教父归来：埃隆·马斯克和唐纳德·特朗普如何将模因币推向新高度

经过三年的暴跌后，狗狗币再次爆发，自唐纳德·特朗普当选以来上涨了 250%——这是该行业更广泛的乐观浪潮的一部分

After a three-year downturn, dogecoin is surging again, gaining 250% since Donald Trump's election - part of a broader wave of optimism in the industry, thanks to Trump's courting of crypto proponents during his campaign.

经过三年的低迷之后，狗狗币再次飙升，自唐纳德·特朗普当选以来上涨了 250%，这是该行业更广泛的乐观浪潮的一部分，这要归功于特朗普在竞选期间讨好加密货币支持者。

Trump's informal appointment of Elon Musk to what he calls the Department of Government Efficiency - D.O.G.E for short - also helped propel the dog-themed meme coin.

特朗普非正式任命埃隆·马斯克(Elon Musk)担任他所谓的政府效率部（简称DOGE）也有助于推动以狗为主题的模因硬币的发展。

This isn't the first time Musk, who styles himself as "the Dogefather," has sparked interest in dogecoin.

这并不是自称为“狗父”的马斯克第一次引发人们对狗狗币的兴趣。

In May 2021, its price soared ahead of Musk's guest appearance on "Saturday Night Live." During a skit, Musk played a financial analyst chatting with a Weekend Update host, who kept asking him, "What is dogecoin?" After some evasiveness, Musk's character finally admitted that it was a hustle. The coin's price then went into a tailspin. Just over a year later, it had lost over 90% of its peak value.

2021 年 5 月，在马斯克客串《周六夜现场》之前，其价格飙升。在一个短剧中，马斯克扮演一名金融分析师，与周末更新主持人聊天，主持人不断问他：“什么是狗狗币？”经过一番回避，马斯克的性格终于承认这是一场骗局。随后，硬币的价格陷入混乱。仅仅一年多后，它就已经损失了峰值的 90% 以上。

The losses hit small investors hard. In 2022, one of them filed a class action lawsuit against Musk for market manipulation and insider trading, though the case was dismissed in August 2024.

损失对小投资者造成了沉重打击。 2022 年，其中一人对马斯克提起集体诉讼，指控其操纵市场和内幕交易，但该案于 2024 年 8 月被驳回。

So why has dogecoin - a meme coin that was never meant to be taken seriously as an investment - seen such wild swings in value?

那么，为什么狗狗币——一种从未被认真对待的投资品——的价值会出现如此剧烈的波动呢？

We're all in this together

我们都在一起

Dogecoin was launched in 2013 to poke fun at bitcoin and a host of other cryptocurrencies that were claiming to disrupt the traditional world of finance. Two strangers from opposite sides of the globe met online, copied the code of an existing coin, and slapped on it the already-popular Doge internet meme - a picture of a Shiba Inu dog surrounded by fragments of broken English: "wow much coin."

狗狗币于 2013 年推出，旨在嘲笑比特币和许多其他声称颠覆传统金融世界的加密货币。来自地球两端的两个陌生人在网上相遇，复制了一枚现有硬币的代码，并在上面加上了已经流行的 Doge 网络模因——一张柴犬的照片，周围环绕着蹩脚的英语片段：“哇，好多硬币。 ”

Even though their main goal was to make the coin pointless and undesirable, it became one of the most popular and enduring cryptocurrencies on the market.

尽管他们的主要目标是让硬币变得毫无意义和不受欢迎，但它成为市场上最受欢迎和最持久的加密货币之一。

After dogecoin's previous surge in 2021, I examined how its fervent network of influencers and everyday investors worked together to bring a huge amount of attention - and capital - to the joke currency.

在狗狗币于 2021 年飙升之后，我研究了其热情的影响者网络和日常投资者如何共同努力，为这种玩笑货币带来了大量的关注和资本。

To understand the appeal of these absurd investments, you have to look at the time and energy that users put into these networks and the rewards, both financial and social, that they get in return.

要了解这些荒谬投资的吸引力，您必须了解用户在这些网络中投入的时间和精力以及他们获得的财务和社会回报。

Meme coins are collaborative ventures. Members of these online communities have a financial incentive to become outspoken boosters: The more dogecoin's value rises, the bigger their investments grow. But they also get social validation from other meme coin investors when they hype up the coin.

