Learning Chinese and entering the cryptocurrency world, gaining fame through a speech, a glimpse into the rise of the new Meme call king Murad

Author: Deep Tide TechFlow

In recent days, you must have seen the figure of this young man in the picture above------long hair, big beard, and glasses, exuding full rock vibes.

His name is Murad Mahmudov. Previously, he wasn't considered a prominent figure in the crypto space, but in recent days, he has rapidly become the king of Meme calls due to intense analysis and commentary from the external media.

What made him famous was his speech titled "Meme Coin Supercycle" at the 2049 conference in Singapore this year, which has garnered 1.76 million views as of the time of writing.

If you haven't heard of this young man yet, you might want to watch this video, where you'll find him using extremely formal theories, detailed data, and unwavering confidence to market Meme coins to you. His insightful remarks are filled with emotional value, carrying a flavor of "speak shockingly or die trying":

For example, the total market cap of Meme coins should exceed one trillion dollars, Bitcoin will reach 200 trillion dollars in 20 years, and you need to overturn investment logic to embrace this new cycle of M eme …

The speech itself has already attracted a large audience, but few have mentioned Murad's past:

From learning Chinese to entering the crypto world, from founding a hedge fund to bankruptcy, to becoming a Meme CX master, and then having his wallet address exposed, suspected of being "butt-driven" to call people to join…

We have gathered more information to help you quickly understand the past and present of the new king of calls.

Learning Chinese, Originating from OKcoin

Initially, Murad was not a person from the crypto circle.

He grew up in Azerbaijan and moved to the United States at the age of 16 to study, later attending Princeton University; the beginning of his story is similar to that of many young people who come to study with the American dream.

Interestingly, according to an interview with Blockworks, Murad revealed that during this period, he began learning Chinese and French.

It was precisely because of learning Chinese that he had the opportunity to stay in China for a year.

That year, Murad was 17, and in 2013, Bitcoin experienced its largest annual increase to date, nearly 6000%.

At the same time, seasoned investors surely know that year China was undoubtedly the center of the crypto world, with domestic awareness of mining and Bitcoin gradually rising. In such an environment, Murad, in his own words during the interview, said:

"I was in the right place at the right time."

In the foreigner community in Beijing, Murad met the fifth employee of OKcoin, an American, and it was from him that he began to learn about cryptocurrencies.

And OKcoin is the predecessor of what is now OKX.

Clearly, Murad was exposed to the crypto world relatively early; when he mentioned "the right time," there was another layer of meaning in his words ---- before the historic crash of 2017 known as "94," he learned about crypto in China before the bubble burst, which influenced his subsequent life, views, and work.

After that, Murad joined Goldman Sachs and became an advisor, but his early experiences deepened his understanding of BTC as a store of value.

Let’s not forget, at that time, Meme coins were not rampant, and the old consensus of "Bitcoin is gold, Litecoin is silver" was unbreakable.

Thus, Murad initially belonged to the Bitcoin cult rather than the Meme cult.

Starting a Fund, Exposed During the Pandemic

The turning point of fate came in 2017.

Although the entire crypto world was in turmoil due to the "94 incident," Murad founded Adaptive Capital that same year, a smaller crypto hedge fund.

If you do some image archaeology on search engines, you can still find promotional pages for the company; Murad was responsible for investment and trading-related positions, which, if not taken too seriously, looks like the so-called "trader."

Being on the front line, Murad must have accumulated a lot of trading and market observation experience.

But those who walk by the river often get their shoes wet. Moreover, in the perilous river of crypto, where emotions are intangible and market shifts are faster than changing weather.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe, and the international situation changed dramatically.

At the same time, the crypto market also experienced wild fluctuations. On March 13 of that year, after Bitcoin's price fell by over $1000, Murad's Adaptive Capital suffered a huge blow. The company sent an open letter to all investors, informing them that the fund would close and plans to return the remaining capital to its limited partners.

Adaptive Capital attributed this to CEX halting services during the price crash, which prevented timely position management, leading to liquidation:

"We used some reputable exchanges every day, but these platforms and tools stopped operating during the sell-off, severely hindering our ability to take appropriate action."

In the words of retail investors, this is the classic exchange "pulling the plug."

