Past Week: The Shift in Social Media Trends
In the past week, the winds of social media have changed.
Filled with various “Ghibli-style” AI images—generated by OpenAI’s latest version of ChatGPT’s image generation feature with a single click. This retro, dreamy, anime-inspired visual trend has not only sparked discussions on platforms like Moments, X (formerly Twitter), and Reddit, but has also unexpectedly ignited a capital frenzy for memecoins on the Solana chain.
All of this began with a prompt to “Ghibli-ify.” 
An AI + Sentiment Explosive Experiment
On March 25, OpenAI quietly launched an image generation feature update for ChatGPT Plus users. With the support of the GPT-4o model, users can simply input prompts like “transform this photo into Ghibli studio style” to generate retro anime images filled with colors from “My Neighbor Totoro” and “Spirited Away”.
This “familiar strangeness” possesses naturally viral characteristics in the internet landscape. Once users upload selfies, pet photos, family pictures, or even portraits of political figures and AI Ghibli-ify them, social platforms instantly transform into an aesthetic exhibition of nostalgia and technology.
GHIBLI Launches with a Bang: Market Value Surpasses $20 Million in 20 Hours
A memecoin named Ghiblification (GHIBLI) launched against this backdrop, achieving a market value exceeding $20.8 million in just 19 hours, with an increase of up to 39,000%. In line with the typical memecoin gameplay, such a “surge” is impressive but often accompanied by a “quick rise and quick fall” narrative.
GHIBLI is just the beginning.
In the following 48 hours, at least 20 Ghibli-related meme tokens emerged on the Solana chain, including Shibli Inu, Ghibli Doge, Totoro Moon, and more. Most of them were born on the one-click token creation platform Pump.fun and traded through PumpSwap.
GHIBLI’s price subsequently fell from its peak to around $18 million, yet it still maintained a top position in the meme market. Behind the meme lies an entire new narrative of “culture + AI + speculation.”
The Celebrity Effect Behind the GHIBLI Craze
The rapid explosion of the GHIBLI phenomenon is closely tied to the concentrated participation of celebrities from the tech and crypto circles. They used “Ghibli-style avatars” as mediums to convert their social influence into a value amplifier for tokens, completing a typical “influence financialization” operation.
On March 26, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman changed his X avatar to a Ghibli-styled portrait and captioned it “This is today’s theme.”
Shortly after, Elon Musk also posted with the caption “This is today’s theme.” Within 24 hours, GHIBLI’s trading volume surged 17-fold, accounting for 23% of the total trading volume on the Solana chain, forming a dual drive of social and on-chain funds.
Crypto Industry Opinion Leaders Quickly Follow Suit
Leaders in the crypto industry also quickly followed suit. Binance CEO Richard Teng, Ripple executive Brad Garlinghouse, and others changed their avatars and posted responses on social media platforms, creating a “snowball” effect of celebrity influence.
From avatars to trading, GHIBLI is not merely a simplistic meme hype, but rather an experiment in “identity reconstruction” and “credit valuation.” Tech leaders empower tokens with their own IP, winning user recognition through visual language while anchoring this wave of visual trends directly in the financial market, constructing a complete closed loop of “social heat—asset premium—wealth conversion.”
From ChillGuy to GHIBLI
In fact, this is not the first time the memecoin market has been awakened by a “cultural event.”
In November last year, the CHILLGUY token on the Solana chain skyrocketed, reaching a market value of $643 million at its peak. However, as of now, CHILLGUY’s price has dropped about 95% from its peak. 
GHIBLI’s trajectory is strikingly similar—achieving an explosion driven by popular trends, celebrity endorsements, and social dissemination, but its sustainability still faces significant challenges.
Some traders believe that the rise of such meme coins, although short-lived, could signify a market bottom rebound. Since the overall peak of the crypto market in December 2023, the memecoin sector’s market value has shrunk by over 57%, while GHIBLI’s sudden “rise to fame” has provided a breathing opportunity for the sluggish market.
PumpSwap as the Behind-the-Scenes Driver
This “Ghibli wind” on-chain frenzy is inseparable from the push of Pump.fun and PumpSwap. This “Solana version of Pump.fun” tool platform achieved nearly $2.5 billion in cumulative trading volume just 10 days after its launch, driving a wave of popular memecoins to go live.
Besides GHIBLI, ROUTINE also once climbed to a market value of $19 million, although it subsequently experienced some corrections.
PumpSwap, with its low barriers, strong topicality, and near real-time on-chain trading experience, has become the new generation of “on-chain cultural blockbuster manufacturer.” The proliferation of AI image generation conveniently offers a steady stream of visual IP material and inspiration for secondary creation.
From this perspective, memecoins are no longer merely vulgar incarnations of “Dogecoin” or “Shitcoin,” but are gradually evolving into financial containers for on-chain cultural expression and collective imagination.
Conclusion
The GHIBLI craze represents a re-generation of cultural phenomena and a re-interpretation of economic systems.
Here, AI is not just a technological tool, but rather a “fuel” that stimulates trading momentum; and memes are no longer mere jokes, but anchors of community identity and traffic on-chain.
The Ghibli style may come and go quickly, but what remains on the chain is a new interpretation of the relationship among AI, aesthetics, and crypto economy.
Perhaps next time, it won’t be GHIBLI, nor CHILLGUY, but another AI-powered “cultural specter” that awakens the dormant capital will on-chain.
Are you ready?
