He Yi: My MeMe Learning Notes

Original Title: "MeMe Learning Notes"

Author: He Yi, Co-founder of Binance

1. Subculture: From the Margins to Center Stage

Expression is a human universal. A good meme can cross cultural boundaries and spark an instant knowing smile. When collective self-identity, emotions, and subjective intentions converge among the masses, they form unique values, semantics, and expressions—like the "Zang'ai Family" during the QQ era, the viral dance trends of the mobile video age, or the marginalized "Santone Gods" in post-industrial society—giving rise to distinct subcultures. I didn’t grow up in Western culture, but I believe every culture has its niche groups with whom you deeply resonate. The subcultures I mentioned may seem obscure and outdated now—not ideal examples of meme expression—but historically, they represented extreme forms with striking imagery that felt refreshingly novel. At their core, no subculture is inherently superior. A hippie attending meditation retreats isn't necessarily more refined than someone reading story collections; being into reincarnation or Star Wars isn't aesthetically superior to liking Hong Kong triad films. In fact, the more niche the taste, the less common ground it shares. Our generation has lived through the agricultural revolution, industrial revolution, and information revolution, and now we’re crashing headfirst into AI. Chaos is the norm. All authorities are being dismantled. One icon after another turns out to be overrated. Memes are silent thunderclaps—the most intense form of expression from the crowd, a subcultural assault on mainstream culture. That’s why being photoshopped or having your image turned into a cryptocurrency is part of the deconstruction process. That's why I feel I’m still unworthy of becoming the center of a meme. Likewise, chasing trending topics on X (formerly Twitter), or waiting for replies from CZ or me—that’s not the optimal path to discovering or creating memes. Memes live within you.

2. Who Can Surpass Doge?

There’s only one Doge. Back in 2013, during Bitcoin’s first bull run, countless projects tried to imitate Bitcoin. They mocked Bitcoin while also poking fun at themselves—half-joking, half-serious, full of passion. The developers eventually abandoned the project, but the community kept it alive, adding a significant chapter to crypto history. In Chinese crypto circles, Jiang En traveled the world giving away Dogecoins, pioneering a unique niche: “Preach the gospel of the industry—reward first.” Back then, BBS users would say, “I like your vibe,” and send 10,000 Dogecoins as a tip, leaving recipients stunned in the wind, struggling to calculate just how much 10,000 Doge was worth without a calculator. Throughout crypto’s evolution, each community has had its own “Jiang En.” Later, Elon Musk’s affection for Doge propelled this subculture into the mainstream. Today, Doge is more than just a dog. Memes are attention economies, but they’re not *just* about attention. If memes were merely today’s Twitter trending topics, they’d inevitably be fleeting. Great memes don’t come from celebrities making jokes—that doesn’t make a meme. That’s just worshiping elites, whether politicians or entrepreneurs, and frankly, that’s not cool. On the flip side, those who oppose everything for opposition’s sake often reveal hypocrisy: far-left radicals may secretly harbor far-right tendencies; those screaming loudest for decentralization often end up the most centralized. Maintain critical thinking. Separate truth from falsehood. Imagine someone in your group chat tells you to buy into today’s trending topic. Tomorrow, that topic will cool off. But if that attention could evolve into a product, a belief, even a religion—then perhaps the next Doge could emerge. Maybe even something that surpasses Doge. Why not? Anything is possible.

3. Is Long-Termism Outdated?

I don’t trade, but I hold long-term because I follow the logic of value investing. The same goes for running a business—I adhere to long-termism, building a clock or a garden. Binance is merely infrastructure—a stage. On it, projects and investors might achieve mutual success, or mutual failure. This depends on competence, mindset, and judgment. Truly exceptional entrepreneurs are rare. You need long-term vision, you need to do your own research (DYOR), and you also need to know when to cash out. It’s not that long-termism is outdated—could it be that you’ve simply chosen the wrong thing to be long-term about? When the wind blew toward blockchain, investors threw massive amounts of money at projects. Founders could claim their startup was worth $100M, $1B, even $100B. Everything could be tokenized. Price and value may diverge, but over cycles, they tend to converge in the long run. The market size in 2017 was nothing compared to today. Even the 2021 DeFi Summer pales in scale. Yet we see more outstanding entrepreneurs entering Web3, the industry keeps growing, but confidence is waning. Many users ask why valuations can’t return to ICO-era highs. We can never go back, but we’re trying new things—letting users vote projects up or down, enabling Web3 wallet IDOs. Projects can choose low-barrier, low-market-cap launches where real users actually profit—far better than paying for fake metrics and deceiving ourselves. Whether it’s memes or AI, gaming or DeFi, social or RWA—let a thousand flowers bloom. May there still be beer left in our cups after each wave of hype deflates. Fortunately, history repeats itself. The grand promises of past tech revolutions—changing the world—are gradually being fulfilled by those who come after. I hear many serious projects are losing the will to persist. Hey! Friends, new风口 will always emerge, but the world belongs to the few who push it forward. Instead of chasing风口, become the风口.

4. Investment Advice Everyone Asks For

All my assets are in crypto, and my long-term hold strategy isn’t suitable for most people. But here’s one piece of advice worth taking: earn money with certainty. 1. Earn from cycles—have a rough understanding of economic and bull/bear cycles. Selling in bull markets and buying in bear markets is basic. 2. In any asset class, the winner-takes-most principle applies. 3. It’s recommended to allocate at least 20% of your portfolio to crypto. Land was the asset of agrarian civilization, minerals the hard currency of the industrial age—top internet stocks and top cryptocurrencies with strong network effects are the premier assets of the information age. 4. Some friends say high-fundamental coins lack volatility. Without leverage or trading high-risk tokens, opportunities seem limited. In that case, allocate no more than 10% of your disposable assets. 5. Most of these principles are already widely understood—no need for me to lecture. The hard part is execution, just like weight loss. Wishing everyone not only knows—but does.