Vitalik Buterin Weighs in on Memecoins

On Friday, Vitalik Buterin delved into the realm of memecoins, addressing their place in the current landscape amidst the emergence of racist and sexist iterations.

He penned:

"This time, they are heating up again, but in a way that is making many people feel uneasy, because there isn't anything particularly new and interesting about the memecoins.”

He directed attention towards a recent surge of "blatantly racist" meme coins circulating on blockchains like Solana, adding that:

"I have zero enthusiasm for coins named after totalitarian political movements, scams, rugpulls or anything that feels exciting in month N but leaves everyone upset in month N+1."

Citing a recent announcement from Polynya, an Ethereum blogger, who expressed intentions to discontinue crypto-related content under their pseudonym due to perceived cultural shifts, Vitalik highlighted two approaches to navigating this environment: engaging in virtue signaling or exploring how these concepts can be leveraged for the benefit of various stakeholders.

They stated that:

"Things have hit an all-new bottom with 2024: racist, sexist, and other shitheaded memecoins which are merely a vehicle to transfer wealth from the many to the most obnoxious people on the planet.”

Vitalik proposed two potential paths to uphold the enjoyment sought by some in the crypto sphere while also serving distinct beneficiaries.

One route involves charity coins, which allocate either a portion of the token supply or establish a fee mechanism dedicated to a designated charity.

However, he cautions that this approach may lead to the creation of something inherently constrained.

Another approach is through "Robin Hood games."

He advocates for the development of games that are both "meaningful and enjoyable," as opposed to mere replicas of "Candy Crush on the blockchain."

As an illustration, he references World of Warcraft as an example of a game with depth and significance.

He elaborated:

"I value people's desire to have fun, and I would rather the crypto space somehow swim with this current rather than against it. And so I want to see higher quality fun projects that contribute positively to the ecosystem and the world around them (and not just by 'bringing in users') get more mindshare.”