In this issue:

• This Week in Neo Tokyo: The Job’s Not Finished (by PhoenixxDown)

• The Reality of Memecoins (And Why You Are Unlikely To Make It) (by Flower83)

Reliving the Magic

You know that feeling when you finish a great TV show, movie, or book, and you just want more? That’s exactly how many of us felt after The Whisperer wrapped up last weekend.

Good news: if you’re ready to dive back in, check out this post exploring the two-year journey behind The Whisperer. It’s your chance to peek behind the curtain and uncover the magic that brought it to life:

This is how things shaped up with the NT content:

Interlinked #56 – Ben was joined this week by The Citadel’s favorite memer, Photoshopped AF, to talk Bitcoin, Shrapnel, and NFTs beyond the hype. I, for one, am loving these episodes featuring fellow Citizens as guests—it’s a refreshing way to mix things up.

Unfungible Gaming X Space – The art of storytelling can make or break a game. It’s why Final Fantasy VII remains the undisputed GOAT for me—even after all these years, nothing comes close. This week’s session dove into storytelling in gaming with guests from Persona, Forgotten Playland, Moonray, and Spellborne. Catch up on the discussion here.

Market Monday – This Monday was nothing short of a celebration—a historic moment marking Bitcoin’s all-time high. Topics ranged from memes over alts, OpenSea v2, and institutional buying pressure. But the real highlight? Flower’s rousing speech near the start of the session: “We won.” As he rightly said, the job’s not finished, but we’ve won. Listen back here.

Short Scoops

NT Plays Game Night – This week’s featured game is Shrapnel! BYTES and in-game rewards are on the line, as always. Don’t miss it—set your reminders here.

Neo Tokyo News Spotlight – Check out this thread on us, your great and powerful Neo Tokyo News team. Read about what we do, our hopes for the coming year, and a bit about our history:

Updated Infographic – A new Neo Tokyo infographic dropped! With so many projects nearing game-time, which one are you most excited about?

Shibuya Mall – Less than one week remains to grab The Whisperer limited-edition merch collection. Remember: every item purchased enters you into the BYTES giveaway!

BYTES Questions? – We get asked often if we have any info on BYTES. No, we don’t—ever. If we find something out you can be sure it’ll be in this newsletter.

We just keep buying and staking like everyone else. 

But Ktrap is your guy for BYTES updates, so check out his latest here:

And as a bonus, here’s another Citizen who consistently shares thoughtful analysis on BYTES. Big fan of Nenad’s particular brand of bullishness!

Until next week, citizens.

Memecoin supercycle (real). 

I mean sure, I guess. Okay. I get it.

No, no, seriously, I do.

This time around it's (actually?) different. This cycle:

• the NFTs are dead

• crypto gaming didn't do what it was supposed to (and is slacking behind everything else)

• the greedy VC’s made it impossible for any new investors or researchers to get in early, and they destroyed new coin launches with low float high FDV.

• The old coins from the previous cycle are dead and forgotten. 

So what do “we” (the common people) have left? Obviously, only memecoins remain. I get it. It almost seems natural, organic, and the conditions are finally right for the little guys, like you and me, to finally make it in this web3 space.

Actually, many already did, right?

When you see these types of posts THEY want you to believe you can make it too, but the reality is that it is statistically, mathematically & practically not very likely. It's them pushing this narrative, because it is their game, their territory.

Here’s a different perspective I feel isn't talked about as much: most people lose money trying to make it with memecoins. Twitter is an echo chamber, not at an accurate expression of what's going on. Just think about it logically. The markets are efficient and there is only so much money to go around. For each 2x you see someone make, there is someone else, who made 0.5x on the same coin, or will, at some point in the future. You are selling to them. You are taking their money.

It's simple, elementary and pure math of game theory, trading is a zero-sum PvP mechanism, in which you are unlikely to have an edge as an average participant; which leads me to perhaps the most painful realization:

In order to truly make it (get to a level of life-changing money) you have to be one of the following:

• A Dev who deploys the coin when a new narrative is hot. Or a rugger with intentions to scam from the get-go.

• An Influencer with a large following of people that will blindly ape into the coins you bought early. This also implies you have compromised morals and don't care if others go underwater as long as you make profits.

• An Intuitive Trader. Someone who is extremely good at reading market sentiment and how the attention economy works in the meme space. Meaning, you have to be locked in daily for multiple hours to get a feel for how markets move, and absorb, on an intuitive level. Or what other things might moon based on patterns of human behavior you have observed over WEEKS or even MONTHS of tracking the memecoin space.

• A Technical Trader. Someone who puts in hours of work, has coded software that tracks (or manually tracks) and copy trades successful whales with proven track records of turning a profit. This also likely means you have set up trading bots, telegram pings, Twitter notifications, and you are chronically online to get into new hot tickers early. This also implies you have a rigid sell strategy with proper risk management.

• An Insider, or at least someone who is actually connected to wealthy individuals that deploy coins, and make them pump and then, of course, dump. Which means you have to get out before it nukes.

• A Lucky Person, or as they would like to call themselves; “early.” But read this properly. You are in essence a gambler. You are not a genius, you have no market edge, you got lucky. So there's little difference between full porting into random low caps memecoins or scratching tickets at your local mall. Do not pretend otherwise.

The reality is that if you are not any of these things (and most of us are not) and you are simply NOT GONNA MAKE IT.

Here are some more facts:

Most people are just like you and me; they lose money, get rugged, roundtrip, sell too early, or buy the wrong ticker. Twitter is not an accurate reflection of what's ACTUALLY going on - it doesn’t show the hundreds of thousands of people that make losses, the algo just feeds you lucky wins, because that is what people are drawn towards.

Another hard pill to swallow is that, because of the people mentioned above (the ones making it with memecoins), the entire game is giga-rigged. And not in your favor.

It still takes skill, dedication, time and perhaps most of all luck. Its hard for the average person to get any type of edge.

If memecoins are something you are truly passionate about, by all means, try your luck in the casino. Or perhaps, you actually have what it takes to watch new coin launches, be chronically online, risk tons of capital and or get rugged many times before you hit the big one? And when you do, you might actually have what it takes to hold it for 200x? 🤔

I know I’m not, and it's okay to admit that.

I'm not saying don't dabble with it. But if it's not something you enjoy, and it actually puts pressure on your mental and physical health, you don't have to play their game. You don't have to give in to the FOMO and madness you see all around you, in the charts and on social media.

There’s other, arguably better, and more rewarding ways to make consistent money.

All content from Neo Tokyo News is for entertainment purposes only, and not financial advice.

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