The battle for the true Moo Deng

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In the world of meme coins, three distinct versions of the Moo Deng token, launched across the Solana, Sui, and Ethereum blockchains, are competing for dominance. Each aims to carve out a place not only in the meme coin community but also in the broader blockchain landscape, with varying degrees of success and challenges.

The contenders

The first Moo Deng coin launched on Solana, it quickly reached a market cap of $336 million.

Backed by major exchanges and market makers like Wintermute, it has maintained the highest trading volume, with over $100 million in 24-hour trades—approximately 75% of its market cap. However, recent price volatility, including a 50% drop, suggests the initial fervor may be cooling.

Sui’s version, known as “Sudeng,” gained attention after a $150,000 donation was made on its behalf to a zoo housing the baby hippo. This boosted the coin’s visibility, and Sudeng now has the highest market cap among the three at $160 million.

However, its daily trading volume is relatively low, with only $30 million in trades—about 20% of its market cap. Concerns about centralized supply have emerged, as nearly 60% of Sudeng tokens are held by just two exchanges, and the top 300 wallet addresses appear to be linked to a single entity.

$HIPPO IS A HONEYPOT.

– The first 300 holders/addresses have an average lifespan of 12 days, and 71 of these 300 addresses have never made a single transaction—only received tokens.

– None of these 300 addresses have a Sui name service.

– The standard deviation is just 4 days,… pic.twitter.com/Bzs8ZfpjQS

— xsui (@0xxsui) October 9, 2024

On Ethereum, the Moo Deng token gained traction when Vitalik Buterin sold nearly 5% of the token supply and donated $760,000 to charity, causing the price to increase by 500%.

I appreciate all the memecoins that donate portions of their supply directly to charity.

(eg. I saw ebull sent a bunch to various groups last month)

Anything that gets sent to me gets donated to charity too (thanks moodeng! The 10B from today is going to anti-airborne-disease…

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) October 7, 2024

However, this move also raised concerns over centralization, as it was possible to send Buterin 15% of the total token supply. Currently, Ethereum’s Moo Deng has the smallest market cap, at $60 million, and its trading volume remains low at $10 million daily. It has also not yet been listed on any major centralized exchange, limiting its growth potential.

The road ahead

Industry experts point to several factors that typically define a successful meme coin: distribution, community engagement, market value, trading activity, and the Lindy effect—the idea that the longer something survives, the longer it’s likely to continue surviving.

By these metrics, the Solana version currently holds the lead. However, the crypto market is notoriously volatile, and the ultimate victor may well be determined by which token secures coveted listings on top-tier exchanges like Binance or Coinbase.

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This article first appeared at Crypto Briefing