2025 has just begun, and indeed, every new development is more exciting than the last. The market information is unpredictable. Just after mentioning Sonic SVM backed by 1.6 billion TikTok users, TikTok suddenly faces the risk of being taken down, while Xiaohongshu becomes the new global traffic entry point. According to reports: Last Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments regarding the TikTok ban, which involves two main issues: freedom of speech and national security. After about 2.5 hours of debate on the law, U.S. media generally believe that the judges are likely to uphold the ban. The ban requires TikTok to divest from its Chinese parent company ByteDance by January 19, or it must be removed from the U.S. market.

As soon as the news broke, a large number of overseas TikTok creators migrated to Xiaohongshu, making it the most downloaded app at that moment. The overseas version of Lemon 8 was launched simultaneously, and many overseas creators sought emojis and content that align with Chinese aesthetics. Goodness, we used to see content from abroad, but never saw it coming in. Xiaohongshu overnight became the "refuge for overseas creators."
At the same time, the "MOMO Dinosaur," which frequently appears on Xiaohongshu, trended, and the token named $MOMO also saw a surge, currently achieving over 88 times growth.

The MOMO Dinosaur is an early manifestation of anonymous culture

Have you seen comments on social media platforms like Xiaohongshu, Bilibili, Douban, etc., with the nickname "MOMO" accompanied by a pink dinosaur avatar? That's right, this is the image associated with the token $MOMO. The MOMO Dinosaur is derived from the early default avatars and nicknames on WeChat, initially used to hide users' true identities, and has now evolved into an internet phenomenon. Users adopt the pink dinosaur avatar and "MOMO" nickname to integrate into a collectively anonymous social network, protecting privacy, avoiding familiar relationships, and relieving self-expression pressure. Under this shared need, a large number of "MOMO" resonators emerged; there are always "MOMO" comments in our search bar, and you never know which "MOMO" corresponds to which comment. This group is also referred to as the "MOMO Family," and is currently mostly active on Xiaohongshu. This community, slightly tinged with MEME culture, is similar to the PEPE community, where everyone is a PEPE doll, but the PEPE doll images are more varied. In the future, there may be more forms of the pink MOMO Dinosaur. This aligns well with the concept of the MEME track.

Coincidentally, many social media platforms have native avatar and nickname options, such as QQ, MSN, WeChat, etc. However, netizens have locked onto a frequently used avatar and nickname, thus evolving into a " MOMO spirit culture ."

The Guan Yadi incident reflects the power of the MOMO group's consensus

In the Guan Yadi incident, a filmmaker named "Guan Yadi" expressed dissatisfaction with the "MOMO" group, publicly criticizing the phenomenon of young people using "MOMO" as a username, claiming it "erases individuality" and "is self-deprecating," which sparked opposition from many netizens. Subsequently, the "MOMO" army launched a family counterattack, with many "MOMO Family" members changing to Guan Yadi's avatar and nickname. This imitation elevated "Guan Yadi" to become the second widely recognized pseudonym after "MOMO"—the "MOMO" users turned "Guan Yadi" into a synonym for what Guan Yadi described as "erasing individuality," as a retort to Guan Yadi's criticism of "MOMO."
As the attacks and public opinion fermented, humorous jokes and memes based on "Guan Yadi" became increasingly rampant. Some believe that Guan Yadi is leveraging the MOMO group to gain traffic for his own "Blog Festival," while others view such attacks as prejudice against MOMO. Everyone has the right to protect their privacy and freedom of speech, which must be defended. However, the incident ultimately faded as the heat died down. But we see the strength of the "MOMO Family's" consensus and execution!

What is the relationship between the MOMO Dinosaur and Xiaohongshu? Can the $MOMO token become a new MEME topic in Web3?

