Author|Golem(@web 3_golem)
The Meme market today witnessed another legendary "golden dog" story.
On January 21st at 11:10, the official White House account posted on X platform mentioning "victory, eviction operations, and memes". One minute later, a Meme token of the same name, $memes, quickly appeared on the Solana chain; 20 minutes later, a version on the BSC chain was also born. An official Meme race between the two chains began.
From an empirical perspective, the Solana version should have the advantage—not only is the ecosystem active, but it also aligns with the "First is first" consensus. However, the result was surprising: the BSC chain version of $memes surpassed it in market capitalization. According to GMGN data, the BSC version's market cap reached a high of $28 million, with 7,300 holding addresses; while the Solana version's peak was only $3.6 million, with 3,900 holding addresses.
The focus of player attention can also be seen through GMGN's new feature: 3 hours after the token's birth, the number of simultaneous online users for the Solana version remained below 1,000, while the BSC version once approached 3,000.
Although some questioned whether the BSC version's market cap was due to "pump and dump schemes by big players aiming to harvest," the genuine market attention doesn't lie—this time, BSC truly won.
The community often joked that BSC's Meme model was like "Shandong Studies in the crypto circle," where only projects related to CZ and He Yi could succeed, raising concerns about the ecosystem's sustainability. However, BSC's victory in this Meme sprint not only sparked a wave of regret from those who missed out (FOMO), but also prompted the community to reconsider the evolution of its Meme model. As GMGN founder Haze stated: "The BSC 3.0 era has arrived." (Odaily Note: Haze holds 1.93% of BSC chain $memes, ranking second on the holdings list.)
CZ and He Yi Publicly State They Do Not Support "Word-Picking Memes"
I previously shared my thoughts on the BSC Meme model during an Odaily editorial meeting, suggesting that CZ and He Yi were essentially "held hostage" by the community. The current BSC model, which relies on "imperial decrees" for cold starts, feigns continuous interaction, lists on Binance Alpha, and finally gets "poured out" (a likely reference to a meme or specific outcome), is actually a consensus within the BSC community. Although this model started with CZ's unintentional actions in early 2025, they don't actually like it. However,发展到目前这个地步 (developed to this point), CZ and He Yi are powerless to change the situation.
When I published this view, it was merely a conjecture. Recent public statements from CZ and He Yi have proven it to be true. On January 13th, CZ posted saying that while he likes Meme coins, if players blindly follow the trend and buy Meme coins "picked" from his tweets, they are almost certain to lose money.
To prevent everyone from blindly chasing these "word-picking Memes," CZ's tweets have become more cautious. Yesterday, CZ reposted a plush toy created by a user based on his image, which was an ordinary thing, but CZ still specifically noted: If you create or buy Meme coins based on my tweets, please note that I may not mention the same words again for a long time, maybe never. I do not recommend you do this. He even added a 🙏 icon at the end, showing CZ's concern for the community.
Compared to CZ's tactfulness, He Yi's attitude towards the community's "word-picking Memes" was more blunt. In the early hours of January 21st, under a user's post, He Yi not only stated that Binance would severely punish all internal insider trading and bribery, but also "assertively" said that she does not need to rely on Binance Alpha listing Memes that pick words from her tweets for pleasure, and also advised the community to focus on real development, not to mistake "word-picking and flattery" as genuine constructive effort and be self-satisfied. He Yi also mentioned that she doesn't like eating fish (a likely reference to a specific meme or context, perhaps '山东学 Shandong Studies'), and told players not to cry "Shandong Studies" just because Binance Alpha didn't list the tokens she supported.
Under the influence of CZ and He Yi's public statements against "word-picking Memes," Binance's official announcements about Memes have also become cautious. On January 21st, Binance's Chinese-language account posted about launching a new Meme product feature, but to prevent the community from finding angles to launch Meme coins, the editor specifically added a very thick mosaic. Although somewhat戏谑 (playful/mocking), it sufficiently shows the cautious attitude of the entire Binance team, both towards Meme coins picking words from CZ and He Yi's tweets, and those picking words from Binance's official announcements.
Is BSC Meme Finally Going to Be Different?
Laymen watch the热闹 (excitement), experts watch the门道 ( intricacies). He Yi's remarks not only felt very "human" (活人感), but seasoned Meme players realized that the previous BSC Meme model is collapsing from the top down. The successful BSC chain $memes that outperformed on the morning of January 21st might be just an appetizer. Ironically, $memes was also born from the art of "word-picking," only this time it was the White House.
Additionally, after the White House posted the tweet, He Yi reposted it (now deleted). This repost, unrelated to Binance and He Yi herself, seemed slightly突兀 (abrupt/out of place) on her homepage timeline, and the community was confused about the reason for the repost. How much credit He Yi's repost deserves for the BSC version of $memes, launched 20 minutes later, outperforming Solana's $memes is also questionable.
Finally, we might still have to ask that unchanging question: Will BSC really be different this time?
