Who Is Murad: A Hype Guy or a Legendary Trader?
Murad Mahmudov has been one of the main figures in crypto. He’s a memecoin advocate, with a motto: “Stop trading and believe in something.” Murad is particularly active on X with the username @MustStopMurad, where he has more than 250,000 followers.
Murad often shares predictions about memecoins and lists of tokens he believes will grow in value. His posts have attracted attention not only from supporters but also from blockchain analysts.
In October 2024, ZachXBT, a well-known detective in the space, exposed 11 of Murad’s crypto wallets that hold $24 million worth of memecoins. In a post on X, ZachXBT explained that this was done so the community could monitor Murad’s future activities.
Is Murad a visionary or someone investors should be cautious about? It’s up to you to form an opinion. Meanwhile, we’ll provide more details about the influencer, his background, and his role in crypto.
It was in late 2013 and early 2014 when he got into crypto. This was the time of the so-called Bitcoin bubble when the coin’s price went past $1000 for the first time and then lost around 80% of its value.
In his talks, Murad mentions he was lucky to have a few foreign friends involved early in the BTC ecosystem. So, he was interested and studied the crypto himself. Murad went to Bitcoin meetups in Beijing, but then paused his crypto activities and worked in traditional finance companies like Glencore and Goldman Sachs for a while.
And in 2016, he got more serious about crypto.
Murad came back to the sector and started writing articles on Bitcoin, along with trading, analyzing, and investing in crypto projects.
First, he became known to the crypto community as a Bitcoin maximalist. In a 2018 interview with The Pomp Podcast, Murad said altcoins are behind Bitcoin as they can be centralized and easy to change. He mentioned that Bitcoin’s monetary policy with a limited 21M makes it the strongest cryptocurrency.
In 2017, Murad started Adaptive Capital, a crypto hedge fund, but it closed in 2020 after Bitcoin's price fell by 50%, dropping from about $10,000 to $4,000 in just two days. According to an article by The Block, the hedge fund said they were unable to continue operations as many platforms and tools they used halted their activities.
Over time, he shifted his focus to memecoins and has been actively posting about this asset category.
Murad often shares lists of trendy memecoins he finds promising and explains the reasons behind his selections. Here’s one of the lists he recently posted.
In October 2024, ZachXBT, a well-known detective in the space, exposed 11 of Murad’s crypto wallets that hold $24 million worth of memecoins. In a post on X, ZachXBT explained that this was done so the community could monitor Murad’s future activities.
Is Murad a visionary or someone investors should be cautious about? It’s up to you to form an opinion. Meanwhile, we’ll provide more details about the influencer, his background, and his role in crypto.
Murad’s Background: From Finance to Bitcoin Maxi and Memecoin Advocate
Murad graduated from Princeton University in the US, where he studied finance and Chinese. In 2013, he studied abroad in China for a year.
It was in late 2013 and early 2014 when he got into crypto. This was the time of the so-called Bitcoin bubble when the coin’s price went past $1000 for the first time and then lost around 80% of its value.
In his talks, Murad mentions he was lucky to have a few foreign friends involved early in the BTC ecosystem. So, he was interested and studied the crypto himself. Murad went to Bitcoin meetups in Beijing, but then paused his crypto activities and worked in traditional finance companies like Glencore and Goldman Sachs for a while.
And in 2016, he got more serious about crypto.
Murad came back to the sector and started writing articles on Bitcoin, along with trading, analyzing, and investing in crypto projects.
First, he became known to the crypto community as a Bitcoin maximalist. In a 2018 interview with The Pomp Podcast, Murad said altcoins are behind Bitcoin as they can be centralized and easy to change. He mentioned that Bitcoin’s monetary policy with a limited 21M makes it the strongest cryptocurrency.
In 2017, Murad started Adaptive Capital, a crypto hedge fund, but it closed in 2020 after Bitcoin's price fell by 50%, dropping from about $10,000 to $4,000 in just two days. According to an article by The Block, the hedge fund said they were unable to continue operations as many platforms and tools they used halted their activities.