The name MOMO comes from a Douban nickname, and the dinosaur avatar is an early native avatar from WeChat. As WeChat grew stronger, many third-party platforms began to allow login via WeChat, leading to a group of "MOMO Dinosaurs" emerging. However, its elements are often active on Xiaohongshu, leading netizens to consider it the mascot of Xiaohongshu. The $MOMO token was issued on Solana's Pump.fun in October 2024. Although it completed the migration standard on Dex Raydium, it languished for a while until TikTok was set to be removed from the U.S. market, causing a surge of overseas KOLs to flock to Xiaohongshu, resulting in an overnight increase of 88 times.
The author believes: MOMO was originally an image active on Xiaohongshu, naturally understood as the mascot of Xiaohongshu. The influx of "overseas KOL refugees" to Xiaohongshu undoubtedly brought traffic and topics to the already issued $MOMO token, thereby boosting the price of $MOMO. Currently, $MOMO is a MEME Coin with a foundation of consensus and trending topics. According to information from $MOMO's Twitter, it has not yet formed deep collaborations with other platforms and has not held any related activities around $MOMO for the time being. However, it encourages the consensus community to create various MOMO Dinosaur NFT collections through the LaunchmyNFT platform, achieving a cultural continuation and expansion. But overall, based on the information available, $MOMO does not have a direct relationship with Xiaohongshu.

We should look further; the migration of overseas KOLs to Xiaohongshu may bring new opportunities across various industries

1. Cross-border e-commerce industry

The traditional pain point of cross-border e-commerce is that "localization" of product selection is too high. Opening an online store, testing a new product, and adding marketing expenses incurs significant costs. However, using overseas KOLs on Xiaohongshu for sales (solving language and local understanding issues) can reduce various operational costs, test effective products, and then invest in independent sites, directly addressing localization selection, costs, and marketing challenges.

2. Xiaohongshu plugins

With the increase in overseas users, more efficient plugins need to be established on Xiaohongshu, such as translation, data analysis aggregation, payment, logistics, etc.

3. Web3 industry

Due to varying cryptocurrency policies in different countries, I believe that more Web3 projects will appear on Xiaohongshu in the future, undoubtedly opening the Asian market for the overseas Web3 market.

Decentralized identity management: Web3 provides users with tools to manage their digital identities through blockchain, which aligns closely with the demand for anonymous culture. If Xiaohongshu can introduce a Web3 identity system, users will be able to choose between anonymity and real names more freely, while having greater privacy protection.

The combination of NFT and social economy: MEME tokens represented by $MOMO provide a new direction for the social economy. If Xiaohongshu collaborates with the Web3 ecosystem to launch a series of MOMO Dinosaur NFTs, it can not only enhance community stickiness but also create new revenue models. (There are policy limitations)

Community governance and reward mechanisms: Introducing a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) mechanism can allow users to participate in platform governance or earn token rewards by publishing quality content. This model can attract Web3 users and create a decentralized economic ecosystem for Xiaohongshu.

4. Internationalization of content culture and new opportunities

Cultural output and cross-border cooperation: Xiaohongshu is becoming an important window for Chinese culture to reach the world. Whether it's beauty, home decor, or food culture, through the dissemination by overseas KOLs, Xiaohongshu may spark a wave of "Chinese style" globally.

A new paradigm for creator economy: Overseas KOLs will bring content creation from different cultural backgrounds, stimulating creators to explore more attractive and differentiated content forms. This will further promote the diversification of the creator economy and cultivate more original IPs for Xiaohongshu.

The chain reaction behind the TikTok ban has brought Xiaohongshu an unprecedented opportunity for internationalization. If the platform can fully leverage this traffic dividend and achieve breakthroughs in technological upgrades, content optimization, and business model innovation, it can not only consolidate its leading position domestically but also have the chance to become a new generation of social media platform globally.

Moreover, the success of $MOMO indicates that the economic model of Web3 has great application potential in social platforms. By integrating MEME culture, NFT economy, and decentralized governance, Xiaohongshu could become a model for the combination of Web3 and traditional social ecosystems. The future competition is not just a battle for traffic, but a deep integration of culture and technology. It presents new opportunities and challenges across various industries, but the crypto community in Web3 hopes to see Xiaohongshu drive Web3 towards a better tomorrow. We look forward to it!