White House Ignites, BSC Spreads Like Wildfire: A Meme Frenzy Bidding Farewell to the "Imperial Decree Mode"

Original | Odaily (@OdailyChina)

Author｜Golem (@web 3_golem)

The meme market witnessed another "golden dog" legend today.

At 11:10 AM on January 21st, the official White House account posted on X mentioning "Victory, Evacuation, and memes". One minute later, a meme token of the same name, 'memes', quickly emerged on the Solana blockchain. Twenty minutes later, a BSC chain version was also launched. A meme race between the two chains officially began.

Empirically, the Solana version should have had the advantage—not only is its ecosystem active, but it also aligns with the "First is first" consensus. However, the result was surprising: the BSC chain's 'memes' surpassed it in market capitalization. According to GMGN data, the BSC version's market cap peaked at $28 million, with 7,300 holder addresses; while the Solana version's peak was only $3.6 million, with 3,900 holder addresses.

GMGN's new feature also reveals where player attention was focused: three 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 "pumped by whales aiming to dump," the genuine market attention doesn't lie—this time, BSC indeed won.

Previously, the community often joked that BSC's meme model was like "copying Shandong style in crypto," where only projects related to CZ or He Yi had a chance, raising concerns about the ecosystem's sustainability. However, BSC's victory in this meme race not only sparked waves of regret from those who missed out but also prompted the community to reconsider the evolution of its meme model. As GMGN founder Haze stated: "The era of BSC 3.0 has arrived."(Odaily Note: Haze holds 1.93% of the BSC chain memes, ranking second on the holdings list.)

CZ and He Yi Publicly State They Do Not Support "Keyword-Scraping Memes"

In a previous Odaily Editorial Tea Talk, I shared my thoughts on the BSC meme model, suggesting that CZ and He Yi have essentially been "held hostage" by the community. The current BSC model—relying on "imperial decrees" for cold starts, sustained interaction through trickery, listing on Binance Alpha, and finally "pouring"—has actually become a community consensus on BSC. Although this model started with CZ's unintentional actions in early 2025, they don't actually like it. However, as it has developed, both CZ and He Yi are now powerless to reverse the situation.

When I first proposed this view, it was merely a hypothesis. Recent public statements from CZ and He Yi have now proven it to be true. On January 13th, CZ stated that while he likes meme coins, if players blindly follow and buy meme coins "scraped" from his tweets, they are almost guaranteed to lose money.

To prevent people from blindly chasing these "keyword-scraping memes," CZ's tweets have become more cautious. Yesterday, CZ retweeted a user-created plush toy based on his likeness, which is a fairly ordinary thing, but CZ still specifically noted: If you create or buy a meme coin based on my tweets, please note that I may not mention the same words again for a very long time, maybe never. I do not recommend you do this. He even added a 🙏 emoji at the end, showing his concern for the community.

Compared to CZ's tactfulness, He Yi's attitude towards the community's "keyword-scraping memes" is more direct. In the early hours of January 21st, under a user's post, He Yi not only stated that she would severely punish any internal Binance leaks or bribery but also "forcefully" said that she does not need to rely on Binance Alpha listing meme coins that scrape keywords from her tweets to find pleasure. She also advised the community to focus on real building and not to delude themselves into thinking that "keyword-scraping and flattery" constitute genuine progress. She also mentioned that she doesn't like eating fish, so players shouldn't cry "Shandong style" just because Binance Alpha didn't list a token she supports.

Under the influence of CZ and He Yi's public stance against "keyword-scraping memes," Binance's official announcements regarding memes have also become more cautious. On January 21st, Binance's Chinese-language account posted about launching a new meme-related product feature. To prevent the community from finding an angle to launch a meme coin, the editor deliberately applied a very thick mosaic. While somewhat playful, this clearly shows the cautious attitude throughout Binance, whether towards meme coins scraping keywords from CZ/He Yi's tweets or from Binance's official posts.

Is BSC Meme Finally Going to Be Different?

Novices watch the excitement, experts watch the intricacies. He Yi's statement not only feels very "human" but has also made seasoned meme players realize 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 just be the appetizer. Ironically, 'memes' itself was also born from the "keyword-scraping" art, only this time the source was the White House.

Furthermore, after the White House posted its tweet, He Yi retweeted it (now deleted). This retweet, unrelated to either Binance or He Yi herself, seemed slightly out of place on her timeline, leaving the community confused about her reason for sharing it. How much credit He Yi's retweet deserves for the BSC version, launched 20 minutes later, outperforming Solana's 'memes' is also worth questioning.

Finally, we might still have to ask that enduring question: Will BSC really be different this time?