Narrative upgrade: the new focus of hype

Author: Frontier Lab

introduction

cryptocurrencyThe market has entered a bull market since 2024, and investment opportunities continue to emerge. Historical data shows thatcryptocurrencyThe market has the characteristic of alternating rises. Usually, BTC is the pioneer of the upward trend of the entire industry, and then otherTokenOnly then will it start to follow the rise.

However, unlike in the past, most Altcoins performed relatively weakly in this bull market.

Although BTC has increased by 70.86% in 2024, most Altcoins have failed to exceed BTC in terms of growth, and some have even declined. Take the leading projects in the main track as an example:

• ETH (the leader of the public chain) has increased since the beginning of 2024: 55.65%;

• ARB（ETH-L2The leader of the track) The increase from the beginning of 2024 to date: -37.81%;

• LDO (the leader of the LSD track) has increased since the beginning of 2024: -34.84%;

• STX（BTC-L2The leader of the track) has increased by 30.46% since the beginning of 2024;

This rare phenomenon can be explained from two perspectives: macroeconomics and crypto market:

• From a macroeconomic perspective: The Federal Reserve has maintained a high interest rate environment of 5.25%, and there is uncertainty in the expected returns of risky funds, resulting in fewer new investors than in previous bull markets.

• cryptocurrencyIndustry perspective: Supply has increased significantly, and the monthly lifting of restrictionsTokenThe market value remains high, and investors are keeping silent about it.

Although the overall cryptocurrency market performed mediocrely, there were some bright spots.TokenandAIThe token has achieved a growth rate that exceeds that of Bitcoin this year, attracting widespread attention from investors. In addition, some tokens that focus on the "narrative upgrade" of crypto assets have been ignored by most investors, and tokens with the concept of narrative upgrade are expected to become the new focus of market speculation this year.

Definition of the Narrative Upgrade Track

The narrative upgrade track is an emerging concept that is no longer limited to a single project change, but covers a wider range.

The core of this concept is to make the project brand new and regain competitiveness through comprehensive upgrades and reforms. Specifically, the narrative upgrade track can be achieved by changing the narrative of the project, adjusting the basic logic of the project, upgrading the business model, launching innovative products, adjusting the token mechanism, merging with other projects, and even upgrading the brand.

In short, as long as a project can reshape its image by introducing transformative initiatives, it can be classified as part of the narrative upgrade track. The introduction of this concept has injected new vitality into the development of projects and opened up a new path for the advancement of the industry. Therefore, the narrative upgrade track will become one of the important directions for the development of future projects and will certainly play an important role in future development.

Advantages of the Narrative Upgrade Track

Have a user base: Most projects in the narrative upgrade track have usually experienced at least one bull market and bear market and have a stable user base.Communityand user groups. In contrast, new projects usually take some time to establish theirCommunityAnd cultivate loyal users. The consensus gained by narrative upgrade track projects makes it easier for them to be accepted by the market for their new changes.

High market trust: In narrative upgrade track projects, the team is more stable. After a long period of operation, the team has a deeper understanding of user preferences and market characteristics. Compared with new projects, the team of old projects is more likely to gain the trust of the market and users. The team of new projects needs time to gain a foothold in the market and gain recognition.

Strong resource integration capabilities: After long-term operation in the cryptocurrency market, such projects have accumulated various resources, including capital recognition, familiarity with more market-making teams, and exposure to more operational strategies, which is an advantage that new projects cannot compare with.

Richer experience: In the cryptocurrency market, in addition to having advantages in its own business and operations, projects also need to be familiar with the operating rules of the entire market. Experienced teams can seize as many opportunities as possible at different time points in the market.

Although the saying "speculate on new but not old" is widely spread in the cryptocurrency market, the reason why old projects can survive in the market for a long time, especially those teams that have experienced bull and bear markets, are still actively promoting project changes. This is because they have various advantages that other new projects do not have, which also provides impetus for the rise in token prices.

Classic Case

Vanar Chain

Before the narrative upgrade

Vanar Chain's predecessor, Terra Virtua, was founded by Gary Bracey and Jawad Ashraf. In 2018, the Terra Virtua mainnet was launched. At that time, Terra Virtua's main business was to build a public chain project based on the metaverse. It was originally a VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality) content platform based on paid subscriptions and supported cryptocurrency payments. At that time, it belonged to the public chain and metaverse track category.

After the narrative upgrade

The first narrative upgrade: In 2020, Terra Virtua carried out its first narrative upgrade. At that time, the entire cryptocurrency market started a wave of NFT issuance. Terra Virtua followed the industry trend and added an NFT service platform on the basis of the Metaverse business, transforming itself into a digital collectibles (NFT) platform project.

Second narrative upgrade: In 2023, Terra Virtua carried out a second narrative upgrade, changing the name of the project from Terra Virtua to Vanar Chain, and replacing the original project token TVK with VANRY. Users who originally held TVK can exchange TVK for the new token VANRY at a 1:1 ratio. This project upgrade not only changed the project name and token, but also proposed changes in the main business of the project, adding the Gamefi narrative on top of the original public chain based on the Metaverse and NFT, allowing users to experience and unlock games in the interactive Metaverse Player Lounge, and earn rewards such as Virtua XP and free collectibles in the process.

