When foreigners start playing Chinese memes: A Polish trader's perspective on the collision of Eastern and Western crypto cultures

The hottest event in the crypto world over the past two weeks is probably that hilarious and crazy Chinese token ticker that everyone is talking about.

Honestly, as an observer who has been involved in the crypto space for years, this is the first time I’ve seen a Chinese ticker cause such a huge stir. From a casual mention by a big shot to the chain reaction that followed—discussions among exchange CEOs, a Chinese ticker craze on two major public blockchains, project teams publicly debating listing terms leading to a fierce fight—the whole process feels like watching an absurd comedy.

But behind this surface-level excitement, there’s much more beneath the surface.

Foreigners Are Confused: Why Are Chinese Tokens That No One Understands Going Crazy?

I know a Polish trader named Barry, co-founder of WOK Labs, who runs a community of a few hundred traders across Europe. Recently, he told me something quite interesting.

“When I first saw that Chinese ticker with a market cap over $20 million, I was stunned,” Barry recalled. “By the time it hit $60 million or even broke $100 million, our group was exploding. A bunch of people were frantically pumping money into BSC, but they had no idea what they were actually buying.”

This isn’t an isolated case. On-chain data shows that on October 8th, BSC’s trading volume soared to $6.05 billion—approaching the peak of the 2021 meme coin frenzy. Even more astonishing, over 100,000 new addresses participated in transactions that day, with nearly 70% of them actually making a profit. Active addresses compared to the same period last month increased by nearly 1 million.

Interestingly, many Western players only rushed in after seeing the price skyrocket. Once inside, they started “looking up Chinese,” and suddenly realized what it all meant.

Barry was very straightforward: “In the past, meme coins we played were all about American internet culture—self-deprecating, rebellious, dark humor. Suddenly, a bunch of Chinese tokens appeared, and everyone was completely lost.”

Fortunately, Barry had early experience working with Chinese teams to create WOK Labs, giving him an understanding of Chinese community dynamics—relationships, emotional resonance, and other cultural factors. He started educating his European community about Chinese narratives, helping foreigners understand the cultural logic behind this wave of hype.

Two Completely Different Approaches

Digging deeper, it turns out that Eastern and Western communities have fundamentally different ways of playing meme coins.

Europe tends to prefer “conspiracy-type” projects, mainly operating within the Ethereum ecosystem, relying on well-known KOLs or teams to manipulate and pump prices. These communities develop slowly, but the problem is that large holders hold bottom-positioned chips, creating huge dumping risks. So, long-term projects are hard to sustain in Europe.

Chinese communities, on the other hand, focus more on storytelling and emotional building—gathering resonance in WeChat groups. In theory, this “relatively fair” emotional-driven approach makes it easier to form lasting communities.

Especially in this cycle, it’s been incredibly easy for Chinese players—just buy a token related to a popular IP or endorsed by opinion leaders, and you might “print money.” I’ve seen retail investors swap out 65 Chinese meme tokens on BSC within 7 days, starting with $100–$300, then adding to the momentum, netting $87,000 in a week.

This high-frequency “net-sweeping” approach exemplifies the quick speculative style of Chinese retail investors. Western players are now learning to be smarter—avoiding small caps under $500,000 and instead starting from $5 million to look for more certain opportunities.

Barry, who connects Eastern and Western agencies, is increasingly in demand—helping Asian projects gain Western trust and assisting European teams to penetrate Asian markets.

From Dogecoin to Chinese Tokens: The Evolution of Meme Culture

On a broader level, this wave of Chinese meme tokens represents an important shift in crypto culture.

Looking back, the pioneer of Western meme coins was Doge, created in 2013 as a humorous parody of Bitcoin’s serious tone. Later, fueled by Elon Musk and other celebrities, its market cap surged to $88.8 billion in May 2021.

Then there’s Pepe coin, born from the 4chan community, which quickly surpassed $1 billion in market cap after launching in early 2023. This project had no pre-sale, no team allocation, no roadmap—just a declaration that “it has no intrinsic value, for entertainment only.”

This value system dominated many subsequent meme coins on Solana—like Fartcoin, Uselesscoin—nihilistic tokens, or Neet, which embody Western internet rebellious spirit. They used meme images and dark humor to capture investors’ imaginations, dominating the attention economy for a long time.

But Chinese meme coins follow a different path—they’re rooted in resonance and identity projection. For example, tokens that mock low-wage workers, “cultivation” series reflecting escapism, or tickers promising overnight riches. These tokens often have “official” connections.

This illustrates a difference in mindset. Chinese investors see this as “broadening the road,” while most Western players believe that such names imply upper limits controlled by “the system”—whether they can rise depends on whether “the system” is willing to pump.

