LBank Pulse Focus Interview: Murad Reveals the Future of the 2025 MEME Coin Super Cycle

Every era needs its own spiritual leader, and the meme domain is no exception.

If the last round of hype around Dogecoin's world billionaire Musk was the old-school meme evangelist, then Murad is the new generation's super FOMO advocate for cult culture.

From a handful of meme coin projects in 2017 to tens of millions by 2024, a massive market has gradually formed. Meanwhile, many meme coins have seen their market capitalization exceed billions of dollars, becoming an important part of the crypto market.

Murad Mahmudov, as a witness and analyst of this trend, has proposed the concept of the "Meme Coin Super Cycle." In his view, meme coins are not just pure speculative tools but the most powerful user adoption engine in the crypto world. He has deeply analyzed the key factors behind the success of meme coins and elaborated on how to drive the growth of these projects through social media and community power.

In this edition of "LBank Pulse Focus," we are honored to invite Murad, a leading figure in the meme coin space, to share his profound insights on the future of meme coins, especially his outlook on crypto trends in 2025 and beyond.

His sharing will help us understand how the rise of meme coins is driving the global adoption of cryptocurrencies and leading the future development of the market.

LBank: Could you share your career journey with us? From studying at Princeton University to working at Goldman Sachs, and then becoming a well-known figure in the cryptocurrency field, what has that experience been like?

Murad: I come from Azerbaijan and studied in the United States, later spending a year studying in Beijing. During my time in Beijing, I met the fourth employee of OKX, who introduced me to the cryptocurrency field. After graduation, I entered the traditional finance industry, working in options trading in Hong Kong and commodity trading in Singapore. From 2016 to 2017, I began participating in ICOs, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain-related work, realizing that Bitcoin could become the next wave of revolutionary change. Since then, I have devoted myself to this field, including trading, investing, on-chain analysis, asset management, and now developing in the DeFi space. Additionally, I personally actively participate in meme coin-related projects.

LBank: You have some insights on the current and 2025 "Meme Coin Super Cycle." Could you elaborate on that?

Murad: The origin of meme coins can be traced back to Dogecoin in 2013. Each cycle has seen the scale of meme coins continuously expand. In 2017, there was only Dogecoin; by 2021, there were 5,000 meme coins, and by 2024, the number of meme coins has reached tens of millions. I believe this trend will continue until Bitcoin becomes a global universal currency.

From outside the cryptocurrency realm, persistent inflation and global monetary supply pressures are the main driving forces. This pressure compels people to compete, surpass their rivals, and keep moving forward.

At the same time, artificial intelligence is replacing many jobs, and competition across industries is becoming increasingly fierce. Additionally, people are realizing that traditional communities and institutions in the real world are gradually losing influence and significance. All these factors are driving people towards cryptocurrencies, meme coins, and such crypto communities.

From within the industry, from 2015 to 2017, people could still purchase high-quality projects like ETH and BNB, which had a market cap of only $30 million at the time. Now, some projects launch with a trading market cap as high as $30 billion. Successful past crypto projects have all been supported by very strong core communities. The formation of a core community hinges on ordinary people being able to participate early at a low price and thus gain wealth.

The core philosophy of my strategy is: 10,000 people, each holding $1,000, far surpasses 1 person holding $10 million, or 10 million people each holding only $1. The larger the proportion of such holders in a community, the more media attention, passion, and influence it will bring. This is the key to driving the development of meme coins.

LBank: What qualities do you think successful meme coins need to possess?

Murad: The most critical concept is "critical mass"—that is, the community must have the conditions for explosive dissemination. For example, having 100,000 holders, a market cap of $500 million, and starting to gradually list on major exchanges. I believe that high market cap meme coins usually rise steadily with lower downside risk; whereas low market cap meme coins carry higher risks, with a success probability of less than 1%. In contrast, mid-cap meme coins offer the best risk-reward ratio, especially those with strong and continuously growing communities, such as SPX 6900, GIGA, MOG, POPCAT, APU, and HarryPotterObamaSonic10Inu.

