How do you explain the complexity of a web of interconnected blockchains?
Perhaps through a comparison to Morman polygamy?
No, that’s a “little cringe,” said Diana Chimes, senior growth marketing manager at Polygon Labs, during a recent Friday brainstorming session that DL News sat in on.
Maybe a better analogue is “Flavor of Love,” a reality TV dating show from the mid-aughts that starred rapper Flavor Flav?
Kimron Flicker, a 32-year-old content marketing manager at Polygon Labs, was only “vaguely aware” of the 65-year-old rapper, she said.
What about the polyamorous relationships between employees at FTX?
“If there’s a picture of SBF, Caroline, and a few other people in the polycule to show interconnectivity,” mused Flicker, “that’d be funny.”
Meme mania
One of Flicker’s responsibilities, per her employment contract, is to produce “humorous memes.”
In other words, she gets paid to shitpost. And she isn’t the only employee in crypto that gets cash to make jokes on the internet.
The industry employs more than a handful of “crypto interns,” the tongue-in-cheek name some use to refer to crypto’s professional meme-makers and social media strategists.
Most businesses have social media-savvy employees. Crypto, though, stands out for a user base that is perpetually online and skews younger.
Traditional finance companies largely communicate to customers with emails, shareholder reports, and stamp-and-envelope mail. Crypto companies often use what their users love best: memes.
“The humour is more human and normal than a traditional banking or fintech company,” Flicker told DL News, in reference to the crypto industry’s online tone.
Am sooo happy to announce that I am @0xPolygon's newest reply guy, joining the elusive and prestigious ranks of crypto interns everywhere, working with @0xlstern, @skyriziii and the rest of the marketing team to spread the word about the AggLayer and Polygon’s vision for… pic.twitter.com/ZNISn2pmbd
— crypto_kimi.lens (@Crypto_Kimi) September 3, 2024
Born to meme
Flicker, who lives in Tel Aviv, Israel, first became interested in crypto in graduate school, where she received a masters degree in international development.
After a stint as a copywriter at a gaming company, she left to work for a blockchain gaming startup and later at a crypto wallet developer.
And, about a month ago, she started at Polygon Labs.
“This is my most writing-focused job in crypto thus far,” she said.
Like any auteur, she has her inspirations.
She said she likes Gwart, a popular crypto account on X; Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO and owner of X, is her celebrity crush; and she finds Martin Shkreli, the former pharmaceutical executive, funny.
“I literally tweeted at him three hours ago, ‘Marry me,’” she said, referring to Shkreli, who went to prison for more than six years for securities fraud and has since dabbled in crypto.
Flicker later said that she finds Shkreli’s social media presence satirical.
when he understands the POL upgrade pic.twitter.com/Wk4Ybs7VDp
— Polygon | Aggregated (@0xPolygon) September 6, 2024
Memes of production
In many ways, Flicker’s job is like that of any remote worker.
When she clocks into work in the morning, she, like many office workers, scrolls through social media. In the afternoon, she attends a daily “stand-up,” or short meeting.
Then, she puts digital pen to paper and works on her projects, which can range from educational content to silly, off-the-cuff jokes.
“It’s not a perfect science,” she said of crypto meme-making. “It’s an art form.”
Meme maker, dream maker
Sam Wellalage, a recruiter who specialises in crypto, told DL News that DeFi projects particularly want meme makers.
“This would not be the case for other crypto sectors,” he said, pointing to companies that more closely resemble businesses from traditional finance.
Over the past year, traditional financial giants have made further inroads into crypto.
Wall Street giants like BlackRock and Franklin Templeton have launched Bitcoin exchange-traded funds and have experimented with tokenisation. Crypto conferences have seen an influx of suits.
It’s hard to imagine that multinational financial institutions will let their employees craft off-the-cuff memes featuring sad frogs. Does this make Flicker worry for her job security?
“I’d like to make a lot of money and retire when I’m 40,” she told DL News. “So, it’s not a concern.”
When later asked if she was joking, Flicker said, “Many a truth is said in jest.”
Ben Weiss is DL News’ Dubai correspondent. Joanna Wright is a regulatory correspondent for DL News. Got a tip? Email them at joanna@dlnews.com or bweiss@dlnews.com.