Will LoserCoin be China's answer to DOGE?
I'm a LoserCoin, baby... so why don't you shill me?
Hi, I’m Shuyao Kong 孔姝尧. Da bing is my weekly rumination on worthwhile news happening in China’s crypto ecosystem.
If culture is capable of anything, then it is finding that which unites us all.
Meme of the Week
When mentions of LOWB first appeared in my crypto WeChat, I casually dismissed it as yet another yield-farm coin on Binance Smart Chain into which DeFi degens ape for a few days before moving on to the next one.
It only took a few hours—and a 400% price jump—for me and the rest of crypto WeChat to do a double-take and shift our eyes to $LOWB and LoserCoin, the project behind it.
Leaning in on being lovable losers
According to the founding story, LoserCoin (not to be confused with this from 2014) was created by two broke Chinese crypto retail traders from a 4th-tier city. They entered the crypto market in 2017 but got repeatedly wrecked, “thanks to the Bitcoin speculation.”
Tired of losing money from trading and being harvested as “leeks,” the two high school friends decided to launch their own project and find out if two "losers" could turn the table and start harvesting other leeks.
Their honesty instantly resonated with China’s crypto community.
In an AMA that went viral, one founder painted himself and his co-founder as losers who dreamt of being instantly rich but somehow managed to lose money in all capital markets including China's equity market, Hong Kong’s equity market, derivatives, and of course crypto. That heartfelt experience was one that one too many Chinese retail crypto investors have gone through as well.
When asked about the product roadmap, the business co-founder admitted that the technical co-founder only picked up blockchain coding a month ago, and therefore, they might face some delay as it goes.
Again, this ingenuity, and the ability to mock his business partner, was strangely endearing, especially compared with many project founders who only like to over-promise and only talk in complex technical terms.
Capturing the Underdog Culture
LoserCoin is all about embracing the so-called diaosi, or underdog culture, of China.
The term diaosi began as an insult to the poor, unattractive man who lives with his mother and plays video games all day. As the term became viral, Chinese netizens, including those gaofushuai (tall, rich and handsome), started to embrace it and use it as a self-deprecating term to be part of the crowd.
In crypto, diaosi culture is analogous to “leek culture,” a term originally used to describe retail investors getting wrecked by shitcoin projects or scamming crypto VCs who quickly pump and dump their coins.
Nowadays, everyone proudly describes themselves as a leek. Even if you’re an experienced crypto investor, you label yourself “old leek.” If you just made a fortune trading DOGE, then you are a “new leek.” Everyone is a leek.
LoserCoin is doubling down on Leekism and encourages every retail trader to embrace their inner loser. They even hosted a Reddit discussion where people shared their best loser-story. Winners were airdropped $20,000 worth of $LOWB tokens.
“When I saw LOWB, I finally found kindred spirits, and it gave me hope!” wrote one redditor. “I'll feel like a loser my entire life, but knowing that I'm not alone gives me strength! The POWER of LOWB!”
Winners, losers, and memers
On Sunday, two large Chinese crypto exchanges, Gate and MXC, decided to list LOWB. The news sent the coin to its all-time-high, and many in the Telegram group are now worried that the founders would dump tokens on them.
It’s ironic that after building a strong community around being losers, the founders are now finally winning the token game.
However, like any meme token that has no intrinsic value, LOWB will eventually come down and those that hold big bags at the top will stand to lose. In other words, the people who really bought into the meme will eventually see their bag turning to dust.
Of course, the same thing has consistently been said about DOGE. But thus far, an Elon Musk like celebrity with a massive following has yet to shill LoserCoin. Who knows, maybe Jack Ma will take an interest in adopting the coin.
Barring that, the question isn’t really who are the losers, but whether people will feel bitter after losing.
A strange phenomenon on LoserCoin’s Telegram has been retailer investors who bought the coin and predicted that it would go to zero. But in a weird way, that makes perfect sense.
LoserCoin actually losing is the only outcome that fits the meme itself.