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A detailed explanation of the NFT project Memecoin: the meme empire migration of 200 million people
Author: 0xLaughing, Groove BlockBeats
BlockBeats Note: On October 27, according to the official announcement, Binance has now launched the 39th phase of the new coin mining project – Memecoin (MEME). The Rhythm of Literature was first written in March of this year, when Memeland was already making waves in the NFT market.
! [Detailed explanation of NFT project Memecoin: The Great Migration of Memetic Empire of 200 Million People] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-46ddec44b2-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)
Memeland’s initial worldview
At the beginning of 2023, Memeland has become one of the hottest projects in the NFT market with the launch of its latest NFT collection, and there have been too many notable milestones throughout the project’s development history over the past year:
Too many NFT projects that were originally famous have gradually disappeared in this deep bear of the crypto world, and the slogan of “under-promised, over-delivered” has been implemented into “under-promised, under-delivered”. Memeland’s three launches have been more impressive than the last, building a loyal and reliable community and gradually gaining a foothold in the NFT market. In this article, we will try to explain how 9GAG gradually transformed from a Web2 content company to Web3 with the help of Memeland, an NFT brand.
TSP; DR
! [Detailed explanation of NFT project Memecoin: The Great Migration of Memetic Empire of 200 Million People] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/resized-social/moments-69a80767fe-10b663ec9f-dd1a6f-69ad2a)
Memeland at a glance
Started with 9GAG, an online entertainment content platform
! [Detailed explanation of NFT project Memecoin: The Great Migration of Memetic Empire of 200 Million People] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-bc772eeb1d-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)23-year-old Chan Chin Cheng (second from right) starts a part-time business with his younger brother Chan Chin Chun (first from right), a college roommate, and two aNobii colleagues
Chen Zhancheng (now 9GAGCEO), the founder of 9GAG, studied law at the University of Hong Kong, and after graduation, worked in the legal department of a bank, a television station, and an online company, and the boss of the Internet company he worked for was less than 30 years old, which inspired Chen Zhancheng to start his own business as well. So, 23-year-old Chen Zhancheng found his younger brother Chen Zhanjun, college roommates, and two aNobii colleagues to start a part-time business together, and they had worked as a cosmetics evaluation platform, a household appliance evaluation platform, a photo sharing platform, and an online karaoke platform, but these platforms all ended in failure.
! [Detailed explanation of NFT project Memecoin: The Great Migration of Memetic Empire of 200 Million People] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-c45c103792-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)
9GAG closes $2.8 million Series A funding round
In 2011, with the mentality that “if you play the best basketball, you should go to the NBA to play in the professional league, and if you want the best tech startup training, you should go to Silicon Valley”, they decided to go to the United States to participate in the 500 Startups entrepreneurship program, and after 500 Startups invited the Google senior product manager mentor, they found that the project 9GAG, which started in 2008, has the most potential, and later they made it the focus of development. At a time when social platforms like Facebook were not yet widespread, they created the site to provide a way for netizens to share funny pictures and videos. 9GAG was also favored by Y Combinator, First Round Capital, Greycroft Partners, and True Ventures, and closed a $2.8 million Series A funding round.
! [Detailed explanation of NFT project Memecoin: The Great Migration of Memetic Empire of 200 Million People] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-13449d2a13-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)
9GAG has over 58 million followers on Instagram
In the years that followed, 9GAG grew rapidly and became one of the most popular online entertainment communities in the world, covering a variety of genres, including comedy, anime, games, movies, music, travel, sports, etc., attracting a large number of young people’s attention. According to website research firm similarweb, 9GAG was the No. 2 most popular humor site in the world in December 2022, and performed well in metrics such as average time per view, number of pages, and bounce rate
In addition, 9GAG has accumulated a large number of users on various social platforms, and the number of followers:
In a podcast interview with the CEO of 9GAG, KOLkmoney was unsparing about his praise for 9GAG: “I feel like in the last decade, when I think of any website related to memes or meme culture, 9GAG has always been at the top of the list.”
It can be seen from here that 9GAG is a top Internet meme platform, this platform has huge traffic and rich experience in creator collaboration in Web2, and the founder of 9GAG, Chen Zhancheng, is a serial entrepreneur with 15 years of entrepreneurial experience, which can be called a pioneer in this segment, and now it chooses to turn the rudder and sail towards Web3.
From MVP, potato to captain, from “micro-innovation” follower to “industry talker”
Guess what’s next from Memeland’s landscape overview
! [Detailed explanation of NFT project Memecoin: The Great Migration of Memetic Empire of 200 Million People] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-b1fa4f154c-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)
In April 2022, Memeland’s Twitter account just launched, and its website reads, “Memeland is 9GAG’s Web3 ecosystem with a mission to empower creators by connecting Web2 and Web3.”
