“Binance Life” and “Sorala” have become extremely popular in the crypto community! Is Chinese cultur

Recently, two Chinese-language meme coins have become extremely popular in the cryptocurrency community—“Binance Life” and “Sorala”. This trend started on the BNB Chain and quickly spread to the Solana and Base chains. It not only boosted the value of these coins but also helped Chinese culture gain recognition in the Web3 world. Some say that this isn’t just about trading coins; it’s more like a cultural phenomenon where Chinese humor is spreading across the globe.

The cryptocurrency market has always been a melting pot of global culture and capital. But recently, an unprecedented wave of popularity for Chinese-language meme coins has swept the world, even causing crypto investors to start learning Chinese. This phenomenon began on the BNB Chain, sparked by interactions between Binance founder Zhao Changpeng (CZ) and He Yi. This led to the creation of several popular meme coins like “Binance Life” and “Sorala”. After a significant drop on October 11th, these coins showed remarkable resilience and quickly spread to the Solana and Base chains. Is this digital gold rush centered around Chinese humor just a short-lived speculative bubble, or could it be a profound change that signals a shift in cultural power in the Web3 world?

I. The BNB Chain ignited the fire: CZ and He Yi’s “Binance Life” effect

This trend of Chinese-language meme coins can be traced back to a series of events on the BNB Chain at the beginning of October.

● The unexpected rise of “Binance Life”: He Yi, co-founder of Binance, posted a message on the X platform saying, "Wish you a happy Binance life." This comment inadvertently triggered a chain reaction. The meme coin named "Binance Life" quickly became popular on the BSC blockchain, with its market value exceeding $500 million within 96 hours. It became a典型案例， demonstrating how cultural elements can resonate among people in the Chinese-speaking community.

● CZ’s role in fueling the fire: Subsequently, CZ posted a message during the Mid-Autumn Festival, asking for the most creative memes. This further drew attention to BSC meme coins in the community. He Yi actively engaged with the community, and with the support from Binance Alpha’s listing process, meme coins like “Customer Service Xiao He,” “Immortalization,” and “Hakimi” became extremely popular. Their market values reached tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars, attracting many investors to invest in the BSC blockchain. This period was referred to as the “BNB Meme Season.”

● The wealth effect and ecosystem support: The wealth effect from this phenomenon was remarkable, with over 40 people becoming millionaires and nearly a thousand people earning over $1 million. According to deBridge data, the net inflow of funds into the BNB Chain was impressive during this week. Coinglass data showed that the total holdings of BNB contracts across the network reached a record high of $3.088 billion. This meme coin craze effectively enhanced the value of BNB itself.

II. FUD and reflection after the 1011 crash: The controversy over Binance’s role as both “referee” and “player”

However, good times don’t last forever. After the sharp drop in the crypto market on October 11th, doubts about Binance and its founder, Zhao Changpeng (CZ), grew louder in the community.

● Points of concern: Many users are questioning Binance's role in this sharp decline. Issues such as交易所的停机问题、资产去锚定导致的清算问题，以及缺乏透明度等问题都受到了质疑。Critics also accuse Binance of being behind the rise of Meme coins on BSC. They argue that CZ and He Yi act both as judges and participants themselves, indirectly supporting certain coins through community interactions, thereby exposing retail investors to significant speculative risks.

● Market value reduction: As a result, Meme coins on BSC have generally declined. The market value of “Binance Life” dropped from a high of $500 million to $83 million.

● Xu Mingxing's comments: Xu Mingxing of OKX wrote that platforms are not neutral, and engaging in Meme coin speculation could lead to negative consequences. Although he later clarified that he wasn’t against the development of Memes, he still emphasized his opposition to exchanges manipulating market trends.

Thirdly, the second wave of recovery: Chinese Meme coins are thriving across different chains and integrating with various ecosystems.

Despite facing FUD, this wave of Chinese Meme coin enthusiasm hasn’t subsided. Instead, it has reached its second peak and quickly spread to other public chains.

● CZ's continued attention: On October 16th, CZ once again indicated that he would continue to pay attention to Memes, helping to revive the meme coins on BSC. The prices of tokens like “Binance Life” began to rise again. On October 20th, CZ responded on social media that the Base App had launched “Binance Life”. He said, “Good discussions lead to good results. Binance Life is the first Chinese token project to be issued on the BNB Chain and launched on the Base App. We should be open-minded and focus on user needs.”

● The positive embrace of the Base Chain: On October 20th, the X account of the L2 network Base, which is part of Coinbase, announced that the “Binance Life” token could now be directly exchanged within the Base ecosystem. Jesse Pollak, the founder of Base, also posted a tweet in Chinese on the same day, expressing support for Chinese-language meme developers and encouraging more Chinese projects to join the Base ecosystem.

● Solana’s “Solana”: Starting from October 14th, Solana, as a popular meme coin, launched a campaign to find a proper Chinese name for its platform. Finally, on the night of October 20th, the official Chinese name “Solana” was chosen—a combination of the pronunciation of “Solana” and the meme concept of “lading”. This decision led to the creation of another meme coin called “$Solana”.

● Binance’s Support: Binance also joined in by offering perpetual contract trading options related to “Binance Life”, with a leverage ratio of up to 50 times. This further increased market liquidity.

Fourth, the global “Degen” community learning Chinese: Is this a shift in control of Web3 culture?

One of the most notable cultural phenomena of this trend is the rise of a movement among crypto communities to learn Chinese.

● Cultural Counterattack: The Chinese crypto community pointed out that previously, investing in English-speaking meme coins required significant time spent studying Western meme culture and metaphors. This process was complex, and once the meaning of the tokens was understood, investors could only use them as a means of liquidity for Western investors. Now, it’s the turn of foreign “Degen” to desperately try to learn Chinese, just to understand memes like “making money” and “poker,” and to get into the early-stage investment opportunities.

● The Rise of Chinese Memes: On the X platform, not only are investors in meme coins posting content in Chinese, but official accounts like those on Solana and Base have also started to publish content in Chinese. Some even created educational posts in Chinese. Relevant statistics show that among global meme coin holders, the number of downloads of tools for learning Chinese has increased by 50% this month. This seems to indicate a resurgence of Asian culture in the Web3 world.

● The shift in power of discourse: This can be seen as a “cultural counterattack” taking place within the blockchain. It demonstrates that the Chinese-speaking community is no longer just a mere recipient of Western narratives; they can now become a powerful force in storytelling. The “Sun Wukong” on the Solana chain has already demonstrated this ability once before, and “Binance Life” has taken this phenomenon to new heights within Binance’s vast global network of users. It shows the world with real money that Eastern cultures possess the potential to overturn the existing order in the crypto market.

Conclusion:

In just 20 days since early October, the rise of Chinese-speaking meme coins, driven by Binance, raises questions about whether this represents a shift in the power of discourse from English-speaking countries to Chinese-speaking ones. Or is it just a fleeting phenomenon within the market’s excitement? What’s certain is that when Chinese language began to make appearances in trading pairs on exchanges, it undoubtedly left a significant mark in the history of the crypto market. As speculative bubbles collide with Eastern and Western cultures, we will continue to watch what the future holds.