From Soaring to Out of Control: Deconstructing the Trading Logic Behind the Recent Five 'Meme Coins'

比推Published on 2025-12-19Last updated on 2025-12-19

Abstract

Amid a generally bearish crypto market, a handful of so-called "meme coins" or "pump-and-dump" tokens have exhibited extreme volatility and independent price action. This analysis examines five such tokens and the potential manipulation behind their recent price movements. **PIPPIN:** An AI-themed token that saw a 1000%+ price surge in a week. On-chain analysis revealed that a small group of addresses controlled up to 80% of the supply, indicating a highly coordinated pump by insiders who accumulated tokens over a month before the violent price appreciation, leading to massive liquidations. **FOLKS:** The token for a cross-chain DeFi protocol, which surged nearly 24x from its low following the announcement of its "Season 2" incentives program. The price quickly retraced by approximately 80% after the initial hype. **BEAT:** A low-market-cap token on BNB Chain, marketed as a "Web3 AI entertainment platform." It followed a classic pattern of rapid price pumps and dumps, growing its market cap from $25 million to over $440 million. **AIA:** A decentralized AI agent token that experienced a >90% crash after its perpetual contracts were delisted from Binance Futures. It subsequently surged over 160% after Binance Alpha announced a 1:1 token contract swap and relisting. **RAVE:** A music and culture DAO token that gained significant attention after receiving social media endorsements from Donald Trump Jr. and former Binance CEO CZ. Its price surged over 410% upon listing on Bi...

Author: Wenser, The Block

Original Title: Uncovering the Recent Five 'Meme Coins': Who is Manipulating the Market?


The cryptocurrency market continues to fluctuate and trend lower; however, even in a bearish climate, a few tokens defy the trend, maintaining their own rhythm of "sharp rises and steep falls." The Block will梳理 (organize/summarize) the recent "meme coins" with notable price performance in this article, attempting to summarize their common characteristics to help discover the next potential investment target poised for a surge.

PIPPIN: The Orphan of the AI Agent Frenzy, a Masterpiece of 'Insider Trading'

From late last year to January this year, AI Agent tokens once captured the absolute focus of the crypto market, with tokens like ai16z(ELIZAOS) and swarms frequently topping the token gain charts. PIPPIN was also a product of that same batch of AI-themed tokens at the time.

But nearly a year later, only PIPPIN remains, perhaps selected by wildcat market makers for its ease of price manipulation, soaring over the past half month. Remember, on November 23rd, its price was merely around $0.05. Just one week later, its price had skyrocketed to over $0.17:

On December 1st, PIPPIN defied the market trend, surging over 60%, with its price approaching $0.18; At that time, analyst @frontrunnersx warned that PIPPIN showed characteristics of concentrated accumulation, with some addresses continuously buying and holding without significant selling, causing the price to continuously hit short positions during the upward move, triggering chain liquidations. One address bought about $200,000 worth of PIPPIN 6 days prior, completed selling after the price doubled, and is currently performing a similar operation on ARC.

On December 2nd, Bubblemaps monitoring revealed that 50 associated addresses purchased PIPPIN tokens worth $19 million. It was also discovered that 26 addresses withdrew 44% of the PIPPIN token supply, totaling $96 million, from the Gate platform over two months, with most wallets being recently funded. Most PIPPIN token withdrawals occurred on October 24th and November 23rd. By then, the PIPPIN token price had already surged by 1000%, with insiders controlling half of the token supply, valued at $120 million.

In other words, the wildcat market makers' accumulation period for PIPPIN even started more than a month earlier, with the真正的暴力拉升 (real violent pump) occurring about a month and a week after accumulation began.

Subsequently, a diamond hands address liquidated its previously hoarded 24.8 million PIPPIN tokens, with floating profits shrinking from a peak of $7.6 million to $3.65 million.

On December 6th, Onchain Lens monitoring showed a whale spent 23,736 SOL (worth approximately $3.3 million) over 3 days to buy 16.35 million PIPPIN at a price of $0.20, resulting in a floating profit of over $740,000 at that time.