At the same time, the official website also directly revealed Captain Captainz’s PFP NFT series (at first it even directly drew memelist) and the subsequent $MEME Token system, just like the popular trend in the NFT market at the time, Memeland did not have a roadmap and also advertised “under-commitment and over-delivery”.
! [Detailed explanation of NFT project Memecoin: The Great Migration of Memetic Empire of 200 Million People] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-bcebce9562-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)
MVP
However, later, Memeland changed its operation strategy, and unlike the 10k sale projects on the market at that time, it chose to first release a small NFT collection “You The Real MVP” in June, with a total of 420 NFTs, and adopted a unique “blind auction” format before the community set the price at 5.3 ETH.
! [Detailed explanation of NFT project Memecoin: The Great Migration of Memetic Empire of 200 Million People] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-28d7521f7f-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp) MVPs are always at a high price
MVPs are defined as premium members of the Memeland ecosystem, and this is how 9GAG appreciates and rewards community members. In addition, each MVP enjoys future benefits, such as two Memeland Captainz NFT airdrops, a whitelist of all future Memeland and 9GAG projects, and an MVP role in the project’s Discord. The floor price is currently at a high level of 44.44 ETH.
! [Detailed explanation of NFT project Memecoin: The Great Migration of Memetic Empire of 200 Million People] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-34971ee369-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)
Potatoz in 5 stages
In July 2022, Memeland launched the “The Potatoz” series with a total of 9,999 pieces, catering to the popular “Free Mint market” at the time, and at the same time adopting a “reveal-staking-reward” mechanism divided into 5 stages, the image of Tudou Potatoz is divided into 5 stages for disclosure, which requires holders to stake their NFTs before they can evolve, and Memeland also issued a large number of rewards in this staking process, such as MVP NFTs, Potatoz NFTs, iPhone 14, whitelists, and more, and even “McDonald’s for free for one year” in the prizes.
! [Detailed explanation of NFT project Memecoin: The Great Migration of Memetic Empire of 200 Million People] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-10338c6069-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)
Currently defined as a base membership of Memeland, Potatoz floor price has risen by more than 3 ETH at one point, thanks to the latest Captainz series sale, and is now slightly down, while the secondary market trading volume exceeds 18,900 ETH.
! [Detailed explanation of NFT project Memecoin: The Great Migration of Memetic Empire of 200 Million People] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-1170a2390b-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)
Captainz’s Sneak Peak as originally shown on the official website
On January 5, 2023, Memeland officially launched the Captainz series, with a total of 9,999 units still at an offer price of 1.069E. According to the official announcement, there is no public sale for this sale, and Memelist, Potatoz and Waitlist holders are divided into two types of purchases according to their respective priorities: “guaranteed minting” and “non-guaranteed minting”. At the same time, an unconventional “payment separation” sale is adopted, that is, those who participate in the sale first deposit the ETH used for minting, and will receive a Captainz airdrop 24 hours after the end of the sale.
! [Detailed explanation of NFT project Memecoin: The Great Migration of Memetic Empire of 200 Million People] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-06a457201d-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)
Ten minutes after the start of the sale, the official announced that more than 9,999 deposits had been received, announcing that the waitlist minting had been terminated (the “non-guaranteed minting” mentioned above), and the “guaranteed minting” would not be affected and the minting would be completed within 48 hours.
! [Detailed explanation of NFT project Memecoin: The Great Migration of Memetic Empire of 200 Million People] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-dc10c764f5-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)
Gas War is sparked during the Captainz release
The launch of Captainz also sparked a Gas War, with a gas fee of over 80 GWEI during the minting period, according to blocknative.
! [Detailed explanation of NFT project Memecoin: The Great Migration of Memetic Empire of 200 Million People] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-138508726e-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)
Treasure Mapz
In addition, everyone who participates in the sale will receive a proportional share of Treasure Mapz based on the amount deposited, which is not yet an NFT, so it is currently impossible to transfer or trade them. Officially, it was revealed that this Mapz is divided into 5 types, related to $MEME, valuable NFTs, special utilities, etc., and at the same time it can be obtained by forming Questing (soft staking) of up to 1 Captainz and 3 Potatoz, but information is limited at the moment.
Through the release of the above three series of MVP, Potato, and Captain, it is not difficult to see the shadow of many projects: “Proof Elite Club” to Moonbirds, corresponding to MVP and Potato; The potatoes were released with Free Mint just in time for the goblin-led Free Mint trend at the time; The changes in Phase 5 were revealed, and there were mutable NFT projects such as Moonrunners and “Monsters” available for reference at that time; Not to mention staking rewards, there are too many projects such as early NANOPASS staking, Moonbirds “nesting”, etc.
