# Meme Money

By [LGHT](https://paragraph.com/@lght) · 2024-01-21

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_Nothing written is financial or even general life advice. These essays are for entertainment purposes only --- Godspeed._

**Additional Disclosure:** I own some, but not all, of the coins mentioned in this essay. In no way is this endorsement or financial suggestion that one should purchase them.

Speculation
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> the forming of a theory or conjecture without firm evidence

_Speculation_ is deeply integrated in the human experience. Mindshare for the term has fallen largely on notions of degeneracy, gambling, and addiction however.

Without overextending the idea, speculation in this context could be rebranded as:

*   prediction
    
*   intuition
    
*   imagination
    
*   thinking
    

Outside of investing, speculation covers who you choose to mate with, where you work, the home you raise a family in.. down to the art you make, beverage you drink at lunch, and shows you decide to watch at night.

### Memecoins

> a picture is worth a thousand words. A meme is worth 10,000 pictures ~ [Balaji](https://twitter.com/balajis)

Look at what happens when we add speculative-tickers to something “worth 10,000 pictures.” We get $[DOGE](https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/dogecoin) reaching an $85B market capitalization. For further context, this put $DOGE in the top 100 most valuable companies on the planet.

This, along with $SHIB reaching a $40B mcap, is largely written off by the world. But I’m starting to feel that reaching top 100 mindshare, **with zero product, utility, services, etc** is not elementary or a fluke.

If we speculate on research/thoughts (words), film/tv/sports (pictures), and ownership-stock (memes), maybe these coins start making more sense than they _logically_ should.

Tokenomics
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Another term marred by grifters, _tokenomics_ simply means ‘fiscal design’.

The Ethereum Name Service ($ENS) token is designed differently than the Ethereum token ($ETH). Not only are supply, allocation, vesting, burn, inflationary v deflationary, staking, etc part of _tokenomic_ design; the core philosophies of these tokens differ.

A brief overview of different tokenomics:

![all memecoins](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/b3e94b56bf08f340f0fce42528ceb625fa77a1e28e65c7c1ea01fd885db10e4d.png)

all memecoins

Recently there are two new memecoins with unique philosophies underpinning them.

### $SWAG

A coin created and led by an independent artist named [Bosch](https://twitter.com/supermetalx). It’s being used to engage with the artist’s personal art ecosystem.

Recently he auctioned off physical merchandise for the currency (13,000 $SWAG as the winning bid). He also gave preferential _utility_ in his [Little Swag World](https://twitter.com/littleswagworld) nft drop.

Holders were given:

*   allowlist privileges
    
*   one free mint
    
*   reduced price on public sale
    

If you remember $BLOOT, Beanie’s infamous pasta should resurface. Ironically enough, we are seeing ‘history rhyme’ with $SWAG (not the rug part).

A memecoin open to public speculation, while simultaneously showing signs of tight integration with a creative’s discography.

### $DEGEN

The first ‘successful’ memecoin launched by [Farcaster](https://twitter.com/farcaster_xyz) natives. _Success_ here means currently avoiding the archetypal pump and dump chart. ↓

![pour one out for those waiting for their dust to bounce](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/8f3c23b438537c5c8eac73016a0685107a214fac518abde44aa006340e82e5d8.png)

pour one out for those waiting for their dust to bounce

$DEGEN could be conceptualized as a _community coin_ (like $BONK). It exists solely because of Farcaster users. It has a community-oriented _tokenomic’s_ structure ([see more](https://www.degen.tips/)). And it is using the [_points_](https://www.degen.tips/airdrop1) meta for people to earn it rather than purchase it.

Additionally, it has chosen Base’s L2 for deployment - a separate experiment with cheaper gas fees and fragmented liquidity outside of Mainnet.

Meme Money
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This essay is not a soft shill in buying a particular token. Nor is it an endorsement in the soundness of any potential _investments_ (most will go to zero).

Instead, it’s a bubbling curiosity in my observations of memecoins:

*   evolving
    
*   reaching deeper attention pockets ([see Franklin Templeton tweeting about memecoins](https://x.com/FTI_US/status/1747703202664112232?s=20))
    
*   retaining liquidity
    
*   and possibly being the most battle tested utility in crypto
    

It’s common place to say “memecoins are a feature not a bug” in crypto. I’m wondering if there are ‘software updates’ on the horizon that turn them into something more.

Seeing these coins experiment with their philosophies, tokenomics, get meme’d relentlessly, sky rocket to billions of dollars, etc leaves me wondering what we may be missing here.

What is \*\*meme money \*\*if [Jacob](https://twitter.com/js_horne) is correct - that crypto unbundled traditional currency?

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*Originally published on [LGHT](https://paragraph.com/@lght/meme-money)*
