The market loves stories of diamond hands who held through volatility and reaped massive rewards. It suggests that financial freedom is just two steps away: buy and wait.
But in practice, being a diamond hand requires immense psychological fortitude. While people often say that patience pays off, the reality for many is different. You wait, watch others profit, and eventually open your hands to find only dust.
Instead of holding less volatile assets like Bitcoin, many choose to invest long-term in so-called “value altcoins.” They hope these tokens will someday be recognized for their worth, delivering returns far beyond the general market.
However, well-known DeFi expert Ignas recently argued in a tweet that holding altcoins long-term based solely on strong fundamentals is often a flawed strategy.
In crypto, attention is the new fundamental.
The Problem with Fundamental Investing
Ignas used the example of Brave browser and its token BAT. Brave has a solid product with around 73 million monthly active users and raised significant funding early on. By all standard measures, it’s a successful project.
Yet, the price of BAT has barely moved since its launch in 2017. During the same period, Ethereum rose from around $250 to over $3,900.
Ignas admitted that BAT was once his largest altcoin holding. Although he sold near the peak, BAT’s stagnant price taught him a clear lesson: product success doesn’t always lead to token appreciation.
In traditional markets, strong performance usually supports higher valuations. In crypto, that logic often fails. Paying for good metrics and promising data can sometimes lead to significant losses.
Even though BAT is fully circulated with no further inflation, its price remains suppressed. Ignas concluded that long-term holding promises—especially for altcoins—should be taken with caution. Timely portfolio adjustments and careful asset selection are crucial.
Attention Is the Real Fundamental
The discussion under Ignas’ tweet brought up an important point: perhaps BAT’s poor performance is due to a lack of marketing and community engagement. The team focused heavily on product development but neglected promotion.
In crypto, attention is everything. Teams should consider working with influencers, building strong communities, and boosting market awareness.
BAT is a classic example of a “fundamentally strong” token with little price action. Had someone held it for seven years, they would have significantly underperformed the market.
Unlike in traditional investing, where technology, user growth, and funding matter most, crypto markets are swayed by narratives, celebrity endorsements, and even controversies. These elements form the new “fundamentals” that drive attention and prices.
Sticking strictly to old-school fundamental analysis may mean missing out on the bigger picture.
Retail Wants Fun, Institutions Want Utility
Memecoins are the ultimate challengers to fundamental investing. People love them because they are simple, entertaining, and often extremely volatile.
Thanks to fair launches and strong cultural identities, memecoins are often seen as democratic and fun. However, evidence suggests that large players are also manipulating these markets. Behind the scenes, institutional forces often influence memecoin prices.
A useful framework divides crypto assets into two categories: those driven by speculative fun and those centered around utility.
On one end, retail investors gravitate toward high-risk, high-reward assets like memecoins. On the other, institutions prefer regulated, utility-driven products such as Bitcoin ETFs or real-world asset (RWA) tokens.
But these two worlds are converging.
Memecoins have gone mainstream. Phantom wallet topped download charts in many countries, and memes have become a global cultural phenomenon. The values of freedom, humor, and chaos resonate with people—and they’re willing to pay for it.
Everything can be tokenized: political figures, celebrities, even internet jokes. In this environment, attention translates directly into market value.
Meanwhile, institutions that once criticized crypto are now embracing it. Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs have been approved, and regulation is increasingly seen as a mark of legitimacy rather than a threat. Some political candidates are even using crypto to attract voters.
Throughout this evolution, one thing remains constant: the power of attention.
Crypto investing is fundamentally different from traditional finance. The term “fundamentals” means something entirely new here—one not necessarily tied to revenue or profit.
Retail investors, tired of being misled by empty promises, often turn to memecoins. Institutions, meanwhile, may prefer utility tokens not because they believe in the fundamentals, but because they need to present “serious” investments to their stakeholders.
In other words, fundamentals have become a packaging tool.
It seems no one is doing pure fundamental investing anymore. Retail is just more open about it.
A Balanced Approach
The smartest strategy may be to embrace both memes and fundamentals.
Take Jupiter, for example. It started as a memecoin launchpad but is now expanding into a unified market. Through the GUM Alliance, it aims to support everything from memecoins to RWAs, stocks, and forex.
By offering both speculative and fundamental assets, Jupiter reflects a new kind of investing logic—one that doesn’t rely solely on fundamentals.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is fundamental analysis in crypto?
Fundamental analysis in crypto involves evaluating a project based on its technology, team, use case, tokenomics, and market position. However, in practice, these factors don’t always correlate with price performance.
Why do memecoins often outperform fundamental tokens?
Memecoins thrive on attention, humor, and community engagement. They are easy to understand, highly marketable, and often attract rapid retail investment, leading to explosive short-term gains.
How should I balance my portfolio between memes and fundamentals?
Diversification is key. Consider allocating a portion to high-risk, high-reward memecoins and another to established projects with real utility. Always do your own research and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
Is long-term holding still a good strategy?
It depends on the asset. Blue-chip cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum have historically performed well over the long term.但对于很多山寨币，长期持有可能不如适时调仓有效。
What role does marketing play in a token’s success?
In today’s market, marketing and community building are often as important as technological development. A strong narrative and visible presence can drive both attention and demand.
Can institutional investment change the way crypto markets work?
Yes. Institutional involvement brings more liquidity, regulatory clarity, and new financial products. However, it may also reduce market volatility and alter the retail-driven culture that defines crypto.
The crypto market is no longer in its early, simple days. Participants are more informed, and strategies are evolving. Classical fundamental investing is becoming less effective—some strong fundamental projects have even failed to beat inflation.
If you extend the time horizon indefinitely, value investing might eventually work. But most retail investors don’t have that kind of patience.
In a fast-moving industry where new trends emerge daily, attention is the scarcest and most valuable resource. The ability to capture and sustain attention often has a bigger impact on price than technical fundamentals.
As one analyst put it: “A token’s ability to attract attention is more important than any other metric. The greater its attention-grabbing power, the higher its potential upside.”
For those investing real money, price appreciation is the only fundamental that truly matters.