Romuch

Continuing today's memecoin recap series The first token I want to talk about is $POKÉMON I previously called $POKÉMON in my channel and identified the dip around $1M market cap as a potential entry zone worth watching Pretty nice to see that the token pulled back right into that area before recovering strongly to around $2M market cap, nearly a 2x move from the dip Initially, what caught my attention was the Pokémon narrative gaining traction after Pumpfun introduced its new card pack opening feature. However, after spending more time looking into the trading structure, fee distribution mechanism, and community activity, I found a few things that make this token more interesting than a typical memecoin simply riding a trend Here's what I've found so far and my current take on $POKÉMON 1. Why is $POKÉMON attracting liquidity? Personally, I think timing is one of the biggest factors here Pump.fun recently introduced Packs, a feature that allows users to purchase and open packs containing authenticated physical Pokémon cards, with prices starting at around $25 What's interesting is how quickly this feature has started gaining traction on X. I've been seeing more and more KOLs sharing their pack-opening results, showing off rare Pokémon cards, and even posting about winning Rolex watches High-value prizes like these naturally attract attention and fuel FOMO, especially in a crypto community that's already familiar with speculation and chasing opportunities for outsized returns I think this is one of the main reasons the narrative has the potential to spread beyond its initial audience. When a KOL shows off a valuable prize, others get curious and want to try it themselves, creating even more content and attention across social media Of course, those big wins being shared online don't necessarily reflect the actual odds of winning. I tried opening three packs myself, and all three ended up being losses haha Coming back to $POKÉMON, the token appeared right as this narrative started gaining traction On top of that, the community seems to view the token using the correctly spelled Pokémon name, including the accent, as one of the main representatives of this emerging meta However, it's worth clarifying that $POKÉMON has no official affiliation with Nintendo or The Pokémon Company. It's still a community-driven memecoin built around the Pokémon narrative What interests me more is how the community is gradually building an entire ecosystem of tokens around $POKÉMON rather than focusing on just one memecoin That's also why I wanted to take a closer look at Custom Pairs and Holder Rewards, two mechanisms that make this token somewhat different from most memecoins simply riding a trend 2. What makes Custom Pairs interesting? This is probably one of the most interesting aspects of $POKEMON's current structure Through Pump.fun's Custom Pairs feature, new tokens can be launched and traded against other tokens instead of relying exclusively on SOL or stablecoins The community is taking advantage of this mechanism to build a Pokémon-themed ecosystem where: > solana:CARDSccUMFKoPRZxt5vt3ksUbxEFEcnZ3H2pd3dKxYjp serves as a token associated with Collector Crypt's trading card ecosystem > $POKÉMON is being used as a base asset in certain trading pairs > Other Pokémon-themed memecoins, such as Charizard, Pikachu, and Mewtwo, can be created and traded through pairs involving $POKEMON This creates an interesting structure If more Pokémon-themed tokens continue launching and using $POKÉMON as their base asset, trading activity across those pairs could potentially generate additional demand and liquidity for $POKÉMON itself According to information shared within the community, @PumpfunEco previously mentioned more than $1.1M in trading volume being generated for what the community considers the main runner through Custom Pairs However, I wouldn't interpret all of that volume as net buying pressure. Trading volume includes both buys and sells, and the actual impact depends on liquidity conditions and the structure of each pool Still, I think this gives $POKÉMON a somewhat different setup compared to memecoins that rely entirely on their names and social media attention 3. Holder Rewards – How does the fee distribution mechanism work? Another thing that caught my attention is the Holder Rewards mechanism currently operating on Pumpfun Instead of sending all creator fees directly to the token creator's wallet, $POKÉMON uses a mechanism that distributes a 0.3% trading fee allocation to token holders Based on the information I've gathered, holders with positions worth approximately $20 or more are eligible to receive rewards. These rewards are distributed automatically based on holding size, without requiring users to claim them manually What's interesting is that because $POKÉMON is trading through Custom Pairs involving solana:CARDSccUMFKoPRZxt5vt3ksUbxEFEcnZ3H2pd3dKxYjp, rewards are currently being distributed in solana:CARDSccUMFKoPRZxt5vt3ksUbxEFEcnZ3H2pd3dKxYjp rather than SOL A few numbers worth highlighting from the data I checked: > Holder Rewards : 0.3% – the portion of trading fees allocated to holders through the token's reward mechanism > Total Distributed : 43.9K CARDS – the total amount of