Vitalik Buterin Calls Out Copy-And-Paste Meme Coins: 'I Want To See Higher Quality Fun Projects'

A co-founder of cryptocurrency Ethereum ETH/USD is sharing his thoughts on a crypto cycle that has favored meme coins.

Here's what Vitalik Buterin had to say in a recent post.

What Happened: Fresh off his commentary on the metaverse being "poorly defined," Buterin shared his thoughts on meme coins and the good and bad that could be realized.

Back in 2014, Buterin shared thoughts on how issuing new coins could help fund public projects.

"The thinking went: society needs ways to fund valuable large-scale projects, markets and institutions are the main techniques that we have today, and both work in some cases and fail in others," Buterin said.

Buterin said issuing new coins could be a third class of funding technology.

"People who care about cancer research could hold, accept and trade AntiCancerCoin; people who care about saving the environment would hold and use ClimateCoin, and so forth. The coins that people choose to use would determine what causes got funded."

Buterin said that meme coins are now a huge topic in 2024, continuing on the same path as meme coins like Dogecoin DOGE/USD in 2020 and 2021.

"This time, they are heating up again, but in a way that is making many people feel uneasy, because there isn't anything particularly new and interesting about the meme coins."

The Ethereum co-founder said that several Solana SOL/USD meme coins are "openly super racist.” Buterin said that people should stand "against this stupidity."

Meme Coins For Good: Among the positives in the meme coin space are charity coins where a portion of the token supply or an ongoing fee goes to a charity, the Ethereum co-founder said. Buterin names GiveWell Inu and Fable of the Dragon Tyrant as coins that have supported charity. Both coins have their flaws he said, and they include a lack of maintenance for GiveWell Inu and Dragon Tyrant having "annoying" community members.

"It feels like there is an unclaimed opportunity here to try to create something more positive-sum and long-lasting. But ultimately, I think even that would create something fundamentally limited, and we can do better," Buterin said.

Buterin highlighted what he calls "Robin Hood games" in his post.

The Ethereum co-founder said he recognized play-to-earn mechanics in Axie Infinity and how people in low-income Southeast Asian countries have been able to benefit from the game.

"I get the impression that if you take the game's play-to-earn properties into account, on average, the net financial gains were negative for high-income users but might (emphasis on might!) have been positive for low-income users."

Buterin said this is the way it should be, adding that it’s best to put the safety net on lower-income users and be "brutal on those who can handle it."

"We should be making not simple copy-paste coins but rather more complicated and interesting games and games that leave lower-income players in particular economically better off."

Related Link: 5 Things That May Surprise You About Ethereum Creator Vitalik Buterin

Why It's Important: Buterin says people buy meme coins because the value might go up, they are open to participation and they are fun.

"We can siphon off a large percent of a meme coin's supply to support public goods that people value," Buterin said.

Buterin said he has no enthusiasm for coins that are scams, rugpulls or named after totalitarian political movements.

"I want to see higher quality fun projects that contribute positively to the ecosystem and the world around them get more mindshare."

Ideally, Buterin said there would be more good meme coins than bad meme coins and a common goal of supporting public goods.

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Vitalik Buterin. Photo by Alexey Smyshlyaev on Shutterstock.