICOs:

• Lack of regulation
• Market Bubble
• Insufficient investor education

2.2. The Entry of VC and Credibility Endorsement

VC provides more reliable support for projects through its own credibility and resources, helping to reduce the problems brought by early ICOs.

The main function of VC:

• The shortcomings of grassroots financing as an alternative to ICOs
• Empowering project ecosystem
• Promote industry compliance

Overall, VC plays an important role in the success of Web3 projects.

2.3. The issue of VC coin

VC coins also show some limitations in the later stage:

• Conflict of interest
• Unable to solve the subsequent project development issues
• Colluding with the project party to deceive retail investors

The main issue with VC coin is that the project team lacks the motivation for continuous development after the listing, and VC and the project team may cash out and run away.

3. The Fairlaunch of Inscriptions and the Memecoin Phenomenon

In 2023, the explosion of inscriptions and Fairlanunch revealed some phenomena and issues, while the pumpfun model of memecoin emerged in 2024.

3.1. The Outbreak of Inscription and Fairlaunch

Inscriptions first exploded on the Bitcoin blockchain, represented by BRC20. The reasons for the explosion of inscriptions include:

• Bitcoin ecosystem innovation demand
• User demand for decentralization
• Low threshold and wealth effect
• Resistance against VC coin
• The appeal of fair launches

Inscriptions have also raised some issues:

• Pseudo-fairness
• Liquidity Problem
• Value loss
• Application scenario issues

3.2. The Surge of Pumpfun and the Memecoin Phenomenon

In 2024, the Pump.fun platform based on the Solana chain rapidly emerged as a core battleground for memecoin issuance.

The main issue with memecoin:

• Systemic fraud and trust collapse
• False advertising is rampant
• Market ecosystem distortion

Memecoins have evolved from early entertainment functions to mid and late stage PVP, and later developed into PVB, becoming a tool for a few experts to harvest retail investors.

4. What kind of projects do users or the market want?

By reviewing the development history of Web3 projects, we see that there are still some key issues present.

4.1. Summary of Existing Issues

Current main issues of Web3 projects:

1. The project lacks sustained momentum for development.
2. Serious PVP issues

Solution:

1. Improve project management
2. Continuous external value injection

4.2. Management issues of different stakeholders and different stages of the project

The stakeholders in the project include the project team, investors, foundations, users and communities, miners, exchanges, market makers, and so on.

Analyze the issues from multiple aspects such as issuance, circulation, and governance:

1. Token issuance
2. Circulation and Management of Tokens
3. Governance issues of the project

4.3. How to Build Projects Long-term

The construction of long-term projects requires value capture and value injection. Value capture and external value injection are the two pillars of the Web3 economic model, and the key lies in balancing short-term incentives and long-term value.

5. Analysis of the Previous Two Crypto Bull Markets and the Possibility of the Next Explosion

5.1. The ICO frenzy of 2017

The main reasons for the bull market in 2017:

• ICO Boom
• Bitcoin fork and scaling controversy
• The rise of the Ethereum smart contract ecosystem
• Global liquidity easing and regulatory void

5.2. DeFi Summer of 2021

The main reasons for the bull market in 2021:

• The explosion and maturity of DeFi
• NFT Breaking the Circle and Mainstreaming
• Institutional capital is entering the market on a large scale.
• Global macroeconomics and monetary policy
• Mainstream social acceptance is increasing
• Multi-chain ecosystem competition and innovation
• Memes and Community Culture

When will the next bull market be? 2025? What will be the theme?

Potential bull market drivers in 2025:

1. The Rise of Web3 Mass Applications and User Sovereignty
2. Deep Integration of AI and Blockchain
3. Interoperability between global central bank digital currencies and stablecoins
4. Bitcoin Ecosystem Revival and Layer 2 Innovation
5. The regulatory framework is clear and institutions are fully entering the market.
6. Geopolitical Conflicts and De-Dollarization Narrative
7. Meme Culture 3.0 and Community DAOization

The most likely bull market sectors in 2025:

• Bitcoin ecosystem and Layer 2 innovations, based on new models generated by new asset issuance and trading.
• The combination of AI and Web3, AI-powered trading models

The specific timing of the bull market outbreak still depends on external environmental factors.

The above judgment is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice.