Vitalik Buterin Criticizes Celebrity Experiments with Meme Coins

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has expressed his lack of enthusiasm for celebrity-associated meme coins. He urged a focus on projects aimed at public good rather than enriching insiders.

A quick summary of features that a celebrity crypto project needs to have for me to be more willing to respect it:

1. Have some kind of public-good goal that it’s serving, other than enriching the celebrity and early adopters. Realistically, either an art project or the…

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) June 5, 2024

Buterin responded to Placeholder partner Chris Burniske, who described the potential success of the meme coin Mother Iggy (MOTHER) as the “mother of celebrity experiments in this cycle.” 

The coin is associated with Australian rapper and model Iggy Azalea. According to the expert, such compliments would be appropriate if the asset succeeds in creating sustainable value.

“I am dissatisfied with ‘celebrity experiments in this cycle.’ I accept financialization ‘as a means to an end’ if the end is worthy (healthcare, open-source software, art, etc.). Financialization ‘as an end product,'” Buterin reacted, ending his comment with a vomiting emoji.

As a “more honorable” celebrity involvement, he cited the NFT collection and animated series Stoner Cats by Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis from 2021.

“At least here, a real show was funded,” he pointed out.

In September 2023, the SEC accused the company behind Stoner Cats of conducting an unregistered NFT offering worth $8 million. To settle the claims, the company agreed to pay $1 million and destroy all tokens in its possession.

The Ethereum co-founder outlined key features that celebrity crypto projects should have to earn his respect:

1. Have some kind of public-good goal. In reality, this could be either an art project or the celebrity’s favorite charity, or both.
2. Possess amusing mechanics beyond mere token exchange. According to Buterin, he dislikes DAO voting, but at least it gives people something to engage with and organize around. DAOs should not fully dictate the agenda, but they can exert some influence, the expert explained.
3. Maintain sustained interest for at least ten years, not “fizzle out” after a few months and be forgotten.

“The North Star should be this: create a project where even if all tokens go to zero, the typical participant would be happy they joined,” Buterin prescribed.

The ease of creating meme tokens on Solana and their subsequent growth due to a large audience has attracted many celebrities. Another category that has gained popularity is “political” meme tokens. Among the most well-known are Jeo Boden (BODEN) and Doland Tremp (TREMP).

In May, 455,000 new coins appeared on the Solana blockchain. This figure reached a monthly high due to low entry barriers and the hype around meme tokens. The popularity of the platform for launching them, pump.fun, played a significant role in this.