Over time, he shifted his focus to memecoins and has been actively posting about this asset category.
Murad often shares lists of trendy memecoins he finds promising and explains the reasons behind his selections. Here’s one of the lists he recently posted.
Because of his memecoin analysis, supporters also call him “Memecoin Jesus” or “Memecoin King.” However, he himself encourages people not to refer to him with such names.
In an X post, he described himself as “a guy who is trying to identify undervalued memecoins for 2025,” advising investors to do their own research.
In an X post, he described himself as “a guy who is trying to identify undervalued memecoins for 2025,” advising investors to do their own research.
The Memecoin Supercycle: Murad’s Speech at TOKEN2049 and Memecoin Predictions
What’s meant by supercycle is an extended phase where a specific asset or a category makes an upward trend.
In 2024, memecoins have been stealing the show. They’ve had exceptional growth, and CoinMarketCap data shows that most of the top-performing cryptos now are memecoins.
Why is this happening?
Murad shared his point of view at the TOKEN2049 Singapore 2024 event.
During his “The Memecoin Supercycle” speech, he said that the supercycle is already happening and will continue. According to him, the era when all crypto assets move up in unison is over, and it’s the natural step of crypto market evolution.
Going into the reasons for memecoins’ rising popularity, Murad mentioned the overproduction of new tokens as one. He drew comparisons between memecoins and altcoins, saying retail investors typically benefit from memecoins more as the launches don’t include private sales, allowing retail investors to buy tokens at fairer prices.
Murad believes that crypto is a token production industry rather than a software industry. And retail is interested in memecoins as they are not primarily interested in technology, but in making money, having fun, and belonging somewhere.
Murad called memecoins a reincarnation of the 2017 ICO (Initial Coin Offering) boom but in a different form. The similarity between the two phenomena is that they both focus on building communities. ICOs appeared to offer a new way for blockchain projects to raise funds, and retail could invest in tokens at cheaper prices. Meanwhile, memecoins outperform tech altcoins because they are simpler to understand, according to Murad.
The memecoin advocate also mentioned external reasons like financial difficulties, AI growth, and increasing loneliness as driving forces behind memecoin craze.
Murad said March 2024 meme mania was the first cycle and two more will come in 2025. He thinks so because memecoins still represent a smaller sector of crypto while looking at previous cycles the most “new, weird and misunderstood token category raises as the outperformer.”
Murad called memecoins a reincarnation of the 2017 ICO (Initial Coin Offering) boom but in a different form. The similarity between the two phenomena is that they both focus on building communities. ICOs appeared to offer a new way for blockchain projects to raise funds, and retail could invest in tokens at cheaper prices. Meanwhile, memecoins outperform tech altcoins because they are simpler to understand, according to Murad.
The memecoin advocate also mentioned external reasons like financial difficulties, AI growth, and increasing loneliness as driving forces behind memecoin craze.
Murad said March 2024 meme mania was the first cycle and two more will come in 2025. He thinks so because memecoins still represent a smaller sector of crypto while looking at previous cycles the most “new, weird and misunderstood token category raises as the outperformer.”
Murad concluded his speech with several predictions, including:
Note: Memecoin investments come with big risks. After initial interest and pump, their prices may drop. Make sure you take into account the risks before buying. If you’re interested in finding promising tokens, read one of our articles covering How to Spot Meme Coins with Growth Potential.
According to him, most crypto outperformers, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Cardano, TAO, and others have always been cults. He added that forming a cult is the most important factor of any cryptocurrency, no matter if it’s an altcoin or a memecoin.
Forming a cult would mean people are unlikely to sell the token, they will actively participate in community initiatives and contribute to its development.
Murad says culty memcoins will represent safety. He predicts that over time more memecoins will be based on the concept of mission instead of jokes. Murad believes it’s the mission coins that will achieve the highest market caps.
