When memecoins have a moment, people who know better make tortured rationalizations. Normally they might see casino behavior as zero-sum or short-term, but fomo can use the full intellect to justify itself with elaborate stories.

gm to people building crypto's real potential ☀️

CTO @a16zcrypto, lover of https://github.com/a16z/awesome-farcaster

Building /bracket | Ex-BCG, ex-PHD | Poli Sci + Econ + Philosophy | Hosting /gray + /nfl + /dont-do-this + /book-clubs

Not Eddy, but I’ll give it a shot.

A lot of these memecoins don’t have utility. What if we could construct a utility based memecoin?

1. Lower payout the more you spend on OnlyFans

2. Uber drivers get paid out based on the fee Uber took

3. Remote workers get paid out by how much time is spent in meetings.

…

It really depends how philosophical we're being about what a memecoin is. But in any case, I think the greatest potential of crypto is to make new kinds of networks with radical trust assumptions.

Memecoins are just one use of such a powerful thing, and they will always exist, but they do not embody its potential.

Good observation.

I'd also be very interested what you yourself would make as a Steel Man argument for a certain memecoin being a thing that is fulfilling something close to crypto's real potential? (ie, not necessarily memecoins in general, but some version of one that would be the best type of memecoin)

Game Designer at @game7 | Web3 Game Design & Research: paragraph.xyz/@chasesommer.eth

Unless someone is trying to make a point with definitions, "memecoin" refers to tokens that have no purpose or even potential link to any productive protocol, but have a meme. Dogecoin is an early example. There are many new ones on Solana right now.

Tokens that claim a greater purpose should be taken individually.

Are tokens created by games considered memecoins? I'm new to crypto and I'd love any info you have on distinguishing a memecoin vs something with long-term value?

Also, I'd like to think I'm computer culture, but I'm surrounded by casino, so it's hard for a new guy to learn at first the difference.

I guess you could argue that as soon as a token has some utility, it is not “just” a memecoin. But how many do?

Yes, I'm having a hard time not aping into memecoins at the moment.