LBank: How important is community engagement to the success of meme coins? Are there specific strategies?

Murad: Community activity is crucial, and the indicators for measuring community health can be analyzed from both the supply and demand sides.

On the supply side, I focus on several key factors: first is the "diamond hands" ratio (the proportion of long-term holders), followed by the degree of decentralization, fairness of token distribution, and early performance. I want to see a high proportion of holders owning over $1,000 or even over $3,000 worth of tokens, as they are the "core force" most motivated to drive the project. From on-chain behavior, I prefer these holders to be steadfast rather than frequently engaging in speculative trading.

On the demand side, price is a key factor; a continuously rising price indicates that the community is actively attracting new members. Additionally, attention should be paid to distribution channels, cross-chain bridges, partnerships, and listings on exchanges.

Finally, the influence of social media cannot be ignored, especially X and TikTok. In fact, the roles of YouTube, Reddit, and Facebook are also gradually increasing. A successful meme coin must have widespread exposure on these platforms and continuously expand its influence through them. Those meme coins that perform well usually invest a lot of effort in this area and achieve significant results.

LBank: How do you think crypto trends will evolve in 2025 and beyond?

Murad: I believe we need to distinguish between long-term storage trends and short-term fad trends, especially those with lasting vitality in "meme culture." For example, memes like Doge, Pepe, or GIGA have existed on the internet for many years. At the same time, there are some fads that will only be fleeting. Take TikTok as an example; the key is to determine whether a meme can survive for many years or will simply disappear in a few months.

My overall view is that the crazier and more inspiring the meme, the better. Because the stronger the inspiration, the more funds, time, energy, and labor community members will invest. I believe the crypto trends in 2025 will differ from those in 2024 but will still be full of opportunities.

LBank: Do you think meme coins will drive the widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies?

Murad: The core of crypto assets will center around Bitcoin (BTC) as the primary means of value storage, while other Layer 1 projects, such as Ethereum and Solana, will play relatively smaller roles. Stablecoins are expected to persist for the next 20-30 years.

Before the rise of meme coins, the positioning of altcoins was somewhat ambiguous. The emergence of meme coins has divided crypto assets into two categories: one is tokens with cash flow, gradually evolving into "stocks" on the chain; the other is tokenized assets based on crypto culture, community, speculation, and belief.

LBank: Do you personally believe meme coins can drive the global adoption of cryptocurrencies?

Murad: In this cycle, meme coins will become the biggest driving force for the adoption of cryptocurrencies. Many people first encounter cryptocurrencies through Phantom, Metamask, or exchanges, and meme coins attract people of all ages and cultural backgrounds with their simplicity—no white papers, complex technologies, or cumbersome re-staking concepts. They serve as the best entry point into the crypto world due to the universality of memes.

Users will gradually come into contact with wallets, DeFi exchanges, cross-chain bridges, stablecoins, and core assets like BTC. Meme coins serve as a gateway, attracting users into the crypto industry, and this further exploration will encourage them to stay in this ecosystem long-term.

LBank: Looking ahead five years, do you think meme coins will still exist?

Murad: Dogecoin and some other meme coins have already proven that meme coins can go through multiple cycles and continue to exist. They keep setting new highs. I do believe that Dogecoin will rise to $1 in this cycle and set a new historical high again. Additionally, there will be some meme coins launching ETFs in the future.

LBank: Do meme coins need real-world utility to ensure survival in a bear market, or can they maintain their purely speculative nature?

Murad: In a bear market, utility is a positive factor; but in a bull market, utility may become a constraint. In a bull market, purity will lead to better performance for meme coins; whereas in a bear market, utility can provide price support but may also limit upside potential. Projects like Shiba Inu and Floki have already proven this by increasing utility during bear markets. Future meme coins will add DeFi functionalities, evolve into investment DAOs, and even create fashion and lifestyle brands.