Meme 币是合作企业。这些在线社区的成员有经济动机成为直言不讳的支持者：狗狗币的价值上涨得越多，他们的投资增长就越大。但当他们炒作这种代币时，他们也会得到其他模因代币投资者的社会认可。

In other words, behind every meme coin is a collective of strangers on a shared mission to make a lot of money.

换句话说，每一枚模因币的背后都是一群陌生人，他们的共同使命是赚大钱。

Dogecoin and its copycats have been described by their leaders as crypto movements, shared journeys, and community-owned projects. Beyond branding the assets with culturally resonant images, whether it's a Shiba Inu dog or Pepe the Frog, successful crypto ventures are marked by intricate webs of trust. Trust in the technology. Trust in its potential for future appreciation. And trust that those in power in the networks won't fleece the rest.

狗狗币及其模仿者被其领导人描述为加密货币运动、共享旅程和社区拥有的项目。除了用具有文化共鸣​​的形象来标记资产之外，无论是柴犬还是佩佩青蛙，成功的加密货币企业都以错综复杂的信任网络为标志。相信技术。相信其未来升值的潜力。并相信网络中的掌权者不会欺骗其他人。

This allegiance is woven among a global network of users who collaborate around the clock to promote their coin and demonstrate their unwavering commitment to its success.

这种忠诚度交织在全球用户网络中，他们昼夜不停地合作推广他们的代币，并展示他们对其成功的坚定承诺。

During times of price appreciation, the collective buzzes with elation.

在价格上涨的时期，集体欢欣鼓舞。

Throughout price dips, community members mutually reinforce their comrades' - and their own - beliefs that this is just a bump in the road and that their collective efforts will ultimately lead to a handsome payoff. Even in the coldest of crypto winters, this ritualistic behavior helps these speculative communities persist. Community serves as a salve for financial loss.

在价格下跌的整个过程中，社区成员相互强化了他们的同志和他们自己的信念，即这只是道路上的一个坎坷，他们的集体努力最终将带来丰厚的回报。即使在最寒冷的加密冬天，这种仪式行为也有助于这些投机社区的持续存在。社区可以作为经济损失的补救措施。

The investment strategies in these communities - and the belief in their payoff - involve repeating and reposting what others have said, like any traditional internet meme.

这些社区的投资策略——以及对其回报的信念——包括重复和转发其他人所说的话，就像任何传统的互联网迷因一样。

Trolling traditional valuation

破坏传统估值

The intrinsic value of meme coins can't be understood in the same way as traditional assets, like stocks and physical commodities. These types of assets have fundamentals, such as a company's financial statements, or public demand for basic goods, from coffee to oil.

模因币的内在价值不能像股票和实物商品等传统资产一样来理解。这些类型的资产具有基本面，例如公司的财务报表或公众对从咖啡到石油等基本​​商品的需求。

By contrast, the fundamentals of meme coins are reflected in their network activity, such as daily active users, and less tangible metrics, such as social sentiment and mindshare - how much public awareness a coin has generated relative to its competitors.

相比之下，模因币的基本面反映在其网络活动中，例如每日活跃用户，以及不太有形的指标，例如社会情绪和思想份额——一种币相对于其竞争对手产生了多少公众意识。

Of course, the valuations of traditional assets are also influenced by these social factors. The difference is that meme coins offer little in the way of productive activity. They add nothing to the economy. Sometimes their leaders will build financial services around them, but these are usually added as afterthoughts, mainly as a way to drum up more speculative excitement.

当然，传统资产的估值也受到这些社会因素的影响。不同之处在于，模因币几乎无法提供生产活动。它们对经济没有任何贡献。有时，他们的领导人会围绕他们建立金融服务，但这些服务通常是事后才添加的，主要是为了激发更多的投机兴奋。

Meme coins troll the traditional conventions of valuation and flout the edicts and dogmas of mainstream investors.

Meme 币违反了传统的估值惯例，藐视主流投资者的法令和教条。

And that's precisely the point.

这正是重点。

Participation in meme coin communities - or any crypto community,

参与模因币社区 - 或任何加密社区，