The new meme trend is coming, the secret of Xiaohongshu's rise in the cryptocurrency circle

Author: Pzai, Foresight News

January 19 is the date when the "TikTok Ban" bill approved by the U.S. Supreme Court is set to take effect. As this deadline approaches, Xiaohongshu unexpectedly becomes a new gathering place for a large number of American users (self-proclaimed "TikTok Refugees"). Consequently, the MEME token MOMO on Solana has surged from a low point, reaching a market cap that soared from $100,000 to nearly $12 million at one point, reflecting the market's fervent enthusiasm. What is MOMO? Why are users flocking to a pink dinosaur avatar?

Identity Recognition

On January 10, the U.S. Supreme Court announced the upholding of the ban on TikTok, requiring its parent company ByteDance to divest TikTok by January 19, 2025, or face a complete ban. This decision sparked strong dissatisfaction and concern among American users, especially creators and ordinary users who rely on TikTok. They began to look for alternative platforms, and Xiaohongshu, with its similar content format and community atmosphere to TikTok, became the first choice for many American users. These users created the "TikTokRefugee" tag on Xiaohongshu to share their migration stories and life content. As of January 13, the number of posts under this tag exceeded 84,000, with total views surpassing 61 million. Meanwhile, Xiaohongshu's downloads surged to the top of the free charts in the U.S. App Store in a short period.

This event also attracted attention in the crypto community, with Solana founder Toly retweeting related posts from Xiaohongshu, reflecting the event's popularity in the U.S. MOMO, as one of the design IPs under WeChat, provides a system default ID and avatar when users log into platforms like Xiaohongshu, Douban, and Zhihu using WeChat authorization and choose to skip the naming and avatar steps.

As more and more users actively choose the nickname and avatar "MOMO," it gradually evolves into a synonym for an anonymous group. From a psychological perspective, this phenomenon reflects the complex mindset of contemporary youth under privacy protection and social pressure. First, the choice of an anonymous identity may stem from the need to protect privacy, avoiding detection or tracking by acquaintances, thereby maintaining personal privacy in an era of high information transparency on the internet. This behavior may be a form of escape from social expectations or a rebellion against the pressure of maintaining a unique online identity.

Secondly, choosing "MOMO" may be a way to simplify identity, reducing the pressure of maintaining a specific online persona across multiple platforms. Users under the "MOMO" identity may feel safer expressing themselves, gaining a certain degree of psychological security without worrying about the consequences, which is significant for their mental health and online interactions. Moreover, "MOMO," as a representative symbol in this hot topic, aligns perfectly with the values and practices of crypto culture due to its anonymity and meme virality, just as users choose "MOMO" to maintain privacy and control over their digital identities.

In previous cases, we can see the significant MEME effect brought by TikTok. This effect may also be replicated on Xiaohongshu, as the spread of MEMEs often relies on group effects and "herd mentality." As a highly symbolic form of content, MEMEs can quickly convey emotions and viewpoints while having low barriers to participation. Xiaohongshu, as a platform primarily based on UGC (user-generated content), accelerates the spread of MEMEs through user interactions and imitation behaviors, quickly triggering more user participation and forming a snowball effect. Furthermore, for the Chinese community, the spread of Xiaohongshu MEMEs is even more conducive to user participation, as the cultural barriers of MEMEs are rapidly disappearing, even impacting external cultural circles.