Evolving From Meme Coins to Social Currencies

This article focuses on the rise of Meme coin and its potential and limitations. The author believes that although Meme coin is a unique carrier of cryptocurrency speculation mechanism

Author: LucaNetz, Pudgy Penguins NFT CEO

Compiled by: Rhythm Little Deep

Editor’s Note: The article focuses on the rise of Meme coin and its potential and limitations. The author believes that although Meme coin is a unique carrier of cryptocurrency speculation mechanism, its development is limited by the lack of innovation, stagnation and pure reliance on hype. The article proposes that Meme coin should evolve into “social currency” to promote the development of the crypto industry. Social currency is the evolution of Meme coin. Its success depends on execution rather than luck, and may eventually lead to new changes in the crypto field.

The past 18 months have been a rollercoaster for the cryptocurrency market, and amidst this chaos, we’ve witnessed the rise of meme coins. While meme coins are not new — in fact, they are one of the oldest forms of cryptocurrency — they have once again proven themselves to be the preferred vehicle for participating in cryptocurrency’s most unique mechanism: speculation.

Despite their pure, almost artistic nature, meme coins have a dark side. No, the problem isn’t with insiders or a small group — this is a problem that plagues the entire cryptocurrency space. The real problem, in my opinion, is a lack of effort, a failure to grasp the timing, and people’s complacency about building meme coins. Maybe I’m naive, but I refuse to accept that meme coins will stop here — at least I hope not.

I’m a big believer that the Trojan Horse for crypto adoption is intellectual property (IP), as it builds credibility in areas where the trust ladder is lacking, and meme coins, like NFTs, are a form of IP. Meme coins have a huge opportunity to advance the crypto industry by getting into the minds of everyday people. However, instead of pushing the boundaries of what crypto-native characters could do, they’ve become stagnant, unoriginal, and mediocre on their way to transcendence. I’m concerned that they’ll do more harm than good if the status quo is maintained. For this category to thrive, meme coins must evolve, and I firmly believe that evolution is to become social currencies — tokens that will move beyond lazy pumps and dumps into scalable, memorable, and beloved IP.

My argument is not to replace meme coins with social currencies, but to add a final stage to their growth roadmap. Meme coins must graduate from meaningless images on the chain to productive and perceptive social currencies that can drive the development of the crypto industry. I believe that existing tokens fall into this category. This article will explore the current status of meme coins, why successful projects should evolve into social currencies, and the impact of social currencies on the crypto space.

First of all, what is social currency?

Social currencies are tokenized assets that represent value within a specific community and are often used to incentivize participation, reward contributions, and enhance brand or community loyalty. They operate similarly to traditional currencies, but their value is derived from social interactions, reputation, and influence.

In layman's terms, social currency is meme coin with fundamentals - it is progressive, sentient, and focused on cultivating communities that can continuously create viral effects rather than extracting value from short-term hype.

Meme Coin vs Social Currency

Meme coins don’t create virality — they monetize it, draining the hype until it fades. Social currencies are sentient, actively promoting their IP through multiple mediums, partnerships, and integrations, continually generating virality.

Typical life cycle of a Meme coin:

Creativity → Token issuance → Community cultivation → Community embraces narrative → Narrative dies → Community dies

The life cycle of social currency:

Creativity → Token issuance → Community cultivation → Community advocacy narrative → Brand creation → Brand expansion → Ecosystem construction → Globally adopted and recognized currency

In my opinion, all social currencies are initially meme coins, but as potential energy accumulates, they must evolve into social currencies. The following figure accurately shows this process.

I love this picture because it shows that social currency is not a replacement for meme coins, but an evolution of them. To me, social currency is meme coins backed by real value. Anyone can issue meme coins, but only the best can inject real value into them.

If you believe that liquid crypto assets will be primarily a retail asset class, then you believe in meme coins and their success. If you believe that institutional capital will eventually flow into altcoins, then you have to expect fundamentals to dominate. Social currencies have the best of both worlds - they have the retail appeal of meme coins, but they are interesting enough to attract institutional participation. In my opinion, social currencies combine the best of meme coins and utility tokens.

When analyzing the flaws of meme coins, it is clear that they could have much more potential, but we have allowed social consensus to convince us that “meme coins should not do anything, and have always been this way.”