The CEO of 9GAG bluntly said in an interview that he has spent hundreds of ETH to buy NFTs from various well-known projects since January, and “the founders of many projects have not bought enough NFTs to understand the bias from the perspective of the Holder”, and this “bias” can only be experienced after the real “skin in”. In addition, they have adopted a strategy of “micro-innovation”, which is simply to learn the strengths of NFT projects and do more integration and improvement on their basis. Now, the successful launch of the Captainz series marks the success of this strategy, and the founder’s continuous learning has allowed Memeland to innovate and improve, gradually transforming it from a “follower” to a “talker”.
Guess what’s next from the Memeland landscape
! [Detailed explanation of NFT project Memecoin: The Great Migration of Memetic Empire of 200 Million People] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-1e827e4b2a-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)
Memeland’s official overview map
The official overview map of Memelands shows what they have to offer, with buried treasure islands, uncharted seas, giant sea monsters, pirate crews, launchers, and much more, each element in Memelands is presented in a sleek and visually appealing image.
! [Detailed explanation of NFT project Memecoin: The Great Migration of Memetic Empire of 200 Million People] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/resized-social/moments-69a80767fe-7a7c09c9da-dd1a6f-69ad2a)
Memeland Territory Overview
According to the information revealed by the official in various channels, it is currently roughly divided into 10 sections, which are sorted according to their respective priorities at the moment:
! [Detailed explanation of NFT project Memecoin: The Great Migration of Memetic Empire of 200 Million People] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-7f20ce90f0-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)
According to the official website, MVP NFTs can contribute to each of the key utilities of Memeland NFTs
According to the official documents, in addition to participating in the sale will get Treasure Mapz, follow-up Holders can get Mapz by forming up to 1 Captainz and 3 Potatoz Questing (soft staking), and MVP NFT can be used for Memeland NFT Every key utility helps.
The process of conjecture is as follows (see Memeland Landscape Overview above for illustration):
What are the advantages of Memeland?
200 million users have brought traffic blessings, and the “self-propagation effect” of memes is the icing on the cake
In 1650, the German Timotritz first published the daily newspaper Neue Arrival News. Although it was only published for about 3 months, it was the first daily newspaper in the world. Subsequently, newspapers were used in various countries, changing the way people received information and promoting new ideas and cultures. Before the advent of newspapers, most of the way people received information was from person to person, the so-called “one to ten, ten to hundred”. After the advent of newspapers, the way of disseminating information changed from person-to-person transmission to regional and wide-ranging promotion. News events are published in newspapers and can be carried out quickly at a regional or national level.
In the new era, with the rise of Internet technology, the development of the network platform of “information flow + self-media” is in full swing. The rise of social platforms such as Douyin, Kuaishou, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter suggests that the era of “traffic is king” has arrived, and 9GAG has naturally taken advantage of this shareholder trend.
! [Detailed explanation of NFT project Memecoin: The Great Migration of Memetic Empire of 200 Million People] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-105fc7e84e-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)
Tweets on Twitter often have millions of views
9GAG’s official claim of 200 million users is not elegant, after all, the tens of millions of followers on multiple social media sometimes have moisture and overlap, but the daily number of views will not deceive, and will truly reflect the popularity of a platform. Based on the number of views of 9GAG’s official Twitter daily tweets, it can be found that the number of ordinary tweet views usually ranges from hundreds of thousands, and occasionally there will be more than one million views of “popular” tweets, which is believed to be able to maintain the first echelon of this track.
! [Detailed explanation of NFT project Memecoin: The Great Migration of Memetic Empire of 200 Million People] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-d5fd7e2434-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)
The entrance to Memeland and Potatoz has been prominently placed on the 9GAG website at the top
Now that the traffic is there, as 9GAG’s operational strategy gradually embraces Web3 and the creator economy, it is only a matter of time before the flow of traffic from it to Memeland is gradually diverted.
! [Detailed explanation of NFT project Memecoin: The Great Migration of Memetic Empire of 200 Million People] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-ada6fd0e8c-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)
The use of meme’s “self-propagation effect” is another killer feature of Memeland. On the one hand, 9GAG was founded as a platform specializing in meme culture, and has become a giant with it. On the other hand, I have to admit that Web3 and the crypto world are largely driven by memes, there are Shib, Doge Coin in FT, and there are countless projects that have risen with the help of meme in the NFT market Many players in the market are a generation that grew up with the Internet, and meme culture, comedy culture, and content creation are commonplace, which is very easy to resonate with the spirit, and then promote the “positive flywheel” of the whole project.
