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During this cycle, Memecoins, especially Solana-based ones, became the leading narrative of the crypto market. These tokens have eclipsed investors’ attention and overshadowed the performance of many large-cap altcoins. Some experts weighed in on the market’s performance over the last year, discussing what made meme-based tokens the cycle’s top-leading narrative, and what could be next for the industry. Related Reading: FET Gears Up for Gains: Bullish Momentum Eyes $1.8 Breakout The Value Of Solana ‘Interjective Culture Coins’ Qiao Wang, co-founder of Alliance DAO, shared his thoughts on the market dynamics that led to each cycle’s top narrative. In the X post, he noted how there’s “an opportunity for retail to outperform professionals” every cycle. The alpha is for retail to get involved at a time when there’s too much career risk for professionals to get involved. Retail investors outperformed professionals during the first cycle with “simply” Bitcoin, Wang explained. In the second cycle, investors took advantage of Ethereum’s narrative, while Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) became the leading retail opportunities during the third one. Solana and the “intersubjective culture coins,” as Wang called memecoins, have dominated the ongoing cycle. The meme-based tokens’ popularity has often been criticized for a lack of utility and “substance,” frequently resulting in a “quick buck” for their creators and a few early buyers. Nonetheless, Wang seemingly suggests that these tokens’ value relies on the shared culture behind them, an argument that experts and industry figures have discussed before. As reported by NewsBTC, crypto traders Ansem and Kel debated the value of memecoins in the Unchained podcast. In the interview, the traders explained there’s value in memes and culture on the internet, which makes a comparison with other altcoins “pointless.” They added that the crypto community is “very internet-centered” as its members understand the financial aspect and are very knowledgeable about online culture. As such, crypto investors realized there’s an opportunity to “financialize” meme virality in the industry. Additionally, they pointed out that the “shared experience of relating” is another crucial factor driving the craze of meme-based tokens, as seen with the communities of Solana-based memecoins like dogwifhat (WIF) and Popcat (POPCAT). Memecoins ‘Absorbed’ The Market’s Energy On Sunday, Chris Burniske, the co-founder of Placeholder, also took X to weigh in on the memecoins frenzy. To him, “Memecoins’ tendency to trigger is all you need to observe to know they’ll be bigger than we expect in the expansion ahead.” In the post, Burniske revealed that he considers the “trend is clear” as the cultural relevance NFT collections had in 2021 will be surpassed by some of the memecoin sensations of this cycle. It is worth noting that, on October 7, the total market capitalization of Solana memecoins surpassed $10 billion, as SolanaFloor reported. Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko replied to Burniske, sharing his theory for why memecoins became the leading narrative. Yakovenko considers that the previous cycles “were also 90% memes and 10% products.” Related Reading: XRP Takes A 16% Hit In SEC Lawsuit Drama, But Analysts See Hope However, he suggests that today, the sector has monopolized the energy that propelled different narratives during other cycles: “My theory is that memecoins today have completely absorbed the meme energy that drove other cycles, like DeFi summer,” Solana’s co-founder noted. Based on it, Yakovenko believes that products must “make it purely on value” now, which could be a positive thing for the broader industry. As of this writing, Solana (SOL) is trading at $151, a 4% surge in the last 24 hours. Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com