On December 16th, Bubblemaps issued another warning: PIPPIN's price continued to rise, but internal addresses now held about 80% of the supply, valued at approximately $380 million. Bubblemaps pointed out: Since the last disclosure (December 2nd), 16 new wallets with the same pattern have appeared (funded from HTX, received similar amounts of SOL, no history, large PIPPIN withdrawals from CEX); another group of 11 wallets associated with Bitget was identified, collectively holding about 9% of the supply, with highly consistent fund flows and time windows, suspected to be controlled by the same entity.

That night, as PIPPIN's price fell below $0.3, this "meme coin spectacle" announced a阶段性收网 (phased closing of the net/harvesting). But the next day, December 17th, PIPPIN一度拉升至 (was once pulled up to) around $0.5, causing another large wave of short squeezes. It must be said, the violent methods of bear market wildcat market makers are堪称残忍 (can be called cruel).

As of writing, PIPPIN's price is temporarily reported at $0.44, with a 24-hour increase of over 15%. Its performance continues.

FOLKS: Cross-Chain DeFi Protocol Token, Nearly 24x Increase from Low Point Due to S2 Incentive Announcement

As a cross-chain DeFi protocol providing lending, staking, and trading services, primarily operating on the Algorand chain, Folks Finance originally had relatively few followers. However, with the official announcement of the S2 incentive campaign, market enthusiasm for its token reignited.

It's worth mentioning that Folks Finance distributed 1.5 million FOLKS tokens during the S1 incentive campaign, including Chainlink incentives; On November 6th, FOLKS officially launched on Binance Alpha, with a historical low price of around $2.

On December 9th, after the official Folks Finance announcement, the FOLKS token price soared from under $10;

On December 14th, after nearly a week of speculation, the FOLKS token price broke through $40 for the first time, eventually rising to nearly $47, representing a nearly 24x increase from its low point;

Subsequently, the FOLKS price rapidly retreated, falling by about 80%.

As of writing, the FOLKS price is temporarily reported at $6.4, with a 24-hour decrease of over 24%. The circulating supply is 12.7 million tokens (25.4% of total supply), with a market cap temporarily reported at around $81 million.

BEAT: A True Meme Coin Needs Few Words

As another altcoin choosing to root itself in the BNB Chain ecosystem, similar to previous meme coins like MYX and COAI, BEAT's rise堪称 (can be called) another classic case.

It is worth noting that the official account behind the BEAT token project promotes the concept of a "Web3 AI entertainment platform + IP creation platform" – essentially a repackaged version of hot concepts. After launching on Binance Alpha and futures in early November, BEAT officially stated that the number of unique on-chain holding addresses even exceeded 1.2 million, prompting the saying "how bold you are determines how much you produce."

Similar to the price action of previous meme coins, BEAT still started with a low market cap – after an initial rise upon listing on Binance Alpha, its market cap remained around $25 million; subsequently, the price飞速上涨 (rapidly increased) amidst repeated pumps and dumps.

As of writing, the BEAT price is temporarily reported at around $2.7, with a 24-hour increase of over 14%. The circulating market cap is temporarily reported at $440 million, with approximately 126,000 on-chain holding addresses.

AIA: Decentralized AI Agent Concept Token, Contract Swap Causes Volatility

As the project token for DeAgent AI, AIA previously attracted significant market liquidity and attention due to a massive surge after listing on Binance futures, its price once skyrocketing over $1. However, limited by the increasingly quiet market environment and the gradual cooling of the AI narrative, the token price gradually fell into silence, experiencing a steady decline.

But the incident of "Binance delisting AIA futures" injected volatile energy into its liquidity once again.

On December 11th, according to an official announcement, Binance Futures announced it would close all AIAUSDT perpetual contracts at 20:15 (UTC+8) on December 11, 2025, and perform automatic settlement. After settlement is completed, the contract will be delisted. AIA一度暴跌超 90%) (plummeted over 90%).

Subsequently, however, Binance announced that Alpha 2.0 would support the contract swap for DeAgentAI (AIA). Starting from 20:00 (UTC+8) on December 11, 2025, Binance Alpha 2.0 had temporarily closed AIA trading to execute this contract swap. The swap will be executed at a 1:1 ratio. The snapshot time was 20:00 (UTC+8) on December 11, 2025. Binance Alpha 2.0 resumed DeAgentAI (AIA) trading at 16:00 (UTC+8) on December 15, 2025.

