There are always "Dog" legends in the crypto market.
Recently, the NEIRO contract, which was once called the new generation of "Dogecoin", was launched by OKX and Binance. Driven by the exchange, NEIRO quickly soared more than 6 times. And this launch also officially announced that the competing product "Neiro" was heading towards a slow demise.
The final ending of uppercase and lowercase MEME was put to rest by the exchange, triggering heated discussions in the market. In the conspiracy theory competition between the banker and the community, the industrialized production of MEME was also put on the value.
When it comes to NEIRO, perhaps people outside the industry are not very familiar with it, but if it refers to Dogecoin, the recognition is much higher.
This 2013 Shiba Inu-shaped MEME was well-known on Reddit, where geeks gather, when it was first created. Later, in 2019, it quickly became popular around the world under the promotion of Musk. In 2021, it became a typical currency and set off an animal currency craze. It has been on the hot search list of Weibo in China more than once. So far, DOGECOIN has become a unique representative of the encrypted MEME culture. It not only has its own website and community, but also has a huge community of followers. The total number of followers on the X platform has reached 3.98 million, and the Discord members have exceeded 30,000. Naturally, it has become the leading Internet celebrity in the encrypted field.
In fact, DOGE has a real prototype. It is a Shiba Inu named Kabosu adopted by a Japanese kindergarten teacher, Atsuko Sato, in 2008. Due to the advanced age of the dog, Kabosu finally died on May 24 this year at the age of 18. At that time, DOGE also rose by 9% in a short period of time. The protagonist of this article is exactly the story that happened later.
On July 28, 2024, Atsuko Sato posted on the X platform that she had adopted a new member of the Shiba Inu named ‘ねいろ’. At that time, Trump was attending a speech at the Bitcoin Conference, and crypto users were holding their breath waiting for the outbreak of speech-type MEME. Shiba Inu turned out at this time. The crypto field, which is best at using hot spots, will naturally not let go of this valuable material. However, when naming, the creators had to consider quite complicated things. The complex Japanese name is obviously not conducive to the spread of MEME, and the simpler and more direct English name is the first choice in the industry. The English translation of ねいろ is "Neiro". Around this English name, the debate on the legitimacy of uppercase and lowercase letters set sail on the same day. The fastest-reacting MEME token was the lowercase "Neiro" token built on the Solana ecosystem. The market value soared to $49.7 million on the same day, and then the Neiro token contract was also deployed on the Ethereum ecosystem. At almost the same time, the uppercase "NEIRO" token also appeared on Solana and Ethereum. Just as the two sides were competing fiercely on each chain, the well-known trader Ansem also intervened and attached a K-line link of lowercase $Neiro on the X platform. Users received the signal and funds quickly poured into the lowercase dog. But facing the real and fake Monkey King, Sato Atsuko tweeted that she only supports @ownthedoge $dog, which has IP copyright (the decentralized autonomous organization Own the Doge purchased the image copyright related to the prototype of Dogecoin Kabosu. The organization did not disclose the purchase price.), and other tokens have nothing to do with it. Lowercase Neiro fell in response, and a more dramatic change occurred again. Ansem joined the uppercase "NEIRO" Space to speak, and the pattern reversed again. NEIRO's market value soared to nearly 40 million US dollars, while Neiro's market value fell back to 20 million US dollars.
After a series of dramatic operations, the uppercase and lowercase tokens on Ethereum stabilized on the second day, and the market value gradually converged and rose. On July 31, the market value of the uppercase NEIRO token had reached 70 million US dollars, which seemed to be a new generation of golden dogs, but it once again ushered in a crisis of trust.
Bubblemaps revealed on Twitter that there are a large number of internal rat positions in the $NEIRO tokens issued on Ethereum, and about 78% of the tokens were allocated in advance, and then these tokens were transferred to more than 400 wallet addresses. According to further analysis by the media, the suspected rat position addresses all came from a mixer address marked as Cointool, and the funds were transferred in at 22:13 on July 27, and the amount transferred was around 0.05 Ethereum.
Despite being exposed, the market value of NEIRO still soared to 170 million after the FOMO rise. In this sense, NEIRO's rat position share is as high as 130 million US dollars, which can be called the largest rat position among MEME coins. But it was also because of the scandal that NEIRO's rise was weak and gradually slipped, and on September 4th, the market value returned to 2.6 million US dollars.
Price trend of capitalized Neiro, source: Coinmarketcap
On the other hand, lowercase Neiro has come back to life by accident. When the token was first launched, the Neiro community followed the current common practice and transferred 4% of the total Neiro tokens to Vitalik's address. The conventional operation did not bring any benefits, but by chance, Vitalik just sold all the MEME tokens he had obtained on August 5. Neiro took advantage of Vitalik's reply and created a new hype hotspot. Combined with the team's strong operation and publicity, the currency rose by as much as 50 times in the following week. Although it quickly fell back afterwards, it also attracted market attention again. As one rises, the other falls. During the rise of Neiro, NEIRO was nearly halved.