solana:CARDSccUMFKoPRZxt5vt3ksUbxEFEcnZ3H2pd3dKxYjp distributed to holders at the time of my check. > Total Payouts : 28.4K – the number of recorded reward distributions, not the number of unique holders I also noticed that some of the larger recent recipient wallets had received approximately 1.7K CARDS and 1.65K CARDS However, these figures represent rewards received by individual wallets, not returns that every holder should expect Personally, I think this mechanism fits the current narrative quite well As trading activity across the Pokémon ecosystem increases, more fees can potentially be generated, which could translate into additional rewards for holders The fact that rewards are paid in solana:CARDSccUMFKoPRZxt5vt3ksUbxEFEcnZ3H2pd3dKxYjp also creates an economic connection between $POKÉMON and the token associated with Collector Crypt's ecosystem That said, I wouldn't consider this a stable source of passive income Rewards are generated from trading fees. If volume declines, distributions will likely decline as well. The actual value of those rewards also depends on the market price of solana:CARDSccUMFKoPRZxt5vt3ksUbxEFEcnZ3H2pd3dKxYjp Another thing worth considering is that rewards are distributed proportionally, meaning larger wallets can receive significantly more than smaller holders Overall, I see Holder Rewards as a useful supporting mechanism for $POKÉMON while trading activity remains strong, especially when combined with Custom Pairs But there's an important distinction between having a working reward mechanism and having something capable of sustaining a token's value over the long term 4. Is $POKÉMON really the main runner of this meta? Personally, I think $POKÉMON currently has a relatively clear advantage over many other Pokémon-themed tokens It combines three elements that fit an emerging narrative quite well: good timing around the launch of Pump.fun Packs, Custom Pairs activity involving the token, and an active Holder Rewards mechanism The token has also attracted attention from several traders and accounts within the Pump.fun ecosystem However, being considered the main runner by the community doesn't automatically mean the token will reach $10M, $20M, or even higher market caps Pump.fun doesn't need any particular memecoin to reach tens of millions in market cap for its Packs feature to succeed The platform can continue developing its product and attracting users without directly supporting $POKÉMON I think this is an important distinction Right now, $POKÉMON is benefiting from the narrative and liquidity flowing into the Pokémon meta. But to maintain that position, it needs to keep attracting liquidity even after the initial excitement surrounding Packs begins to fade 5. Risks I'm still watching Although I find the overall narrative structure relatively interesting, there are still several risks worth considering First, the creator Based on the information I've reviewed, the wallet responsible for creating the token has a history of launching multiple memecoins This makes me somewhat cautious about the team's long-term commitment Second, $POKÉMON doesn't have an independent product, a clearly established roadmap, or any official connection to the Pokémon brand Most of its current value comes from community activity, trading volume, and the attention surrounding Pump.fun Packs Another concern is that the Pokémon meta on Solana is becoming increasingly crowded As more tokens enter the market, liquidity could become fragmented or rotate into newer runners The Holder Rewards mechanism may encourage people to hold while volume remains high, but it won't necessarily prevent selling pressure if the narrative starts losing momentum I've also seen community discussions about a potential airdrop involving 10% of the token supply for holders through a community website However, I haven't found enough on-chain evidence to independently confirm that distribution, so I'm not treating it as a guaranteed catalyst 6. My current outlook and plan Coming back to the chart, $POKÉMON has recovered quite nicely from the $1M market cap area I highlighted in my channel and is now testing the region around $2M What I find encouraging is that buyers have continued stepping in after some relatively sharp pullbacks This suggests that market interest hasn't completely disappeared In the short term, I think $POKÉMON still has room to move higher if Pump.fun continues attracting users through Packs and trading activity across Custom Pairs remains strong If the community keeps building new trading pairs and generating actual demand for $POKÉMON, this narrative could potentially last longer than a typical short-lived hype cycle On the other hand, if volume starts fading and liquidity rotates into newer tokens, I'm not going to force myself to hold a position just because the community believes it should become the main runner of the entire meta At current levels, I'm not particularly interested in FOMO after an almost 2x recovery from the dip I'd rather watch how price reacts around $2M and wait for a more reasonable pullback if I decide to increase my position Overall, I still consider $POKÉMON one of the more interesting memecoins in the current meta Not because it has some extraordinary lore or long-term utility, but because of the combination of timing, Custom Pairs, and Holder Rewards A strong narrative can attract liquidity, but the ability to retain that liquidity is what ultimately determines how far a token can go Either way, this setup has played out pretty close to what I was expecting when I first called it in my channel D42TjMjz5H7toPu5md5KBXreZkCSdZMEfLQwmBhJXvb1

