CZ's Genius.fun Leading Meme Community's Reverse Acquisition of a Public Company?

Original ｜Odaily Planet Daily（ @OdailyChina ）

Author｜Golem（ @web3_golem ）

CZ's "golden finger" has been activated again. On the evening of September 17, the on-chain trading terminal Genius announced the launch of the meme pairing platform genius.fun, which CZ retweeted, instantly attracting community attention.

As of the time of writing, genius.fun has seen 38 meme coins "graduate," with the highest market cap being Gstock, which peaked at $20 million and is currently reported at $16 million. Gstock is paired with BNCB, the stock token of CEA Industries (BNC), a public company listed in the U.S. that is associated with Binance's bStocks.

In addition to CZ's "endorsement," the biggest difference between genius.fun and other meme launching platforms like Pons, Long, and 4stock is that it adopts a foundation model to help the meme community leverage capital in the real world, potentially allowing the community to acquire a public company.

Old Platform Reincarnated

The Former Life of Genius

Previously, Genius was not a token launch platform. In January of this year, YZi Labs invested tens of millions of dollars into Genius, with CZ serving as an advisor for the project. Genius's main business is as an on-chain trading aggregator, allowing users to purchase multiple on-chain tokens through a single terminal and account without manual cross-chain operations, and also enabling direct trading of perpetual contracts for Aster and Hyperliquid. At first glance, Genius seems somewhat similar to the currently popular FOMO, but Genius does not support social trading features.

After receiving funding from YZi Labs, Genius did not perform well. According to Dune, Genius's weekly trading volume exceeded $4.7 billion before and after the YZi Labs funding, but then the trading volume plummeted as if users vanished overnight, with only $18 million in trading volume during the week of September 7.

Additionally, the GENIUS token officially launched on April 14 and was listed on Binance's spot market on May 22, with an opening price of $0.43 and a historical high of $0.82. However, it has continued to decline, and due to the launch of genius.fun yesterday, the token saw a slight increase, but it remains below its initial offering price.

Meme Pairing Narrative 2.0: Acquiring a Public Company

Genius.fun supports a wide range of stock tokens for pairing, allowing creators to pair tokens with Binance's bStocks, Ondo, and Fourmeme's 4stock, as well as with BNB, USDT, and USDC. Creators can earn up to 1.25% in trading fees, with a fixed 0.25% of the trading fees used for repurchasing and burning meme coins, and tokens will be launched on PancakeSwap once 15 BNB are raised.

When creating tokens, creators can also choose the "Genius Foundation Model." In this model, 1% of the trading fees will flow into the treasury of the Genius Foundation, and the creator's fees are reduced to 0.25%.

This treasury will only accumulate stock tokens, and the received meme coins will also be converted into paired stock tokens. According to official statements, when the accumulated shares reach a certain scale, the foundation can act as a legal entity to hold shares of the company in the real world, possessing real voting rights and dividend rights. However, the specific scale required has not been disclosed by the officials.

As of the time of writing, the Genius Foundation's treasury has accumulated over 27,000 BNCB, valued at approximately $150,000, primarily due to the explosive popularity of the meme coin Gstock.

Unlike the previous narrative of meme pairing 1.0, genius.fun seems to have evolved into version 2.0. It no longer emphasizes the narrative of on-chain meme coin trading driving up stock tokens, which in turn affects the volatility of the underlying stock price; instead, it has chosen another method of influence by accumulating community capital through transaction fees, acting as a legal medium to convert community capital into equity in public companies, thereby exerting influence within the company.

Theoretically, as long as on-chain meme trading continues, the more community capital the Genius Foundation accumulates, the more equity in real-world companies it will hold, and the stronger its real-world influence will be, potentially evolving from a small shareholder to a larger shareholder and eventually securing a board seat. If this deduction holds, the ultimate outcome of this chain of events is the community acquiring a public company.

This idea is even more frenzied than simply driving up stock prices and requires a rational understanding from investors that there are still many issues to resolve for this flywheel to materialize.

Can the Meme Community Acquire a Public Company?

Genius officials clearly state in their documentation that the official shared treasury is managed by a fixed multi-signature of the foundation, and its assets belong to the foundation, with meme holders having no right to redeem them.

It is important to note that meme holders are essentially part of the community, which means that the foundation is not holding stock tokens on behalf of the community; rather, these accumulated assets genuinely belong to the foundation. Since the community cannot redeem these stock tokens, does the foundation have the authority to sell these assets? The officials have not provided an explanation on this issue.

Furthermore, Genius officials have not indicated how many stock tokens need to be accumulated in the treasury before they will be converted into real company equity, nor have they specified how the conversion will take place; the specific path has not been disclosed, leaving open the possibility of fraud by the project party.

Assuming the Genius Foundation ultimately does convert stock tokens into real-world company equity, then according to the rule that "assets belong to the foundation," who ultimately controls and exercises these rights: the meme community or the Genius Foundation? The Genius Foundation, as the legal entity holding these rights, theoretically is the shareholder of this company; without clear and effective regulations, the meme community may end up investing time and resources only to benefit others.

Even if the Genius Foundation ultimately grants the community the power to exercise these rights, how the community itself will govern and participate in the governance of the real-world company will remain ongoing issues.

Genius.fun is still in its early stages, and Genius cannot answer any of these questions. Whether the narrative of the meme players becoming on-chain shareholders and the community acquiring a public company can be realized remains to be seen. The main reason genius.fun has garnered attention is still due to CZ's endorsement.

In this round of meme pairing cycles, we have already experienced the rapid scams of JINQIAN/FAMI and the narrative collapse of 4Stock/BNC4, so we should remain cautious in the face of new narratives.

This content is provided for general informational purposes only and doesn't constitute financial, investment, legal, or tax advice. Any events, rewards, online promotions, or related information mentioned herein should not be considered a recommendation, solicitation, or invitation to purchase, sell, trade, or otherwise deal in any crypto assets. Crypto assets are highly volatile and may result in loss. The availability of WEEX services, products, and related events may vary by region. You are responsible for ensuring that your participation is in accordance with applicable local laws and regulations.