Vitalik Buterin Criticizes Memecoins for Celebrities

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Vitalik Buterin Speaks Out About Famous Memecoins

Recently, the market has witnessed a wave of celebrities and KOLs from various fields rushing to issue their own tokens. By leveraging the popularity and simplicity of token creation on the pump.fun platform, influential individuals can easily initiate and promote them on their highly-followed social media accounts.

The excitement and support from fans have driven token prices up significantly, bringing “fresh money” to KOLs. However, the consequence is that susceptible users end up becoming liquidity providers instead of profiting themselves.

Naturally, this trend has faced considerable criticism from the community, and most recently, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin has also issued a warning.

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

“I’m quite unhappy with the trend of famous people’s tokens in the current cycle.

“Tokenization is a means to an end.” I respect it if the purpose is worthy (such as healthcare, open-source software, art,…). But with the current trend, tokenization is the “ultimate product.”

Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis’ Stoner Cats project holds more value than all the famous memecoins appearing in this 2024 cycle. At least Stoner Cats has created a real television show.

How can we move towards a better direction without worsening?

Vitalik Buterin is one of the avid supporters of Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis’ Stoner Cats project. He has also expressed that “memecoins have more utility than people think,” implying his support for the development of memecoins.

Criteria for Evaluating Famous People’s Tokens by Vitalik Buterin

Memes remain a fatty bait for those who seek personal gain rather than community-building. Nearly half a million tokens were issued on Solana in May, and most of them were memecoins. The majority of these only bring losses to investors, with few projects able to “shine.”

Therefore, Buterin’s criticism of memecoins issued by famous individuals is entirely justified. Additionally, he outlines some criteria for evaluating famous people’s tokens as follows:

Have a good purpose for the community, serving the community rather than just generating profits for celebrities and early buyers.
Have a mechanism more appealing than just being a token for trading. I won’t support tokens used for voting in DAOs; at least the token must have utility for everyone and the organizations involved. DAOs are not the ultimate goal; they are just a part of it.
Build something that lasts for at least 10 years, not just a few months before being forgotten.