On December 15th, official data from Binance Alpha showed that DeAgentAI (AIA) had completed the smart contract swap and officially resumed trading at 16:00 (UTC+8) on December 15th. Market data showed that AIA opened with a significant surge, its increase一度超过 160% (once exceeding 160%), topping the Binance Alpha sector gain charts.

As of writing, the AIA price is temporarily reported at $0.11, with a 24-hour decrease of 6.3%. The circulating market cap is temporarily reported at $16 million.

RAVE: Offline Community-Driven Culture Platform, Supported by Trump's Eldest Son and CZ's Reposts

As a DAO organization promoting the concept of a "decentralized music and culture community and platform ecosystem," RaveDAO's development speed has been like a cheat code. After months of community building and project development, RaveDAO has previously completed multiple member NFT sales.

On November 10th, RaveDAO officially announced its token economic model and airdrop details. The official stated that the token aims to connect artists, organizers, and fans through token economics, promoting a decentralized entertainment ecosystem of "culture as protocol." RAVE has a total supply of 1 billion tokens, allocated as follows: Community 30%, Ecosystem 31%, Team & Co-builders 20%, Early Supporters 5%, Liquidity 5%, Airdrop 3%, Foundation & Public Goods Pool 6%. Approximately 23.03% will be in circulation after the Token Generation Event (TGE), with the remainder subject to a 12-month cliff and a 36-month linear unlock period.

One month later, on December 10th, Binance Alpha announced it would soon list RaveDAO (RAVE).

The next day, news of RaveDAO receiving support from both the WLFI and Aster ecosystems spread, and within an hour of listing on Binance Alpha on December 12th, trading volume exceeded $25 million.

Not only that, RaveDAO's "upper echelon strategy" was also remarkably bright – On the evening of the 12th, Trump's eldest son reposted and followed the news of Aster's cooperation with USD1, and RaveDAO, as one of the cooperation participants, gained massive exposure. CZ subsequently also reposted this tweet, and the RAVE price随之水涨船高 (rose accordingly).

  • On December 13th, the RAVE price一度触及 (once touched) $0.67, with a 24-hour increase of over 410%;

  • On December 14th, Binance Futures launched RAVE U-based contracts;

  • On December 15th, RAVE was successively listed on centralized exchanges like OKX, Bybit, Bitget, Aster, Gate, Kucoin, MEXC, with the price at that time falling back to around $0.41.

As of writing, the on-chain price of RAVE is temporarily reported at $0.38, with a 24-hour increase of over 12%. The circulating market cap is temporarily reported at $88 million.


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Original article link:https://www.bitpush.news/articles/7597034

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Related Questions

QWhat are the five 'meme coins' discussed in the article and what are their key characteristics?

AThe five coins are PIPPIN (an AI concept coin with heavy insider control), FOLKS (a cross-chain DeFi protocol token), BEAT (a Web3 AI entertainment platform token on BNB Chain), AIA (a decentralized AI agent token), and RAVE (a music and culture community token driven by offline communities and celebrity endorsements).

QAccording to the article, what was the primary reason for the dramatic price surge of PIPPIN?

AThe primary reason was heavy market manipulation by 'wild whales' or insiders. Bubblemaps monitoring revealed that a large number of associated addresses and internal entities controlled a significant portion of the token supply (up to 80%), allowing them to manipulate the price through coordinated buying and selling, leading to massive short squeezes.

QWhich event directly caused the price of FOLKS to surge nearly 24 times from its low?

AThe price surge was directly caused by the official announcement of the S2 incentive campaign by the Folks Finance project.

QWhat major exchange event caused the extreme volatility (a 90% crash and a subsequent 160% pump) for the AIA token?

AThe extreme volatility was caused by Binance Futures announcing the delisting and automatic settlement of all AIAUSDT perpetual contracts, which crashed the price, followed by the announcement that Binance Alpha 2.0 would support a 1:1 contract swap for the token, which subsequently pumped the price.

QHow did RAVE gain significant exposure and celebrity endorsement, as mentioned in the article?

ARAVE gained significant exposure when Donald Trump Jr. tweeted about a collaboration involving Aster and USD1, which RaveDAO was a part of. This tweet was later reshared by CZ (Changpeng Zhao), the founder of Binance, leading to massive publicity and a price increase.

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