UNCHAINED: Why Memecoins Have Been 2024's Most Profitable Crypto Trade: Ansem and Kelxyz
May 8, 2024
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Memecoin traders Ansem and Kelxyz discuss the value and potential of memecoins, addressing controversies, distribution, and virality. They compare memecoins across blockchains, share wild memecoin stories, and speculate on the future of memecoins. Topics include investment thesis, evaluation criteria, distinguishing genuine interest, and differences between Solana, Ethereum, and Bitcoin. They also touch on meme coin communities, Hong Kong's Bitcoin ETFs, risks, and viral dynamics in the meme coin world.
Meme coins thrive on relatability, distribution, and virality, offering potential for significant value and returns.
Proposed guidelines like Andre Cronje's aim to safeguard meme coin investors by regulating token allocation and ownership.
Community unity against scams and undesirable tokens acts as a self-regulating mechanism, reducing negative impacts and discouraging malicious projects.
Deep dives
Understanding the Value of Meme Coins
Meme coins like those based on relatability, distribution, and virality can hold significant value and have potential for high returns. Examples like Doge exemplify how meme coins have rewarded early investors. Despite high risks and market fluctuations, meme coins can offer substantial gains.
Proposals for Safer Meme Coins
Proposals like Andre Cronje's for safer meme coins aim to prevent scams by imposing rules around token allocation and ownership. While centralization concerns exist, such measures can deter malicious behaviors commonly seen in meme coin launches. Implementing guidelines may help mitigate risks and protect investors.
Responding to Criticisms and Controversies
Handling criticisms against meme coins, including accusations of wealth transfer or racist tokens, involves understanding the internet's nature. Issues like racism online are not new, requiring a balance between regulating behavior and preserving the permissionless crypto framework. Ignoring negative actions can reduce their impact and discourage undesirable activities.
Addressing Community Responses and Moderation
Community reactions to unwanted meme coins play a vital role in discouraging scams and inappropriate tokens. By limiting attention and discussion around malicious projects, the community can diminish their influence and deter similar creations. A unity in not engaging with unfavorable projects can act as a self-regulating mechanism in the meme coin space.
The Rise of Meme Coins
Meme coins, deriving value from community and attention, have seen exponential growth in the crypto market. The podcast delves into the fascinating story of 'Dog with Hat,' a meme coin that went viral due to a woman's endorsement during a live stream. The power of relatability and broad appeal in meme coins is highlighted, showcasing how meme-originated coins like 'Wizard' are gaining significant traction.
The Future of Meme Coins and Social Tokens
Looking ahead, the podcast explores the future of meme coins and social tokens. Predictions suggest that memes will evolve into coins, with social networking incorporating financialized meme ideas. Platforms like friend.tech are pioneering social tokens for celebrities and creators, offering a new way to monetize influence. Noteworthy parallels are drawn between meme coin distribution models and community-centric token launches, indicating an exciting shift in the crypto landscape.
In this episode of Unchained, memecoin traders Ansem and Kelxyz unpack everything about memecoins, discussing what makes them valuable and how they evaluate their investment potential. They also address the criticisms and controversies surrounding them, including racism and sexism. (They have a surprising reaction to the latter.) Ansem and Kel argue that memecoins have substance and value, largely due to their popularity and the attention they receive on the internet.
They also discuss the importance of distribution and virality in the success of a memecoin, how the chain any coin is on affects its value, and give their opinions on Runes vs. BRC-20s vs. Solana and Ethereum.
Plus, they talk about their wildest memecoin stories (think: Dogwifhat) and provide their insights on what they think memecoins will become in the future.
Show highlights:
Ansem’s and Kel’s investment thesis around memecoins
How Ansem and Kel got into trading memecoins and how they evaluate their potential
Why the coin distribution matters and whether tokenomics is important with memecoins
How to discern between memecoins with genuine vs. fake interest
How memecoins differ across blockchains such as Solana Ethereum and Bitcoin
Ansem and Kel’s responses to the criticisms of memecoins
Whether and how memecoins could become safer for users
Kel and Ansem’s surprising reaction to racist and sexist memecoins
Ansem's story on WIF and how a female friend of his fueled its popularity
Whether Bitcoin is “the original memecoin" and how they define memecoin
The future of memecoins and how they believe all memes will become coins
Unchained Podcast is produced by Laura Shin Media, LLC. Distributed by CoinDesk. Senior Producer is Michele Musso and Executive Producer is Jared Schwartz.