The third narrative upgrade: In 2024, Vanar Chain carried out the third narrative upgrade. Vanar Chain announcedAI巨头NVIDIA合作，在产品中引入了多个 AI 解决方案，包括可为品牌提供 AI 驱动的 IP 追踪、为创作者提供 AI 分析、AI 增强身份验证以及借助 AI 搭建和审查 DApp Vanar integrates NVIDIA technology into the Vanar platform, providing developers with the tools to create advanced artificial intelligence solutions, adding to its narrative in the AI track.

In summary, Vanar Chain has undergone three narrative upgrades and has transformed from a metaverse public chain project to a public chain project that spans metaverse, NFT, Gamefi, and AI narratives. Vanar Chain can be said to have occupied the hot narratives of cryptocurrency in various periods, making it always appear in the hot topics of the market.

Narrative escalation effect

Although Vanar Chain occupies the Metaverse, NFT, Gamefi, AI and public chain tracks, its project currently focuses more on AI and public chain tracks, so we chose the project FET which also covers AI and public chain tracks.

Beam

Before the narrative upgrade

Beam's predecessor, Axie 420, was founded in July 2021 by Marco van denHeuvel, Tommy Quite, and Mark Borsten. The original purpose was to enable players in low-wage countries to play Axie infinity. However, in September 2021, it was renamed Merit Circle, and the project positioning was expanded from focusing only on Axie infinity to more popular games and the metaverse. Merit Circle's main business is to establish a game guild similar to YGG, and set up a scholarship system and SXiaobai NavigationThe ubDao model mainly provides funds to players toGold Farming, and then Merit Circle gets a share, which is equivalent to a largeGold FarmingStudio belongs to the category of guild in the Gamefi track.

After the narrative upgrade

Because in 2022 the entire cryptocurrency market entered a bear market phase, the prices of tokens of various projects plummeted, and the revenue of the Gamefi track also dropped sharply. If Merit Circle still adheres to the original scholarship system and SubDao model, in addition to being surpassed by YGG in various businesses, the original system and system cannot enable Merit Circle to make profits and may not necessarily support Merit Circle through the winter of cryptocurrency. Therefore, Merit Circle decisively transformed in 2022.

Merit Circle Begins to Transform in 2022 DAO The structure and positioning of the game DAO。Merit Circle 将 DAO 分为多个板块，目前其主要板块分为投资、工作室、游戏和基础设施（基于 Avalanche 搭建的 Beam 游戏链），并将原先的代币MC按比例1:100的兑换为BEAM。

• Investment: The project investment funds come from 100 million USDC raised on the Copper platform. According to the MIP-2 proposal, an investment committee was established to be responsible for investment. The specific members are: Flow Ventures LP, Sergei Chan, CitizenX and Maven11. The investment projects are clearly marked on the treasury of its official website, mainly including: USDC held, blue chip coins, NFT assets and tokens/equity related to the blockchain game track. Now the investment sector is the main source of income for Merit Circle.

• Studio: The Studio brings value to other sectors in the DAO ecosystem and is the birthplace of creative projects within Merit Circle DAO, interacting with existing projects and non- web3 公司的项目协作。其中主要包括三个方面：补助金：其中分为研究补助金和开发补助金，分别提供给对具体项目的研究者和对项目开发者。Edenhorde NFT 合集：是由插画家 Andy Ristaino 负责最初的 NFT 艺术作品，NFT 背后的 IP 故事由《Edenhorde》的作者兼历史学家 Celia Blythe 撰写，目前共发布八集。主要是发布项目自己的NFT。Merit Circle Tactile：也是一个NFT的创意项目，Merit Circle Tactile 是一套专为Community提供的 650 个商品盒，里面包含七件可穿戴物品 (T 恤、连帽衫、围巾和帽子 )，持有 Merit Circle Tactile NFT 可以获得这些商品盒，NFT 通过两个阶段进行分发，分发对象为提案创建者、贡献者、Edenhorde NFT 持有者抽奖等。

• Games: Promote and market the partnered games to acquire game users; provide players with learning tutorials for popular blockchain games; provide early access to games to Merit Circle game community users, and players receive rewards (NFT, lucky draws, etc.) by completing tasks.

• Infrastructure: The infrastructure product that has been released is the Beam game chain built on Avalanche. According to the MIP-28 proposal, the original MC token will be converted to the BEAM token at a ratio of 1:100, but the Merit Circle name will continue to be the overall brand related to the Beam network and BEAM. In the future, BEAM will be used as the gas consumption and node staking token of the Beam chain. Games have been released on the Beam chain one after another.

In summary, Merit Circle has transformed from a former gaming guild into a comprehensive gaming industry platform by investing in the primary market of blockchain games, cooperating in game development, building a blockchain game market distribution channel platform, and constructing infrastructure. Through business transformation, Merit Circle's business scope has become broader and more profitable.