- memecoins will hit a $1 trillion market cap from the current $40 M
- there will be at least 2 memecoins with over $100 B market cap
- memecoins will reach 10% market dominance
- utility altcoins and VC-backed projects will continue to underperform
- More VCs and TradFi companies will buy memecoins
Note: Memecoin investments come with big risks. After initial interest and pump, their prices may drop. Make sure you take into account the risks before buying. If you’re interested in finding promising tokens, read one of our articles covering How to Spot Meme Coins with Growth Potential.
What Are Cult Memecoins That Murad Talks About
Murad believes that the best-performing memecoins will be cult memecoins. These are tokens with religious elements, meaning a community extremely passionate about the project. As an example of cults, Murad mentions Apple, Tesla, and Bitcoin holders.
According to him, most crypto outperformers, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Cardano, TAO, and others have always been cults. He added that forming a cult is the most important factor of any cryptocurrency, no matter if it’s an altcoin or a memecoin.
Forming a cult would mean people are unlikely to sell the token, they will actively participate in community initiatives and contribute to its development.
Murad says culty memcoins will represent safety. He predicts that over time more memecoins will be based on the concept of mission instead of jokes. Murad believes it’s the mission coins that will achieve the highest market caps.
ZachXBT’s Findings About Murad’s Wallets
Murad’s popularity and potential influence on investor decisions create concerns. On October 9, 2024, on-chain investigator ZachXBT made a post on X that raised active discussions. ZachXBT revealed 11 wallets linked to Murad that together hold $24 M in memecoins on Ethereum and Solana.
According to ZachXBT, the wallets belong to Murad as they were funded from the same source that is directly tied to the STFX team address (the company founded by Murad). Also, holdings were similar to Murad’s posts and conviction lists, and all the transactions used Solana’s interoperability solution deBridge.
ZachXBT added that there may be additional addresses that are not connected to the cluster.
Replying to user questions, ZachXBT said:
Referring to the mentioned need to monitor Murad’s wallets, @TanJackedTrader expressed his concern, saying Murad has been a huge positive to the space.
“To make sure he does not end up dumping on followers”- Zach’s answer followed.
ZachXBT added that there may be additional addresses that are not connected to the cluster.
But why does this matter?
Replying to user questions, ZachXBT said:
Murad is making very bold predictions about micro cap meme coins to thousands and thousands of followers while controlling the supply. People deserve to make more informed decisions about the coins they buy.
The detective mentioned that by knowing the addresses people can monitor ZachXBT’s future activities and find out how he controls the assets.
Murad supporters vs ZachXBT supporters
X users expressed different opinions about ZachXBT’s exposure to Murad’s wallets.Referring to the mentioned need to monitor Murad’s wallets, @TanJackedTrader expressed his concern, saying Murad has been a huge positive to the space.
“To make sure he does not end up dumping on followers”- Zach’s answer followed.
Other users supported ZachXBT, saying he’s doing a good job. Referring to the risks of doxxed wallets, one user mentioned that blockchain is open for anyone to track addresses while another user suggested Murad is backed by “some guys who hold a lot more of the coins he mentioned. He is basically the hype guy/front of the op (original poster).”
This and other discussions around Murad’s personality reveal that opinions around him extremely vary. From the hype guy to the legendary analyst and Memecoin King, people refer to them differently.
No matter what your opinion of him is, our advice is not to invest in any coin just relying on the influencer’s advice. As Murad himself says:
No matter what your opinion of him is, our advice is not to invest in any coin just relying on the influencer’s advice. As Murad himself says:
Do your own research instead of blindly copying my subjective opinion.
FAQ
- Who Is Murad?
- Should You Invest in the Coins Murad Recommends?
- What Did ZachXBT Write about Murad on X?
- What Other Memecoin Influencers Are There Except from Murad?
Anahit Avetisyan
Author
Web3 writer and crypto HODLer with a keen interest in market trends and recent technologies.