Of course, regardless of the price of the currency, whether it is a big dog or a small dog, it has a very strong community foundation. The lowercase Neiro community has been highly praised by many KOLs for its ground-pushing communication operation, and the technical team has participated in charity from time to time to enhance its popularity, and has a good reputation in the circle. NEIRO is not to be outdone. Since it has the blessing of rat warehouse capital, the team behind it is obviously not to be underestimated, especially in the Japanese KOL circle to which it belongs, its influence is prominent. In fact, when Bubblemaps questioned it, many KOLs such as @apipiro22, @mikky_8080, and @yukimaru_potty responded, saying that only with team tokens can they go further.
I thought the battle between the two parties ended hastily with Rashomon, but the intervention of the exchange changed the whole situation. On the evening of September 5, OKX and Binance launched NEIRO contracts. Since then, the price of NEIRO has soared from about $0.03 to $0.1952, and is now at $0.19U, with a market value back to $180 million. In contrast, lowercase Neiro has no power to fight back, and its market value has fallen by $16 million.
Price trend of lowercase Neiro, source: Coinmarketcap
It can be said that the exchange finally determined the legitimacy of the so-called NEIRO and determined the outcome of the two, but a token that was obviously a victim of insider trading was carried by a big exchange, which also caused fierce dissatisfaction in the market. In the discussion of industry insiders, it is believed that MEME has become a victim of the confrontation between the camps, and the interests of the big exchange have exacerbated this situation. MEME is no longer a free choice of the community, but has become a sickle for interest groups to harvest leeks.
The price trend of the two major currencies also proves this point. According to the observation of the rhythm, on the eve of the news of the listing, NEIRO soared without any good news after a half-month decline, but Neiro continued to be in a downward channel and ushered in a sharp decline. It can be seen that perhaps some interest groups have already known the behind-the-scenes news in advance to operate.
What is the value of MEME? For different subjects, there are obviously different answers. Ordinary users regard it as a fairer opportunity to get rich quickly, and the exchange believes that it is a cash weight with traffic. There is no doubt that those who have a price get the market. The project party is playing a game in the balance of interests between the two parties to obtain a more reasonable return. No matter from which aspect, around the so-called attention economy, interests are the most important part for participants in the MEME ecosystem. When interests tend to be consistent, the operation of the exchange can make users revel and be praised as a strategic manifestation of adapting to the market, but when interests are reversed, public opinion is completely different. For example, in this coin listing event, the secret joy of the NEIRO community corresponds to the helpless abuse of Neiro users.
From a deeper level, MEME, as a product of culture, is the carrier of hype, but there are also values that are separated from this part. This is why many MEME tokens are enduring. Even digital casinos are a personal free choice. This is also the most dissatisfied point for industry insiders. The listing of coins on the exchange itself is a choice of standing in a team. This choice overrides user needs and only serves the interest groups with strong capital.
But it must be admitted that in today's crypto circle, MEME has become an industrialized mass product. When new hot spots appear, hot tokens emerge in endlessly. Under the bustling flow of money, it is not surprising that there are interest groups that capitalize and fuel the flames. Looking at any short-lived currency, it is inevitable that there are traders, otherwise there will not be many golden dog MEMEs whose "consensus building" value soars hundreds of times in minutes or even seconds. This may be the main trend of the development of the MEME market.
Not to mention interest groups, sometimes the participation of a single person is enough to change the situation. For example, in the dispute over capitalization, Ansem's two-sided operation made the token experience a reversal of the yin and yang poles. But in an interview, Ansem only mentioned that he had just made a temporary operational mistake and forwarded it before he was clear about the incident. But even if he clarified it many times in Space later, the FOMO market was indifferent in the end. After all, the traffic has arrived and the story ends here. But until now, some people still say that it "killed" Neiro.
There are many interests intertwined behind the fairer market envisioned by users, but users can still choose whether to enter the game. And All users who enter the game can do is to abandon their fantasies and try to find clues to get on the dealer's high-speed train instead of being run over by the speeding train. As for values, in the current market where the warehouse is not real, it will only usher in more severe tests.
Back to the MEME of the same name, it is quite interesting that this situation has been prevalent. For example, under the background of the Black Wukong fire, the MEME of the same name Wukong also began to scatter in various public chains, which is quite like the reappearance of Neiro.
It can be foreseen that the arena of the MEME of the same name will continue to be fiercely fought. The final winner, if not a loud voice, must have a lot of money. Will the final result be full competition or bad money driving out good money? It depends on one's own opinion.