Research Roundup Newsletter [May 2023]

In our latest issue of Research Roundup, we feature trending market insights in May, charts of the month, and our latest research reports exploring memes — what makes them successful, their role in crypto and Web3, and the resurgence of meme mania.

Welcome to the Crypto.com Monthly Research Roundup Newsletter!

1. Market Index

The 30-day price, volume, and volatility indices were negative at -8.92%, -27.77%, and -25.15%, respectively.

2. Charts of the Month

BRC-20 transactions have been surging since March. The BRC-20 token standard is an experimental fungible token standard for the Bitcoin blockchain. It enables developers to create and transfer fungible tokens using the Ordinals protocol. As of writing, 24,677 tokens have been minted using the BRC-20 standard – like ORDI, the first BRC-20 token.

Learn more about the BRC-20 standard: What is the BRC-20 token standard for Bitcoin?

Dogecoin (DOGE) saw a significant surge in network activity, as its daily transactions increased from an average of 20,000 in early May to hitting the 2 million mark later in the month. Compared to other networks, Dogecoin processed more transactions than Ethereum (~1.9 million) and Bitcoin (less than 1 million) between 27 and 28 May. This increase also coincided with a jump in hashrate, up 38% in May, suggesting an increasing number of miners on the network. 

Learn more about memes in the crypto space from our latest research: The Evolution of Memes and What Makes Them Successful

Data shows that in the past 30 days, the total sales volume for Bitcoin NFTs has grossed US$192 million (as of 1 June), which made Bitcoin the second largest blockchain for NFTs, just behind Ethereum.

Read our research on NFTs in the Bitcoin ecosystem: Bitcoin’s Expanding Ecosystem: Layer-2, DeFi, NFT

3. Monthly Feature Articles

Monthly Feature Article | The Evolution of Memes and What Makes Them Successful 

While memes are commonly understood to denote a joke or humorous image, they have a rich and complex history that can be traced back to the early days of the Internet. 

Today, memes have become an integral part of the crypto world, considered powerful tools in spreading awareness, generating interest, and fostering community engagement for projects. 

In this feature report, we answer questions on what memes are, what makes them go viral, and the role they play in crypto. We also investigate how they create value and provide an outlook for what the future looks like for them. Check out The Evolution of Memes and What Makes Them Successful

Key takeaways:

• Memes were originally defined as units of cultural information that spread from one person to another. They have now evolved to include anything that is a joke or humorous image circulated online and become a primary way of communication on the internet, permeating deep into popular culture.
• What makes a meme successful is how viral it becomes through sharing. Factors like social currency, triggers, emotion, publicness, practical value, and stories can contribute to a meme’s spread.
• Memes have value due to their ability to create network effects and generate engagement. However, since memes can play an important role in shaping culture, they should not just be valued for economic gain but also for cultural importance.
• The future of memes is likely to include potential creation by artificial intelligence (AI) and new forms beyond image and text. Memes also have roles to play in helping to build Web3 ecosystems.

Monthly Feature Article | Web3 and Meme Economy

For our latest private report, we dive deeper into the role memes play in building the Web3 economy and its communities. With the resurgence of meme mania in 2023 — thanks to projects like Pepe coin (PEPE) — we put the spotlight on meme-based assets and how memes help propel these projects to popularity. 

We also make the case for how memes can be a strong driving force in the crypto and Web3 space, using some notable meme-based projects as case studies, including Doge NFT, SHIB — The Metaverse, and Floki Inu. Read about all of this and more in our report, exclusive to our private members. Check out Web3 and Meme Economy

Key takeaways:

• While commonly conveyed as an internet joke, a meme is defined as a “unit of cultural information spread by imitation,” and is used to describe how aspects of culture replicate, mutate, and evolve. Within the crypto space, memes are drivers of culture, which in turn builds communities and economies. As a byproduct of this, meme non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and meme coins have been created. 
• Memes have different roles to play in helping to build Web3 today. They aid in building culture and communities within the space, drive growth through social relevance, and attract significant investment through market sentiment. By integrating utility, Web3 builders can also make these meme-based assets more valuable and appealing to a wider audience.
• Notable meme-based projects that have helped establish Web3 include Doge NFT, SHIB — The Metaverse, and Floki Inu: all have demonstrated that memes are not only a strong driving force for the internet, but also in helping to build Web3 communities.
  • By fractionalising the original Doge NFT into 16,969,696,969 DOG tokens, PleasrDAO managed to build an entirely new decentralised community.
  • Shiba Inu (SHIB) has demonstrated an impressive journey from being a meme coin to building a strong community, and is now expanding into its own Metaverse through SHIB — The Metaverse.
  • Floki Inu (FLOKI) is a blockchain-based project that is building its own suite of several utility projects. The team behind Floki Inu aims to create a comprehensive ecosystem spanning DeFi, NFTs, and the Metaverse: This ecosystem will be powered by the FLOKI token, which will serve as its main utility token.

Monthly Feature Article | Quantitative Analysis of Meme Coins

Amid the meme coin frenzy, we carried out a detailed analysis to see if there is any price correlation between notable meme coins and other tokens over certain time periods. We discovered that certain meme coins tend to show a strong positive correlation with each other, as well as BTC and ETH. Furthermore, meme coins with larger market capitalisation, such as DOGE and SHIB, tend to be more resilient. But what does it mean for meme coin holders? Read about all of this and more in our report, exclusive to our private members. Check out: Quantitative Analysis of Meme Coins

Key takeaways:

• Meme coins often have high volatility and could surge and plummet within a short period of time. This report explores the meme coins performance in two angles: correlation and duration analysis.
• In our study of the correlations among the meme coins, some of our findings include: 
  • In the recent periods (30 days), DOGE and SHIB showed a very strong positive correlation on their prices. However, AIDOGE and PEPE had weak correlation with the other meme coins, as well as BTC and ETH. 
  • In the mid-term (180 days), FLOKI had a weak correlation with the rest of the meme coins.
  • In the longer term (365 days), DOGE, SHIB, ELON still maintained strong positive correlations with each other. Additionally, the large market capitalisation meme coins like DOGE and SHIB displayed strong positive correlation with BTC and ETH, respectively.
• Meme coins can have a meteoric rise in price during a frenzy phase, and may also suffer a rapid descent.
  • We measure the number of days it takes for the prices of the various meme coins to decline from their respective peaks. Meme coins with larger market capitalisation, such as DOGE and SHIB, tend to be more resilient, with prices generally taking more days to decline sharply (20-50%).

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4. Alpha Navigator

This institutional-focused report dives into macro trends, market-neutral pair trades, style-factor screens, and event-driven ideas. Read the full Alpha Navigator report here.

• Risk assets generally dipped in May, although US equities bucked the trend on the back of the tech sector. As 2023 nears the halfway mark, crypto remains the best performing asset class YTD.

• BTC’s 1-month correlation with equities turned negative, and notably its longer-term correlations are stronger with gold than with most of the equity indices.

5. Crypto Conference & Economic Calendar from Market Pulse

Crypto Conferences Calendar

Economic Calendar

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