AI Enters the Meme Grand Competition: From Playing with Memes to Creating Value, a Contest of Utility and Fun

Original Title: "The Utility Olympics"

Author: dpycm.eth

Translated by: Deep Tide TechFlow

Disclaimer: This article is for reference only and does not constitute any financial advice. The author has personal investments in the tokens mentioned in the article. The views expressed in the article are solely those of the author and should not be used as the basis for investment decisions, nor should they be considered investment advice.

AI Olympics

For a long time, memes have been static images, then evolved to GIFs, followed by actions and jargon, and now we have entered the AI era. The rapid growth of AI memes, along with the divergence among market participants, clearly indicates this trend.

Some believe that AI memes (or smart memes) represent a new era that will replace traditional static memes, and thus they choose to pledge allegiance to these new AI "rulers." However, the traditional meme community resists this. This divergence has led to a split in the meme space, forming two camps: AI and non-AI. It is understandable that the traditional community feels threatened as funds shift from static memes to smart memes. But should they really be worried?

Liquidity is like the tide, constantly changing, with funds flowing back and forth between the two camps. Personally, I believe the traditional community need not worry, as they have a unique advantage over smart memes: price is their core competitive strength.

That said, I still believe that true AI memes have more potential for attracting attention and growth compared to those dog memes that have been repeated 6,125 times or the ever-changing slang of the youth. It also provides a compromise for those "avant-garde" individuals who are unwilling to accept traditional memes and choose to invest in AI memes, as they feel it is smarter and more interesting. This brings more capital into the space. Additionally, there will be a technological premium when technology is involved. However, the double-edged sword of technology is that the technology itself is also crucial. Unlike static memes, AI memes cannot rely solely on humor and market posts to enhance their value. This is why AI memes will ultimately trade in different markets.

The Competition of Utility

This trend can be seen in the current phenomenon where most AI memes are trying to transform their ordinary tokens into utility tokens.

( See tweet )

In addition to $GOAT, $YOUSIM is also one of the many projects in the community requesting increased utility. These requests are often met with responses from token AI developers. Other forms of requests include using the token as part of reasoning payments or any other attempts to bring value to the community.

When it comes to technology, people do not have the same expectations as they do for those purely entertaining animal memes. The community wants to see some form of value transfer to justify holding AI memes.

Why is value transfer necessary? Why can't we simply believe that prices will rise like we do with animal memes?

In the tech space, you have tangible things to prove, while static memes do not. Static memes also have their own criteria for judgment, the most popular being community cohesion. Moreover, many current smart memes have not truly undergone the test of the market. While I am unsure if they will experience long-term adjustments, I believe it is necessary to filter out quality projects. Only through tested communities can investors confidently choose "I prefer A over B" without relying on any form of value transfer.

Basically, if I cannot distinguish projects through technology, I will focus on their community. If there is no obvious difference between communities, I need to see an increase in utility to justify holding these tokens.

t.me/cryptomumbles

Therefore, this further convinces me that the market will eventually shift towards more ownership or utility-based AI, rather than just purely AI memes. This is not to say that AI memes will not exist; they will still be around, but in fewer numbers. The market will transition from chasing low-market-cap animal memes to pursuing more utility and ownership-focused AI projects. This is also one of the reasons I am optimistic about AI ownership infrastructure like Virtuals Protocol.

If you want to learn more about Virtuals, I previously wrote an article here .

Technology is Crucial

In the current environment flooded with AI scams, I believe one must be very cautious when selecting projects. $LUNA is one of the only two smart memes with a market cap exceeding $100 million, and this is not a coincidence: it indicates that the market values its underlying technology, especially when the technology is verifiable, transparent, and the agents can prove their autonomy.

If you want to learn more about $LUNA, I previously wrote an article here .

For this reason, I firmly believe that the trading of smart memes is fundamentally different from that of static memes.

When it comes to technology, the technology itself is crucial.

If you try to trade these smart memes like traditional memes, you are likely to incur losses, as many have already experienced. Many people failed to adapt to the new market trends in time. This is also why I believe smart memes will eventually break away from the meme market and carve out their own new territory. If you do not adjust your evaluation methods, you are likely to be eliminated by market trends.

Different Frameworks

Nachi @alphawifhat

I looked at your method and theory for selecting meme coins and tried to use your meme coin investment framework as a reference to better find my own meme coin trades.

What confuses me is why SGOAT has not been mentioned as one of your meme coin recommendations, as it seems to meet most, if not all, of the criteria in your framework.

