Coinspeaker Vitalik Buterin Spanks Celebrities for Meme Coin Financialization
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has again criticized celebrities for the financialization of meme coins. As per Buterin’s thinking, celebrities desirous of owning a meme coin should tie it to a cause or project with a significant impact beyond the broader crypto community.
Buterin clarified his stance in an X post after expressing his dissatisfaction with the “cycle celebrity experimentation” of meme coins. He believes financialization will be more meaningful and impactful when it is a means to a worthy “end” – namely art, healthcare solutions, or other noble causes.
I'm feeling quite unhappy about with "this cycle’s celebrity experimentation" so far.
"Financialization as a means toward an end", I can respect if the end is worthy (healthcare, open source software, art, etc). Financialization *as the final product*, 🤮
Ashton and Mila's…
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) June 5, 2024
Vitalik Buterin Advocates Meme Coin Charity Not Financialization
Notably, Buterin condemns the financialization of meme coins by celebrities just for its sake. Specifically, Buterin proffers three features that a celebrity crypto project needs to possess in order for it to gain his admiration.
First, the celebrity crypto project should be tied to a sort of public good, a project that generously impacts the lives of many in society. This could be an art project, the celebrity’s chosen charity, or any worthy course that is about others.
Buterin maintains that if the goal is just to enrich the celebrity and early adopters, then, it has missed the essence. The Ethereum co-founder in the past performed a similar gesture when he donated his SHIB share of the dog-themed Shiba Inu token which he received at its inception to support a community in need.
Buterin in a remarkable move had donated a significant holding to the Indian COVID crisis management and burnt the rest. Consequently, Shiba Inu’s price has enjoyed notable global support. The Shiba Inu community recently marked the third anniversary of that donation.
Fun Games and Sustainability
Secondly, Buterin says celebrity crypto projects should evolve some kind of fun mechanics beyond just trading a token. While not a fan of token-voting Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), he noted that it at least gives members of the community “something” to do and organize around.
In a bid to give celebrities an idea, Buterin thinks that DAOs should not fully decide the agenda, but they can have some influence. He suggested the creation of meaningful fun games around crypto. A notable game example he gave was World of Warcraft where players can earn redeemable coins for killing villains in the game.
Lastly, Buterin urged celebrities to consider creating a project that can last a decade and beyond as opposed to being sensational for just a few months and fizzling out. This is an emphasis on the sustainability of any celebrity crypto or meme coin project.
“The north star should be: to have a project where even if eventually all tokens involved go to zero, the average person who participated is happy to have done so. Regular businesses and charities accomplish this goal all the time! It’s a low bar, but things we build should meet this bar as well,” he said.
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Vitalik Buterin Spanks Celebrities for Meme Coin Financialization
