NBC Describes Meme Coin Phenomenon as a Return to the ‘Casino Era’

The “carnival-casino” era in cryptocurrencies has resurfaced amid a surge in Bitcoin investments following Donald Trump’s election, according to NBC News.

This is exemplified by the capitalization of the “absolutely useless” token Fartcoin at $836 million, placing it alongside Office Depot, Guess, and the parent company of Steak N’ Shake.

According to Toe Bautista from GSR, the wave of “meme-coiners” is a mix of long-time Bitcoin holders and those desperately seeking to change their fortunes in an era of rising home and stock prices.

Many are simply “sliding down the risk curve” into pure speculation. Others see the potential to make a 10x return in a day, the expert explained.

Both buyers and sellers of meme coins are largely aware that their actions equate to the riskiest form of gambling. The key is to “not be left holding the bag,” missing out on a deal before interest in the asset wanes, Bautista added.

The GSR analyst emphasized that the tokens lack intrinsic value, relying on the “greater fool” theory. The greatest risk is the meme falling out of current trends.

Profits from a particular news cycle can be significant for a few. According to on-chain data, the balance of at least one PNUT coin holder is nearly $0.5 billion.

Now that news about the token-related squirrel, Peanut, has faded, the asset’s price has roughly halved.

NBC also highlighted another notorious meme story with Hawk Tuah. Amid discussions, HAWK’s capitalization peaked at $500 million but then plummeted to $28 million, leading to numerous complaints and accusations of fraud against the project team. The creators attributed the collapse to bot activity.

According to Bautista, half of the 20 most actively traded cryptocurrencies are meme coins, with transactions almost entirely driven by algorithms. NBC questioned the legality of this practice and the listing of such tokens on American platforms.

Journalists recalled the closure of the meme coin launch platform Pump.fun for UK users following a warning from the FCA.

Omid Malekan, a lecturer at Columbia Business School, described the popularity of meme coins as economic “nihilism.” This is characteristic of many young Americans who believe they have been deprived of the American dream, the expert asserted.

“These kids say, ‘All the good stocks are too expensive. And houses? I can’t afford them. So I’ll gamble on something that might give me 10x, and if I lose everything, it doesn’t matter, I’m broke anyway,'” Malekan explained.

In November, Pump.fun’s monthly revenue reached a record $93 million.

On December 4, BNB’s price hit an all-time high of $782.79 after DEX PancakeSwap introduced PancakeSwap Springboard — a platform for launching meme coins on the BNB Chain.