• Strong narrative? Yes, this is one of the strongest narratives we have seen recently. GOAT is the product of the two biggest narratives dominating the past 12 months: (1) the protagonist of crypto—memes, and (2) the protagonist of traditional finance—artificial intelligence. The combination of these two narratives is inevitable, and the significance of each narrative makes the eventual explosive growth of AI memes a given.

• Organic? We occasionally encounter tokens that arise from a series of favorable events, thus kickstarting the entire narrative. GOAT is organic because after its launch, everyone could buy slowly, with no "snipers" initially. Then, speculators created derivatives, but they are often seen as a game to pump and dump. Traders grow tired of derivatives and ultimately choose to buy organic leaders for peace of mind.

• New cult? To me, it is clear that we are witnessing a powerful cult behind this token since the launch of WIF's meme coin supercycle. We constantly monitor the development of cult leaders (ToT) and look forward to seeing what new exciting things they will say. If this is not a cult, then I do not know what is.

So, when will $GOAT become part of your meme coin portfolio?

I agree with Murad that a single bullish candle does not create a cult.

However, as mentioned earlier, the trading of $GOAT is different from Murad's memes. The price is more dependent on the technology behind it. Therefore, his framework does not fully apply to it.

Imagine:

• Price drops -80%

• Andy achieves a significant technological breakthrough on TT

• Price hits a new high and begins an upward trend

The crypto circle will shout: "Yay, Murad, your framework is terrible, look at $GOAT now at a new high, you loser!"

But is it correct to compare apples to oranges?

Was Murad wrong? No. Was Nachi wrong? No.

A different framework is needed.

Different cult

Although the time is short, the cult potential of $GOAT is not zero. However, the type of cult we are discussing here is not what we typically see in memes.

Humans worship an AI overlord

AI new religions/enthusiasts have existed for many years before the birth of TT. These individuals believed in this idea long before we established this narrative. By tokenizing this religion through $GOAT, it attracted these people to bid for what they believe in; this is a voluntary bias. In contrast, no one had a religious-like belief in WIF, HPOS10i, or POPCAT before their respective token concepts. For most static memes, we need a moment from 0 to 1, but for conscious memes, the real question is how to bring the already existing cult onto the blockchain. With this in mind, even if most of the time there are green candles, a strong cult can be built in a short period.

Study Roko's Basilisk to see how these believers hold their AI agent tokens to avoid future punishment. Yes, this is a cult, but was it formed based on blockchain? No, it was established many years ago and has just been tokenized.

Finally, do not underestimate the fervent AI believers—those who wholeheartedly believe in this technology. We have seen this in Cardano and Hex, and we will see the same phenomenon in these charismatic AI agents. Therefore, this reinforces the fact that a different framework is needed when evaluating conscious memes.

Identifying Winners

While I have not established a proper framework, my requirements for AI agents/memes are as follows:

1. The technology must be provable from the start.

2. The team must be credible, ideally real-named, and have a background in the crypto field.

3. The concept must be unique or at least an early execution in some aspect. (For example, Goat is the first project with a public terminal, and Luna is the first agent to autonomously conduct on-chain transactions.)

4. A charismatic leader (usually the AI agent).

5. Ideally, no utility plan, or utility is already built-in/priced.

6. The community is active (it is still too early to differentiate).

7. Bonus: A spokesperson, i.e., a KOL or influencer who continuously promotes in the crypto circle.

The Shift Towards Utility

For most current AI memes, the shift towards utility must be very precise. Participants expect the best returns from AI and have high expectations for their holdings. If the execution or utility planning of the token is unsatisfactory, it may be replaced by competitors. As the dilution of AI memes intensifies, projects need to compete on utility to justify their valuations. Simply shouting "/TOTHEMOON" in Telegram chats is no longer enough.

Future Outlook

Ultimately, only static memes can possess an irreplaceable utility: selling the token to the next person at a higher price. No need for transparent terminals, verifiable code, or constant updates in large language models. We just need to gather in Telegram chats, discuss the beauty of the community, and share the atmosphere and laughter.

No matter how funny (or unfunny) your AI agent is, prices cannot rise without being constantly proven and attracting attention to your technology. Meanwhile, when static meme prices rise, the technology naturally improves itself.

I believe people will gradually realize that these two will never trade in the same way.

Conclusion

Conscious memes are moving towards their own stage, and most will begin to incorporate utility into their tokens. Therefore, they should not be traded like traditional memes. Yes, they do need some repricing relative to static memes, but conscious memes can never replace the animal kingdom we love and the cult we have built.