He Yi: My MEME Learning Notes
All my assets are in cryptocurrency, and the long-term holding style is not suitable for most people.Author: He Yi
1. Subculture: From the Margins to the Center Stage
Expression is a commonality among humans; a good MEME can transcend cultural maps and bring a knowing smile. When the collective self-identity, emotions, and subjective intentions of the public overlap, unique values, semantics, and forms of expression emerge, such as the "Funeral Love Family" from the QQ era, the "Social Shake" from the mobile video era, or the "Sanhe God" from the post-industrial era, creating distinct subcultures. I did not grow up in Western culture, but I believe every culture has certain groups with which you can resonate deeply. Therefore, the subcultures I mentioned earlier are quite niche and outdated; they do not represent good MEME expression, but they do appear in history as extreme forms, vivid and refreshing.
Essentially, no particular circle is truly superior. Hippies attending meditation classes are not necessarily more refined than those attending storytelling sessions; those who enjoy reincarnation and Star Wars are not necessarily more aesthetic than "Young and Dangerous" fans, because the more niche the aesthetic, the less commonality it has. Moreover, our generation spans the Agricultural Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, and the Information Revolution, colliding head-on with AI; chaos is the norm, and all authority has been dissolved, with each idol being just that. MEME is a silent thunder, the ultimate expression of the crowd, and a challenge from subculture to mainstream culture. Thus, being photoshopped or issuing tokens is also part of the deconstruction, so I feel I am not yet worthy to be at the center of MEME.
Similarly, chasing trending topics on Twitter, whether in CZ's or my replies, is not the optimal path to discovering or creating MEMEs; MEMEs reside in your heart.
2. Who Can Surpass Doge?
There is only one Doge. In the first Bitcoin bull market of 2013, among countless projects attempting to clone Bitcoin, they both mocked Bitcoin and self-mocked, with a playful demeanor yet full of passion. Developers abandoned their projects, but the community had its own vitality, adding an important chapter to the history of crypto culture. The Chinese crypto community spread Dogecoin worldwide, creating a unique track in the crypto space: "Preaching for the industry, rewarding first." Back then, BBS comments were: "I see you are a good person, I reward you with 10,000 Dogecoins," leaving the rewarded person in a state of confusion, unable to calculate how much 10,000 Doge was worth without a calculator. Throughout the development of the crypto industry, each community has its own "Gann," and later, Elon’s fondness for Doge brought subculture into the mainstream. Today, Doge is no longer just a dog.
MEME is attention economy, but it is not just about attention. If everything is like Twitter's trending topics of the day, then everything is destined to be fleeting. Great MEMEs do not come from celebrities making clever remarks; that is not enough to make a MEME. It is a form of worship towards those in power (whether politicians or entrepreneurs), and that is not cool enough.
On the other hand, those who oppose for the sake of opposition often have a face that reads extreme right on their extreme left. Those who shout for decentralization are often extremely centralized. Maintain critical thinking and discern the true from the false.
Imagine someone in your group tells you to buy into a trending topic of the day; of course, that topic will cool down by tomorrow. If this attention can become a product, a belief, a religion, then it is possible to see the next Doge. Who says it’s impossible? Everything is possible.
3. Is Long-Termism Outdated?
I do not trade, but I hold long-term because I adhere to the logic of value investing. Similarly, in running a business, I also uphold long-termism, whether building a clock or a garden.
Binance is just an infrastructure, a stage where project parties and investors can either win or lose together. This depends on ability, will, and judgment. Top entrepreneurs are already very few; long-termism requires DYOR (Do Your Own Research) and knowing when to take profits. It is not that long-termism is outdated; could it be that you have chosen the wrong object of long-termism?
When the wind blows towards blockchain, investors have plenty of money to invest in projects. Few entrepreneurs can claim their projects are worth 100M, 1B, or even 100B. Everything can issue tokens; prices and values may diverge, but over cycles, they will converge in the long term.
The market size in 2017 was not as large as it is now, and the funding scale of the DeFi summer in 2021 was also not as large as it is now. Yet we see more excellent entrepreneurs entering the Web3 industry, and the industry scale is growing, but confidence is decreasing. Many users ask why project valuations cannot return to the ICO era. We can never go back to the past, but we are trying, attempting to let users vote on which tokens to list or delist, trying to let Web3 wallets do IDOs, allowing project parties to choose low-threshold, low-market-cap issuance, with real users profiting, which is far better than spending money to fabricate data and deceive oneself.
Whether it’s MEME or AI, games or DeFi, social or RWA, let a hundred flowers bloom. May we still have beer in our cups after every bubble bursts in the wind. Fortunately, history always repeats itself; the grand claims of predecessors about technology changing the world will be realized one by one by successors.
I’ve heard many serious projects are losing their resolve. Hey! Friends, there will always be new trends, but the world belongs to a very few who drive it. Rather than chasing trends, it’s better to become the trend.
4. Investment Advice Friends Often Ask
All my assets are in coins, and my long-term holding style is not suitable for most people, but there is one point to consider: earn money with certainty.
Earn cyclical money; have a judgment on economic cycles and bull/bear markets. Selling in bull markets and buying in bear markets is basic operation.
Any category of assets follows the principle of the head.
It is recommended to allocate at least 20% of coins; land is the asset of agricultural civilization, minerals are hard currency of the industrial age, and in the information age, the leading assets are stocks of top internet companies and coins with siphoning effects.
Some friends say that fundamentally good coins do not fluctuate enough. If you do not use leverage or trade some high-risk tokens, it is recommended not to exceed 10% of your disposable assets.
Most of these principles are understood by everyone; there is no need for me to elaborate. It’s just hard to implement, like losing weight.
I wish everyone knows and can achieve it.