Backed by professional advisors and investors
! [Detailed explanation of NFT project Memecoin: The Great Migration of Memetic Empire of 200 Million People] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-52119ced36-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)
Memeland has a strong lineup of advisors/investors behind it, including VeeFriends founder Gary Vaynerchuk, Moonbirds founder Kevin Rose, Kaiju Kingz founder Nathan, KOLKeung, and other well-known names in the NFT world. On the one hand, professional consultants and investors can ensure that the project “survives”, on the other hand, Memeland, as a project in continuous development, is relatively new to this market, in the face of the turbulent and changeable NFT market, NFT OGs who have been in a state of degen for a long time can sense market changes at critical moments, and their opinions can escort the development of the project.
Why is 9GAG making its foray into Web3? Time, luck, and life
Giants in the era of self-media compete for deer, and survive in the cracks of 9GAG
! [Detailed explanation of NFT project Memecoin: The Great Migration of Memetic Empire of 200 Million People] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-985a44b31f-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)
Short videos can’t even be scheduled
When you experience 9GAG’s website and APP, you will have the illusion of traveling back to the portal 10 years ago, compared with Instagram, TikTok and other popular platforms for young people nowadays, I have to say that 9GAG has a gap in terms of content, UI, recommendation algorithms, etc.
In terms of business, 9GAG is almost a content porter, while Instagram and TikTok are content + social, which produces a “network effect”: the more users of a product, the greater the value of the product to users, and the more users can be attracted to use this product, so social products have the characteristics of “natural monopoly”. It can be seen that network effects usually lead to the stronger and stronger, and finally to oligopoly or winner-take-all. In this situation, on the one hand, 9GAG does not produce high-quality content and lags behind other high-quality content platforms; On the other hand, the social attributes of competitors rely on “natural monopoly” to further encroach on the market of 9GAG.
In an April 2022 interview with University Line, 9GAG can also be seen in crisis, which is described as follows:
"At the beginning of 2020, when the epidemic was about to rain, Chen Zhancheng sensed the huge risks it might bring to the operation, so he took precautions and calculated how long 9GAG could survive without cash inflow on the company’s existing assets based on the “cash runaway” hypothesis at a plenary meeting of 9GAG, and said: “If the cost is compressed, we can continue to do it for five years, and if the cost is maintained, it can only last for a very short period of time…”
The epidemic has had a negative impact on the economy, further squeezing 9GAG’s business space, and 9GAG may not be able to break even through further profitability through advertising fees and PRO membership fees, and it is in urgent need of transformation in the competition among giants in the self-media era.
Web3 Creator Economy – A New Opportunity for 9GAG’s “Last Stand”.
The platform-centric, ad-powered attention economy may have won the Web2 era and made many content giants in the process, but its victory is not inevitable or final. The creator economy of Web3, bound by smart contracts, is enabling a revolution that changes ownership. Creators want to own the platform they create and have the right to vote, rather than being continuously “exploited” by the platform and taking all the benefits.
Goldman Sachs, an investment bank, once described in a report the “creator economy” in which individual creators monetize content as an important trend in the Web3 era.
! [Detailed explanation of NFT project Memecoin: The Great Migration of Memetic Empire of 200 Million People] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-0cd891010e-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)
Goldman Sachs listed the “creator economy” as one of the key features of Web 3.0
9GAG will test the Web3 creator economy through Memeland, and the complete Token system of MVP, Potatoz, Captainz and other NFTs with $MEME may try to reshape the creator economy, change the ownership of individual creators’ value and capture the medium of delivery. The advantages of Web2 traffic, Web3’s embrace and love for meme culture, and not being like other giants are all factors that add up to 9GAG, which is actually the first to go.
Conclusion
! [Detailed explanation of NFT project Memecoin: The Great Migration of Memetic Empire of 200 Million People] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-4c7ecc0062-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)
The 9GAG CEO amused the host in an episode of the podcast
“On the one hand, we strive to tell a good story and deliver a good product to a group of people with high expectations, and on the other hand, we tweet daily on Twitter to communicate with the holders, and we also want to reward those who are loyal,” said the CEO of 9GAG. In addition to the resources, traffic advantages, and meme culture of its original platform, in terms of quality, as long as you have listened to or watched 9GAG CEO’s Twitter Space, interviews, and podcasts, it is difficult for you not to be infected by his sincere, humble, and humorous personality.
Memeland has witnessed the Luna crash and the collapse of the FTX building in the past year, and it has tried to survive through the bear market, and the most important thing is to “survive”. If Memeland can convert 9GAG’s 200 million platform users into new Web3 traffic in this era of “traffic is king” and “content is king”, it may benefit the entire NFT market and even the crypto world, and it will also be a meme empire migration.
9GAG’s Slogan is “Making the World Happier”, and it is true that happiness is the greatest common factor for human beings, and it is also true in the crypto world. With Meme culture, will Memeland spread the Web3 spirit from Hong Kong to the world? I believe the answer is not far away.