"Living Meme" PAIN: A Crypto Cultural Experiment from Suffering to Prosperity

Author: Alex Liu, Foresight News

Presale Timeline: $38 Million Raised in 48 Hours, 80% Refund Sparks Market Controversy

On February 2, 2025, a highly anticipated presale of a meme coin in the crypto community kicked off. The PAIN project, incubated by Memeland, raised 186,000 SOL (approximately $38 million) within 48 hours, making it one of the largest meme coin presales in history. However, the project team subsequently announced a groundbreaking decision: refund 80% of the raised funds, keeping only 20% for launch and liquidity. This move sparked discussions about the project's "sincerity" and quickly made PAIN a focal point of attention.

Origin: From "Hide the Pain" to Crypto Symbol

PAIN is inspired by the classic internet meme "Hide the Pain Harold," whose prototype is Hungarian photographer András Arató. In the early 2000s, his expression of "smiling while hiding pain" in a photography equipment advertisement became a cultural symbol on the internet due to its strong contrast. Over the past decade, Harold's image has been widely used to express the helplessness and forced smiles in life, and even Arató himself has embraced this identity with humor, becoming a "living meme."

Memeland's "Momentum": Celebrity Endorsements and Community Viral Growth

As a project incubated by Memeland, PAIN's explosion is closely tied to the resources of its parent platform. At the end of October 2024, after the official Twitter account for PAIN was established, Memeland quickly paved the way for it:

Celebrity Effect:

During Binance Blockchain Week in October of the same year, a photo of Arató, the prototype of Harold, with Binance founder CZ was widely circulated. The Memeland token MEME had already been listed on Binance, and the photo opportunity was undoubtedly facilitated by Memeland's efforts behind the scenes.

Community Interaction:

The official Memeland account repeatedly retweeted PAIN updates, including presale tweets, creating a resonance of traffic. (The presale has now ended; please do not send funds to the address in the image.)

Memeland founder and Harold prototype Arató attended an offline blockchain event together.

Refund Incident: Sincere Marketing or Risk Transfer?

After the presale ended, the project team announced an 80% refund of the funds, keeping only 20% (approximately $7.6 million) for launch, providing liquidity, and paying CEX listing fees (if any). The official explanation stated that this move was to "reduce the burden on investors and demonstrate long-term commitment," but controversy followed: supporters argued that the refund reflected an "anti-scam" attitude, contrasting with most meme projects that "raise funds and run away"; while skeptics pointed out that the refunded SOL had depreciated due to market fluctuations, and the 20% retained funds still far exceeded the startup needs of similar projects.

Rational analysis shows that the 80% refund amount is the largest among similar projects, and this portion of funds can be seen as potential buying power after the token goes live, which indeed can be viewed as protecting the existing investors' returns.

Regardless of the motives, this incident objectively created a secondary spread for PAIN, resulting in a significant victory in terms of traffic.

Future Challenges: The "Breaking the Circle" Paradox of Meme Coins

PAIN's short-term success relies on Memeland's community momentum and the natural virality of meme culture (of course, it also benefits from the speculation of meme traders), but long-term development faces challenges: if Harold's "pain" core is overly commercialized, it may dilute its original charm; and meme coins depend on market heat, making them the first to suffer in a bear market.

The specific launch time of the PAIN token is still unclear; for now, we will quietly observe its market performance before making any judgments.

Conclusion

From Harold's bittersweet smile to the successful presale of the PAIN token, this experiment confirms the absurdity and creativity of the crypto world. When "pain" becomes a tradable consensus, perhaps the true meme has long transcended the screen, embedding itself in the collective emotions of this era.