Against the backdrop of narrative-driven pricing in crypto markets and the rapid global spread of Chinese internet culture, a new wave of Meme coins built around Chinese linguistic memes experienced explosive growth between 2025 and 2026. Gate Research Institute released a special report on Chinese Meme coins, analyzing how cultural phrases evolve into financial assets through the lens of Narrative Economics, and explaining how psychological mechanisms, information diffusion structures, and attention competition jointly shape price dynamics

Narratives as the core pricing mechanism: The valuation of Chinese Meme coins is not based on future cash flows or technological expectations, but on a combination of narrative propagation efficiency, emotional consensus strength, and attention density. In the absence of traditional valuation anchors, price itself becomes a verification tool of whether the narrative is still believed—consensus precedes value formation.

A language-driven mutation of Meme narratives: Unlike early Meme coins that relied on animals or visual symbols, the new generation of Chinese Meme coins uses language as the smallest unit of narrative transmission. A single phrase can generate consensus and rapidly become financialized. From identity narratives such as “Apple people vs. Android people” to tokens inspired by phrases like “I’m f***ing here” or other Chinese meme expressions, cultural catchphrases quickly transformed into tradable assets and spread across global crypto communities.

Emotional compensation and strategic gameplay in trading behavior: For most participants, trading Meme coins is less about portfolio allocation and more about wagering on the probability of changing one’s life trajectory. On-chain transparency allows wealth-creation stories to be repeatedly verified and circulated, while loss stories fade quickly from public attention. This dynamic systematically inflates perceived success probabilities. Meanwhile, highly concentrated token holdings create a PVP market structure in which exit timing by early holders becomes a decisive factor in price movements.

Narrative diffusion follows an SIR-like lifecycle: The expansion and decline of Chinese Meme coins can be interpreted using an epidemiological SIR framework—Susceptible participants (potential observers), Infected participants (active narrative spreaders), and Recovered participants (those who exit and stop spreading the story). When new consensus formation slows and exit participants increase, prices often begin to decline—even when the narrative appears to be at peak popularity

Attention as the scarce resource: In an environment where thousands of new tokens emerge daily, the scarce asset is no longer the project itself but market attention. Retweets, discussion volume, KOL mentions, and on-chain trading activity collectively form the core pricing infrastructure of Meme coins. Price thus becomes both a quantitative reflection of attention density and a tool for attracting further attention.

The report concludes that the rise of Chinese Meme coins should not be dismissed as mere speculation, but rather understood as an extreme manifestation of narrative economics within crypto markets. When traditional valuation anchors disappear, narratives themselves assume pricing power, and price becomes the real-time indicator of whether the story is still believed. Under such conditions, Meme coin markets are effectively transitioning from trading assets to trading narratives.