From MeMe to AI: Where are the new opportunities in the crypto market?

Author JoshuaDeuk

This weekend, there is more time to reflect and I want to share some ideas about the market.

I think the overall directional trend of the cryptocurrency market will not appear until September. Given macroeconomic resistance, summer liquidity restrictions, and position adjustments at the end of the quarter, real market dynamics will not begin until after the August holiday market participants return. Judging from recent market activity, most altcoins’ rises are driven by short squeezes. Traders are subject to conditioned reflexes from previous rebounds, chasing momentum – but this time there are no real long-term holders. Most people have been hit hard by the market before. As expected, the vast majority of tokens that rose sharply followed by the same sharp decline.

Ethereum rebounded unexpectedly, and the most hit sectors, such as AI and Coin, led the rebound. On the other hand, tokens with practical uses, strong fundamentals or repo mechanisms show resilience— not only performing more robustly during the decline, but also recovering faster. Syrup, Hype, and AAVE are good examples. Although SPX is a coin, its structure is completely different. From this we can extract the following insights:

1. Bitcoin demand is real and lasting

Traditional capital is gradually entering through ETFs and other regulated channels.

The nature of capital that supports BTC now is completely different from the previous cycle. This is why large-scale BTC clearings are unlikely to happen unless triggered by macro events.

2. The differentiation within the altcoins will intensify

Eventually, capital will flow back to altcoins—but not comprehensive. Only tokens with clear uses and actual use cases can attract these inflows . That's why I think Ethereum will outperform Solana. The clarity of regulation, growing decentralized financial utilization, deflation structure and pledge demand together constitute a strong flywheel effect. And, as ETH has failed to meet expectations for a long time, it still has marginal buyers waiting off the market.

3. Venture-backed tokens have structural risks

Token unlocking will continue to put pressure on price trends. In the case of insufficient liquidity, continued selling pressure from validators and early investors limits the upside space . That's why I think that overvalued tokens listed on centralized exchanges are not a good choice in the future. The tokens of the Cosmos ecosystem are particularly facing continuous selling pressure, as their validator reward structure leads to this situation.

4. MeMe has structural advantages

With structural advantages, no unlocking of venture capital, fair launch, 100% attention-based. It's pure hype mechanism--just like in the first cycle, it worked.

But I think this phase is over.

Pump.fun's token generation event and Trump coin launch mark the peak of the coin's attention . After that, interest in coins began to fade. Even in April’s rebound, SOL did not perform as well as ETH—if everyone already had SOL, who would be the marginal buyer when the momentum of the coin fades?

Some coins may still perform well, especially those that have become popular outside of crypto-tweets, such as on TikTok or Instagram, driven by charming people like MURAD . These may still bring about asymmetric wealth effects. But the era of "cute dog and cat coins" as alpha has ended. Only coins with strong stories and strong market perceptions—things that people can collectively believe—have real speculative value.

• Ironically, exhaustion and suspicion of venture-backed tokens opens the door to fairly launched Web2/3 projects that will be the next wave of wealth generation opportunities

Keeta is a great example. But to seize these opportunities, you need to be active on the chain. When information is asymmetric, big opportunities always arise. Once everyone knows something, it no longer pays off.

That's why I spend more time paying close attention to the on-chain market. Keeta's success ignited the desire to find the "next Keeta", and capital began chasing a similar fair launch altcoin narrative. Just like that guy Bonk earned over 10 digits of wealth through trading coins – attention is directed to capital.

5. Next market trends

So, if meme coins are no longer the opportunity...what is next?

My opinion: The combination of AI and cryptocurrency.

If you follow my timeline, you will know that most of my operations in this cycle—after the early stages of SOL and venture-backed tokens—were focused on coins and AI.

• Just like DeFi summer, most early AI projects failed after the hype. But real practical projects are quietly building in this bear market. We've seen some of these projects appear on the chain.

• As the profits of the currency dry up, attention will naturally turn to new narratives. With its clear practicality, AI is perfect for being the next destination.

• Many AI x Crypto projects are fairly launched, echoing Keeta's narrative.

That's why I spent my time researching and laying out ahead of time in this area during my quiet weeks. There is no need to rush to build full positions now - but I believe that if the market rises again, this area will contain the biggest asymmetric opportunity.