Meme frenzy may be brewing the next big event

Janak9955

The next big event may start with the popularity of meme coins.
A burgeoning market strategy is drafting a meme coin gaining adoption and momentum. Traditional GTM involves first building a product then constructing a community through marketing and distributing memes, while this new playbook revolves around memecoins to establish a vibrant user community and then build a product incorporating the token.
By launching a project integrated natively with a popular memecoin, new applications/infrastructure can mobilize memecoin holders, who can experience more utility from the token.
Here are some examples:

BONKbot, a Telegram trading bot on Solana, originated from the $BONK token, a Solana memecoin airdropped to users at the end of 2022. A separate team subsequently launched the trading bot, which utilizes a portion of trading fees to buy, trade, and burn BONK tokens, aligning economically with token holders. The bot's recent daily trading volume exceeded $200 million (for comparison, Base's daily trading volume is around $200 million).
This strategy also applies to infrastructure projects. For example, Shibarium, an Ethereum Layer 2 launched with $SHIB, uses transaction fees to burn SHIB tokens, acting as a token sink for SHIB. By incorporating tokens into L2, this strategy activated existing holder communities to overcome the cold start of the new L2.
Berachain, a bear-themed, EVM-compatible blockchain, launched a testnet in January, originating from NFT-like memes. SmokeyTheBera initially launched an NFT project called Bong Bears in 2021, which over time built a community and attracted active developers and users.

Given the high engagement and tribalism of top memecoin communities, I believe this GTM strategy leveraging memecoins will become increasingly popular throughout the stack, allowing other projects to attract attention. For anyone building crypto consumer applications, adding utility to memecoins can activate token holders who naturally seek new ways to leverage their tokens. Drakula (a short video app) and Perl (a prediction market game) both accept $DEGEN payments, attempting to capitalize on the momentum of the holder community (as of March, the number of wallets exceeds 44,000). Increased token usage and potential value could drive a virtuous cycle, increasing interest in token and token-integrated applications.
We also see projects going in the other direction, starting with a product first then launching (or closely associating with) meme coins to generate more interest in the project. For example, contributors associated with Jupiter, a decentralized trading aggregator on Solana, launched the $WEN memecoin in January 2024, airdropping it to over a million wallets that exchanged over $5 on Jupiter. As the first token launched through the Jupiter LFG Launchpad, it also sparked interest in the platform.
For projects exploring this GTM strategy, some considerations include: the allocation potential of different memecoin communities; complementarity between memecoin token holders and the project's target audience; existing integration and saturation in the ecosystem (once a memecoin is accepted in 100 applications, will the 101st application receive the same attention?).
It's also worth mentioning that all of the above benefits memecoins themselves, and memecoin teams trying to incentivize projects and collaborate with projects for token integration make sense.
Using memecoins as a GTM strategy shares similarities with other web3 growth strategies involving tokens, including airdropping tokens to members of specific communities or users of competing products. These strategies become viable through open blockchain data, allowing for precise targeting. This strategy can also be likened to strategies in the web2 world, from community-driven growth (brand building by nurturing a customer base to increase word-of-mouth) to brand partnerships (complementary user groups), such as the partnership between Lyft and Delta Air Lines. However, due to isolated data and systems, off-chain partnerships are difficult to execute, whereas crypto technology enables permissionless integration, allowing any developer to build around memecoins. There are also financial risks among token holder communities, incentivizing greater acceptance of partner projects to see growth in token value.
While many consider memecoin trading to be DB or a peculiar form of financial entertainment, their increasing popularity and fervent communities may mean they become a viable component of GTM strategies. For users, the new development is that memecoins, as assets, allow anyone to invest and own a part of GTM strategies, grassroots communities, internet culture, and community cryptocurrencies.

Kamal531

We are all waiting for the big event.

Jiten171

It's time to cash out when there's profit

Jafar224

Many wallets are feeling it.