#牛来 has now reached an ATH of nearly $40M By now, I think most people already know the basic story behind it, so I won’t repeat the entire thesis. But over the past few days, there have been some pretty important updates that make me think this narrative is becoming much more interesting than just “a failed movie turned meme” 1. First, we’re starting to see the power of a billion-person market The most important thing is still that this attention is coming from outside crypto 《牛来》 initially had almost no audience, reportedly making only around 7K–11K RMB during its first 10 days But because of its rough animation, bizarre storyline, and how unusual the whole thing looked, people started talking about it everywhere People literally went to theaters just to find out : “How bad can this movie actually be?” And that reverse-viral loop has scaled much faster than I expected By August 16, some data being shared showed the movie making more than 4M RMB in a single day, bringing its total box office close to 5M RMB From ~10K RMB in 10 days => millions of RMB in a single day Screenings also went from almost nothing => thousands, with some data showing more than 10,000 scheduled screenings at one point Clips around the movie are also continuing to spread across Douyin and Weibo, with one theater clip reaching around 700K views This is where you start to understand the power of a billion-person market You don’t need all of China to know about 牛来 Even a tiny percentage of that market participating in the same cultural event can generate an insane amount of attention 2. But the most interesting update to me is the story behind the people who made 《牛来》 This is something I didn’t really cover in my previous post 《牛来》 wasn’t made by some huge animation studio with hundreds of people behind it The story now spreading around the movie is that it was made by a tiny team of around three people who spent nearly six years working on it, taking other jobs to support themselves while continuing to build the project And that’s starting to change the sentiment around the movie At first : “This movie looks terrible” Then : “How bad is it? I need to see it” And now we’re starting to see : “They actually spent six years making this? I kinda want to support them” Mockery => Curiosity => Support I think this is an important evolution of the narrative Absurdity can make a meme go viral But an underdog story can create emotional attachment If 牛来 can transition from something people watch just to laugh at into something people genuinely want to support, the lifespan of this narrative could become very different 3. And the name “牛来” is still one of my favorite parts of the whole thesis I want to bring this up again because it matters a lot for crypto 牛 = Bull 来 = Come So “牛来” can naturally be memed as : “The Bull Is Coming.” The movie creates the real-world attention But the name gives crypto the ability to turn it into a completely separate meme If 牛来 eventually becomes more than just the name of a viral movie and starts being used more broadly as “the bull is coming / 牛来了,” then the narrative could potentially outlive the movie’s viral cycle itself 4. ~$7M → nearly $40M didn’t happen for no reason The token didn’t suddenly launch some revolutionary product or completely new roadmap What changed was the scale of attention behind it Box office up Screenings up Douyin/Weibo attention up Media coverage up The story behind the small team is spreading Chinese CT is paying more attention Crypto is simply doing what it does best: front-running attention Real-world event => social media => cultural meme => Chinese CT => liquidity And $牛来 is sitting right in the middle of that loop 5. But at ~$40M, the question has changed Before, the question was : “Will 牛来 actually go viral?” I think we already have the answer It has The question now is how much further that attention can expand, and more importantly, whether the sentiment can evolve from pure curiosity into a real cultural movement Does the box office keep growing? Does Douyin/Weibo keep pushing it? Does the underdog story behind the team make more people want to support it? Does Chinese CT keep expanding? And ultimately, can “牛来” become a meme of its own instead of remaining just the name of a viral movie? Those are the catalysts I’m watching now From a movie making around 10K RMB in its first 10 days => millions of RMB in a single day From almost no screenings => thousands of screenings From being laughed at => people getting curious => people actually starting to support the story behind it And in crypto : ~$7M ATH => nearly $40M ATH This is no longer just a story about a chart pumping It’s an attention trade being driven by a real cultural event happening outside crypto And with a billion-person market behind it, the most important thing to watch from here still isn’t the chart It’s how far the attention can go 0xBEEA1D618e533a387D941F58a7d4c9b7bD377777