Vitalik Buterin Proposes New Qualities for Memecoins

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin shared his thoughts on memecoins amidst their boom, expressing a desire to see “more good coins than bad ones.”

What else could memecoins be?https://t.co/8ZVhwkVwLy

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) March 29, 2024

In his view, there are three main reasons why people are interested in such assets:

• their value increases;
• they are open and democratic;
• they provide enjoyment.

Buterin acknowledged the community’s justified outrage over the current abundance of memecoins with offensive and even “super-racist” names.

However, he believes this is not a reason to be biased against this category, as many other cryptocurrencies have also “disappeared without bringing anything valuable.”

Buterin recalled a thought he expressed 10 years ago, even before the official announcement of Ethereum, that issuing tokens could become a new way of funding socially significant projects.

In this context, he highlighted two promising areas for the application of memecoins: charity and gaming.

“It feels like there is an untapped opportunity to try to create something more positive, cumulative, and long-lasting. But ultimately, I think even this is fundamentally limited, and we can achieve more,” Buterin stated.

He emphasized that the focus should be on the quality of projects and games rather than the crypto assets themselves. This would allow for leveraging the trend “by going with the flow, not against it,” and making a positive contribution to the ecosystem.

“At the very least, more good memecoins than bad ones, ideally those that support public goods rather than just enriching insiders and creators. But ideally — creating games, not coins, and projects that people enjoy participating in,” Buterin concluded.

Earlier, Messari’s head of research, Martje Baas, acknowledged that memecoins will remain an important part of the crypto industry, noting their role in the adoption of digital assets.