The right and wrong of the situation are hard to ascertain, but as the trading and investment head of this fund, Murad was clearly affected by the "pulling the plug" incident, perhaps laying the groundwork for his later search for opportunities in on-chain Meme coins.

Supercycle, Fame from a Speech

In 2022, Murad became more active on social media and posted, "I’m back."

He firmly believes that this industry will attract more capital and considers the bear market the best time to plan for the next bull market.

It was also around this time that different Memes began to emerge, and Murad took notice of them.

The subsequent story is well known; the long-haired young man stood on the stage of 2049 and delivered a passionate speech titled "Memecoin Supercycle," igniting widespread viewing and discussion in the crypto community.

Before this, Murad's story was not widely known. But as the saying goes, "Those who provide emotional value will surely attract attention." Murad's remarks during the speech earned him extraordinary popularity, such as the claim that MEME will reach a market cap of one trillion dollars and that Bitcoin's price will soar to 200 trillion dollars in 20 years.

In this cycle where Meme coins are rampant, with many entering the top 50 by market cap, Murad's supercycle speech provided legitimacy and rationale for every Meme player’s holdings, and he was not merely calling for purchases.

For instance, he characterized most crypto tokens in a slightly academic yet easily understandable manner---if a token is neither a store of value nor distributes income, then it is a Memecoin.

To borrow the words of Twitter user @0xWendy99:

"What sets this Princeton guy apart is that his 'orthodoxy' is much stronger than Ansem's; he speaks with the flavor of a regular army, 'tokenized community,' 'tokens are products,' memes are no longer a sidekick or out of touch, using theory to guide memes and systems to drive speculation, making retail investors feel sophisticated and institutions feel justified."

With his early trading experience and strong marketing skills, Murad became famous in the supercycle after just one speech.

High Places Are Cold, Is It Butt-Driven?

With fame comes controversy, and Murad is no exception.

After rapidly rising to fame, Murad often calls for purchases and analyzes the quality and worthiness of various Memes.

This has led to ongoing suspicions about whether Murad's unwavering stance as a Meme bull is driven by profit motives or a desire to offload his holdings.

Notable on-chain detective ZachXBT certainly would not miss out and recently uncovered 11 wallet addresses suspected to be highly associated with Murad, which hold a total value of approximately 24 million dollars in Meme coins on Ethereum and Solana.

Data shows that some of these addresses purchased large amounts of the Meme coin SPX between June and August, achieving over 60 times returns in four months; this aligns with Murad's publicly posted recommendations for Meme coins:

However, a classic saying in the crypto world goes:

Buying a coin without engaging in CX is a foolish act.

Murad bought and engaged in CX, which in some ways can be seen as aligning thought and action; whether it is a conspiracy to buy first and then call retail investors to join in or a pure belief in the Meme cult that he wants everyone to believe in is a matter of perspective.

Currently, the community is engaged in heated debates regarding the detective's actions in exposing Murad's holding addresses.

Some Twitter users believe that ZachXBT's actions can prevent followers from being dumped on, while Solana tool Sol Incinerator's project leader Slorg questioned, "Do you really think these things are hidden?" implying that this information is already public and exposing it is not unreasonable.

On the other hand, voices against exposing someone's wallet are also loud:

Taproots Wizards co-founder Udi Wertheimer stated that publicly seizing someone's wallet to prevent potential wrongdoing is madness; some users also disapprove of targeting Murad prematurely, especially when he hasn't done anything wrong.

Trading tokens and engaging in transactions is not inherently lawless;

But high places are cold. When a CX bull suddenly possesses a large amount of traffic and potential influence, people will inevitably target him, placing him under a microscope to uncover more information.

Whether for their own traffic and popularity or to uphold justice against insider trading, fame inevitably brings controversy, and high places are naturally cold.

We cannot conclude whether Murad is merely a die-hard bull or a master of manipulating retail investors, but he himself mentioned in an interview: "For certain tokens, I will definitely sell some by the end of 2025 or early 2026… but for other coins, I plan to hold long-term to ride out the cycle."

But as the saying goes, peaks generate false support, while dusk witnesses devoted followers.

After a supercycle, whether the newly crowned king of calls, Murad, holds Meme or BTC, time will surely provide the answer.