National Day Roller Coaster: Behind the big pump and big dump of Meme coins, "emotional capital" is rewriting global financial rules.

National Day holiday, A-shares market is closed.

The scenic area is crowded with people, and stock investors are holding selfie sticks. Meanwhile, on the other side of the crypto world, an even crazier show is unfolding.

A few Meme coins with names that are simply ridiculous—Meme4, PALU, and something called “Life of a Certain Exchange”—have seen their market value increase by dozens of times in just a few days. Early players are sitting on millions of dollars? Easy peasy. The Chinese-speaking community is in an uproar, with cheers of “wealth codes” everywhere on Twitter.

So what?

Starting from October 9, free fall.

Some cryptocurrencies plummeted 95% in a single day. Over 100,000 people were liquidated, and $621 million evaporated. The myth of getting rich overnight instantly turned into the tears of retail investors.

I've seen this scene before. I've seen it on Wall Street, and I've seen it in Lujiazui.

Do you still remember GameStop in 2021?

Retail investors on Reddit banded together to push the stock price of a nearly bankrupt game store to the sky, leaving short-sellers with nothing left. The chairman of the U.S. SEC said it was a “milestone in behavioral finance”—prices absurd? No matter, as long as the trading is real and information is transparent, it is “part of the market.”

Americans believe: Let the bubble happen, it is the catalyst for market evolution.

If this wave of Meme coins skyrockets on Nasdaq, how will Wall Street respond? Create a “Meme Stock ETF” to package social heat as an investment factor; The Wall Street Journal publishes a lengthy report on “The Victory of Retail Capitalism”; The SEC launches a study, which may ultimately conclude: this is not fraud, but a collective financial response of group sentiment through algorithms and social networks.

Switch to China?

If “the life of a certain exchange” appears on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, regulators will quickly warn of risks, the media will call for rationality, and the event will be characterized as “speculative market fluctuations,” becoming a living textbook for investor education.

China's logic is to seek progress while maintaining stability—excitement can exist, but it must be orderly; innovation is welcome, but the risks must be borne by oneself.

But Meme coins live in another world

Cryptocurrency market? It is neither regulated by the SEC nor by the CSRC.

This is a no man's land. A gray experimental field formed by code, liquidity, and narrative self-organization.

The American-style social speculation mechanism ( information diffusion + collective momentum ) and the Chinese-style grassroots wealth psychology ( grassroots resonance + community participation ), wonderfully merge here.

Exchanges are no longer neutral platforms, but “narrative creators”; KOLs are no longer bystanders, but price amplifiers; retail investors indulge in self-celebration within the cycle of algorithms and consensus, while also consuming themselves.

What is the fundamental change?

Prices are no longer determined by cash flow, but by the speed of narrative and the density of consensus.

We are witnessing the birth of “emotional capital”—no financial statements, only cultural symbols; no company fundamentals, only consensus curves; not pursuing rational returns, only pursuing emotional release.

When algorithms fail, emotions become currency

The data is presented here:

In the first nine months of 2025, 90% of the top Meme coins' market value collapsed; in Q2, 65% of new tokens dropped more than 90% within six months.

It's like the gold rush of the digital age. Most prospectors end up with nothing, while only those selling shovels make a profit.

The problem is here:

When currencies start telling stories, the logic of global finance is being completely rewritten.

In traditional markets, prices reflect value; in cryptocurrency markets, prices create value.

This is both the ultimate in decentralization and possibly the limit of de-responsibility. When narrative replaces cash flow, and emotion becomes an asset, each of us is a little mouse in this experiment.

Where is the way out?

The Web3 industry stands at a crossroads.

Continue to indulge in the short-term carnival of “emotional capitalism”? Or move towards the long-term construction of a “value-driven ecology”?

The Real Way Out:

Strengthen community governance, introduce a more transparent regulatory framework, and establish an investor education mechanism. Only in this way can decentralized technology truly empower global financial fairness, rather than becoming a tool for harvesting profits.

Next time you see a KOL wildly recommending “hundredfold coin”, ask yourself first:

Am I participating in financial innovation, or am I paying for someone else's financial freedom?

When currency begins to tell a story, what you need most is not FOMO, but the ability to think calmly.