In a world where crypto is constantly trying to prove its legitimacy, calling Bitcoin a “meme coin” might sound like heresy. But for Byron Gilliam, a seasoned trader turned Blockworks writer, it’s not an insult — it’s a compliment.
“Bitcoin has reached escape velocity, so that its meme value is genuine and lasting, and I don’t think it’s going anywhere,” he said on The CoinRock Show.
That statement cuts deeper than most people realize. Because while Bitcoin maximalists often lean on technical specs, halving cycles, or its capped supply to explain its value, Byron flips the script: Bitcoin doesn’t work in spite of its memetic nature — it works because of it.
The Myth of Intrinsic Value
For years, Bitcoin skeptics have hammered one point: it has no intrinsic value. You can’t eat it, wear it, or use it to generate cash flow. It’s “just belief.” But this criticism misses the bigger picture.
Belief is the foundation of every monetary system. Fiat money is backed by trust in governments. Gold holds value because of historical reverence. Stocks trade at future expectations. Bitcoin, then, is no outlier — it’s just more honest about the fact that value is narrative.
That narrative — of a decentralized, scarce, censorship-resistant currency — has been repeated, refined, and distributed globally. It’s been memed into permanence. And in the digital age, the ability to propagate an idea at scale is utility.
“I think that the value [of Bitcoin] is derived simply from this idea, that it has value which is circular and self-referential and kind of confusing. But ideas can have genuine value” Byron explained.
Byron’s point is not that Bitcoin is silly or unserious — far from it. What he’s saying is that Bitcoin’s strength lies in its memetic structure. It’s simple enough to be retold. It’s viral enough to inspire conviction. And it’s consistent enough to weather cycles.
Think about it: the Bitcoin whitepaper is just 8 pages. The logo hasn’t changed. The halving is a ritual. The memes — “21 million,” “be your own bank,” “not your keys, not your coins” — are practically religious mantras.
Compare that to the churn of other coins trying to pitch groundbreaking use cases that no one understands. They pivot, rebrand, disappear. Bitcoin doesn’t need to explain itself anymore. The meme has already taken root.
The Problem With Trying to Be More Than a Meme
Ironically, many projects fail because they try to be more than a meme. They overbuild, overcomplicate, and under-deliver. They promise innovation but can’t produce relevance. As Byron pointed out, crypto is flooded with protocols that have utility but no story — and that’s a harder sell.
Bitcoin’s genius was locking in its identity early. It made itself hard to change and easy to believe, two qualities that give it social durability in an industry allergic to consistency.
And while it may not boast high throughput or smart contract flexibility, it boasts something far rarer: widespread belief across cultures, classes, and continents. In a digital age where attention is scarce, that’s more valuable than any TPS benchmark.
“And now any new crypto that comes along it’s coming into an era where our attention is split among tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands or millions of them,” Byron said.
Memes Don’t Expire — They Compound
Some argue that memes are short-lived by nature. But that’s only true for bad ones. The good ones don’t fade — they compound. They build culture, define communities, and spawn movements. Bitcoin’s memes have done exactly that.
In Byron’s view, that memetic layer is Bitcoin’s real moat. Not ASIC miners. Not lightning integrations. Belief.
“The foundational principles of crypto, especially Bitcoin, was about replacing the system. And we’re in a cycle now where traditional finance, Blackrock and everyone under Blackrock is is coming into the space,” Matthias said.
“If you want the price to go up, you need buy pressure, Buy pressure to get the price up as quickly as people want to.”
And that’s the punchline: Bitcoin doesn’t win because it solves everything. It wins because enough people believe it’s the solution. That’s not just acceptable — it’s how money has always worked.
Final Thought: In the Age of Infinite Noise, the Meme Is the Message
Byron’s framing is refreshing because it cuts through the noise. In crypto’s attempt to become more legitimate, more technical, and more acceptable to institutions, it risks forgetting what made it powerful in the first place: simplicity, conviction, and storytelling.
Bitcoin isn’t just a meme — it’s the meme. The one that outlived every bear market, sidestepped every regulatory push, and stayed relevant while the rest of the space changed costumes.
And that’s why it works.