Narrative escalation effect

Now Merit Circle has become a comprehensive gaming industry chain, so we chose XAI, which is also a gaming chain, to compare with it.

Fantom

Before the narrative upgrade

Fantom was founded in December 2019. Fantom positioned itself as a public chain because the emergence of various projects on the Ethereum chain at that time caused high gas fees and network congestion on the Ethereum chain. Therefore, Fantom aims to solve the limitations of scalability and transactions. It positions itself as a high-speed, low-cost alternative for developers building dApps and users seeking to interact with DeFi protocols.

After the narrative upgrade

On May 18, 2024, Fantom community members initiated a series of governance proposals for the Sonic network, the main contents of which include: Sonic will be a brand new L1 chain, and will be connected to Ethereum and other chains through native L2 cross-chain bridges. It is called the Sonic upgrade by the market.

The Sonic upgrade mainly includes: generating a new L1 - Sonic Network. The upgraded network mainly uses parallel EVM to greatly improve the network's TPS, increasing the original 30 to 2000+, and improving the network experience by several levels. Developers and users can operate very smoothly and have a very good experience; at the same time, when designing node storage, the node requirement is reduced to more than 90%, which greatly improves the speed of block synchronization; and in order to attract more liquidity to the chain, the new public chain is allowed to be bridged to Ethereum's L2; a new native token S is issued, and users can choose to exchange FTM tokens for S at a ratio of 1:1.

In summary, although this upgrade of FTM did not change the original narrative, it made a qualitative improvement in the performance of the project and occupied the parallel EVM track.

Comparison with projects on the same track

After the upgrade, Fantom is a parallel EVM public chain. Let’s compare it with SEI, which is also a parallel EVM public chain:

other projects

Nervos Network

As a public chain project, Nervos Network was originally designed to solve the expansion limitations faced by traditional networks such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.BlockchainIt uses proof-of-work (PoW) consensus and supports smartcontractThe layer-1 protocol developed by Nervos also includes a series of layer-2 scaling solutions to facilitate high-volume use cases. Nervos' native token (CKByte or CKB) allows users and developers to invest in Nervos in proportion to their holdings. BlockchainApply for storage space on .

On February 13, 2024, Nervos Network announced the release of a new product: RGB++, which represents the beginning of the transformation of Nervos Network from a public chain like layer-1 such as Bitcoin and Ethereum to a project dedicated to Bitcoin layer-2, using its own advantages to concentrate on the second-layer expansion of Bitcoin.

In 2024, CKB's performance was very eye-catching, rising from 0.00397U at the beginning of the year to a maximum of 0.0379U, an increase of more than 900%.

Arweave

Arweave was originally a decentralized data storage protocol designed to optimize long-term permanent storage through its unique access proof mechanism and token economic model. Since February 2024, Arweave has launched a new product, Arweave AO, which has changed the basic narrative level of Arweave, changing the main narrative of Arweave from decentralized storage to a public chain, and Arweave AO has low fees, high-speed computing power, permanent storage of data andcontractThe advantages of very friendly deployment and state implementation give Arweave a great advantage in the competition among public chains.

In 2024, AR's performance was very eye-catching, rising from 9.64U at the beginning of the year to a maximum of 49.55U, an increase of 414%.

Track Risk

During the development of a project, most projects that improve the original project and enhance the narrative level are new changes made to cope with the unsuccessful development of the original track and the loss of competitiveness. Although the project may attract market attention again, it also faces risks in long-term development.

1. Projects in the narrative upgrade track may only make superficial improvements and fail to truly solve the original problems. It is unknown whether the team has performed well in overcoming the previous problems. Therefore, such projects have greater development risks.

2. Even if the project undergoes changes and attracts some market attention, it may still fail to achieve the expected results and still face the risk of not being accepted after the market is developed, or even remain indifferent as before.

Therefore, when conducting investment research in the narrative upgrade sector, investors need to think deeply and conduct comprehensive evaluations to ensure that the new changes truly solve the original problems and can bring long-term development. At the same time, it is necessary to realize that the market's acceptance of new changes may not be high, so sufficient research work needs to be done.

Summarize

Narrative upgrade projects refer to those projects that quickly gain market attention and financial support by changing the original narrative, project logic, business model, launching revolutionary new products, reforming the token structure, or merging with other similar projects, and possibly changing the project name. Such projects usually have advantages such as broad consensus, stable teams, rich resources and experience, which enable them to quickly increase the price of the currency, brand influence, and return to the competitive arena.

However, such projects often experience failure or bleak phases, and the market has doubts about their prospects. Investors may have doubts about their future development due to their poor performance in the past, and worry about whether the project can continue to develop and solve the problems it encountered in the past.

Therefore, narrative upgrade projects are easily overlooked by investors. Nevertheless, the potential of these projects is still huge, and old projects that have been upgraded and transformed usually show amazing token price performance, bringing a sense of rebirth to the market. Therefore, these projects still deserve enough attention from the market, and more narrative upgrade projects are expected to emerge in 2024.

The article comes from the Internet:Narrative upgrade: the new focus of hype

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