Planet Money The Memecoin Casino
178 snips
Feb 28, 2025 
Nick Navas, a freelance reporter, teams up with Zeke Fox, an investigative journalist at Bloomberg, to dive into the wild world of memecoins. They explore how a satirical joke transformed into a multi-billion dollar market, unveiling stories of overnight millionaires and unfortunate losses. The duo discusses the influence of social media figures like Elon Musk and the chaotic dynamics of trading platforms, likening the thrill of investing in memecoins to gambling. The conversation reveals both the hilarious and alarming sides of this cryptocurrency phenomenon.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Teen Crypto Whiz
- A 13-year-old anonymously launched a meme coin called Gen Z Quant and livestreamed its price surge.
- He then sold his holdings for $20,000 as the price crashed, repeating this twice more.
Crypto's Cycle of Hype and Fraud
- Early Bitcoin copycats revealed a recurring pattern in cryptocurrency: utopian promises followed by speculation and fraud.
- This pattern set the stage for Dogecoin, the first meme coin.
Dogecoin's Ironic Origin
- Jackson Palmer created Dogecoin in 2013 as satire, combining a Shiba Inu meme with cryptocurrency.
- Ironically, Dogecoin became a tool for the pump-and-dump schemes it was meant to criticize.