However, when a ticker is understood and tied to a system by enough people, the “official” side often has no choice but to pump—because ignoring it would be to shoot themselves in the foot when mocked. This might be the real reason many can hold onto their gains after a washout.

It’s worth noting that this wave isn’t entirely retail-driven. From a big shot’s joking reply, to official interactions, to major exchanges launching MemeRush—this is a carefully orchestrated operation. Step-by-step, phased releases of positive news have maintained hype around high-market-cap meme tokens, ensuring their breakout, mid-term liquidity, and long-term sustainability.

Official systems have incorporated meme coin issuance, turning chaos into organized festivities. Market attention has long been focused on BSC, with enthusiasm spreading from individual projects to entire ecosystems, further fueling the “next one could make you a millionaire” Degen mentality.

This “stepwise upward expectation” explains why, at the start of the rally, multiple hot projects emerged simultaneously without significant liquidity siphoning. It’s a result of joint efforts by officials and communities, creating a ladder-like wealth effect.

In contrast, Western meme coins tend to be more luck-based community celebrations or conspiracy-driven pushes. But in the BSC ecosystem, with founders, platforms, and communities working together, the frenzy has turned into a clear “wealth creation movement.”

Exchange Wars and the “US-China Reconciliation”

This wave also sparked a PR battle among exchanges.

On October 11th, a decentralized platform leader called for boycotting centralized exchanges that charge listing fees of 2%-9%. Three days later, CJ, founder of a prediction market project invested in a compliant platform, revealed that to list on a top exchange, projects need to stake $2 million in native tokens and pay hefty fees—including an 8% token airdrop, marketing allocations, and a $250,000 deposit.

He compared the two exchanges, claiming the compliant platform values project fundamentals, while the top exchange is more like “listing for a fee.” The latter quickly denied the accusations, calling them “completely false and defamatory,” emphasizing they never charge listing fees, and threatened legal action.

But their stance softened soon after, issuing a more restrained statement, admitting their initial response was over the top, and reaffirming they do not charge listing fees.

Interestingly, Jesse, head of the compliant platform’s Base chain, publicly said “getting projects listed should be free.” Then, the narrative shifted—this platform suddenly announced support for the native tokens of a major competitor’s chain, marking the first time they supported tokens from a direct rival.

The founder of that top exchange welcomed the move on social media, encouraging more BSC projects to list. CJ also started to reach out proactively, and Jesse’s attitude did a 180—he posted a demo video of the Base App, which surprisingly used Chinese tickers as examples, jokingly saying “开启XX人生模式 in Base App,” and replying to a big shot’s tweet with “XX life + Base life = the strongest combo.”

This series of moves is seen as a thawing of the US-China crypto divide, also bringing the “golden dog” back to the Base chain.

When Asian markets generate enough trading volume and attention, Western exchanges have no choice but to get closer to Chinese communities. The competition among platforms is now intertwined with cultural narratives.

Language Is an Opportunity

Mainstream Western media paid close attention to this development. Many Western retail investors lamented in groups, “We don’t understand the price increases,” rushing to buy after prices soared. Even people like Barry, deeply engaged with Chinese narratives, often face the “know the meaning but not the significance” problem when encountering culturally meaningful meme coins.

For overseas investors, Chinese elements initially became a barrier to entry. I’ve seen developers create Chinese-to-English translation tools for dogs, and foreigners making videos teaching how to learn Chinese to buy meme coins.

This wave emphasizes a key concept—language is an opportunity. For the crypto world, the cultural and emotional information behind different languages is itself a valuable resource. It’s the “first time Western investors need to understand Chinese culture to join the feast.”

Barry remains quite calm: “I think the Chinese meme wave is nearing its end. The longer it lasts, the more PTSD traders will suffer. You see these tokens starting to rotate into smaller, faster-moving sectors.”

But he also notes, “English and Chinese are now the main components of the meme market, and this won’t change soon. China’s market is bigger and more emotion-driven. Europe tends to lag behind. I think English tickers might make a comeback, but they’ll become more integrated with Asian culture—these Chinese-inspired memes will become more Chinese, with Chinese humor, symbolism, and aesthetics.”

To catch the next meme wave, relying on luck alone won’t suffice. Deep understanding of regional communities’ language and culture is essential. AI can help with cross-language dissemination—automatically generating memes, translating social posts—but AI still struggles to replace deep cultural context.

We may see a more multipolar crypto world—more Chinese tickers on chains like Base and Solana, with a blending of East and West cultures, as well as separate ecosystems. Amid these cultural differences, there may be new opportunities hiding in the gaps.