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The VC token industry is not what it was in 2017 or even 2021. Back then the newbies to the "crypto" space trusted them to give recommendations on what to buy and what to not buy. Fortunes were made by crypto VCs as almost anything they promoted would be bought by the gullible public and subsequently pump. They made money on all kinds of tokens, from EOS, to IOTA, WAX and STEEM. Those were the golden days when they had influence in the market.
The crypto VC influence has significantly waned the last few years and the days of making 30x on an ICO are long over. Their reputation since has been sinking faster than Bill Cosby's, as the market that they built their funds on got away from them. In a sense, though, they deserved it, as pretty much everything they pumped did horribly, and the promises of these tokens about as likely to be fulfilled as a Kardashian wedding vow. The run they had was unbelievable, fueled by a ZIRP environment and insane FOMO, but when the altcoin market started going south, their prospects crashed along with them.

The Demise of VC Tokens

Despite their struggles, Venture Capital benefit from the fact that it's a lagging industry. They typically raise the next fund while the iron is hot, and can raise crazy amounts during these bull cycles. They can survive a long time on their 2% yearly management fee, even as their 20% of profit looks increasingly unlikely. Crypto funds have all done terrible the last few years and most of them are deeply underwater.
The few coin pumps that they've tried have more or less died before they had any chance to pump, BitClout and WorldCoin being two notable examples. VCs poured a lot of money into these things, hoping to bring back the good old days, only to find that the market no longer trusted them. And who could blame the market? The coins they pumped previously were down significantly in USD terms, and in BTC terms, they looked like the Venezuelan Bolivar.

The Rise of Memecoins

But that doesn't mean altcoins went away. Memecoins obsoleted the VCs and ultimately brought some more honesty to the Neitzchean will-to-power games that were always being played. The original memecoin, of course, was Dogecoin, and Elon Musk pumped that thing like a hot air balloon, and surprisingly, the market followed. What Dogecoin did was to lay bare what was actually going on in the altcoin markets. The narrative didn't matter and it was all a power game, a Keynesian Beauty Contest, and mob rule. These "blockchain" use-cases were about as realistic as a Milli Vanilli comeback, so in a sense, the altcoin market reduced to its essence.
Dogecoin was also notable because it cut out VCs. It was a retail phenomenon and VCs for the most part, didn't get into it. How could they? These are people that supposedly figure out what the future is going to look like and invest accordingly. There's no expertise, no due diligence and no market research needed in a memecoin pump. VCs don't have any special access or insight in the memecoin market and they didn't provide anything of value to the pumpers. They got cut out as middlemen.
Doge was followed by Shibu Inu and its success rapidly rendered VCs completely unnecessary. The game that was being played didn't require large injections of capital, just the appropriate buzz and enough marketing to achieve escape velocity. Shibu pumped purely as a meme, copying Dogecoin and it similarly required no VC pumping to succeed. And with that, VCs became the cable news of the altcoin industrial complex, where the only attention they garnered was from their deluded peers.

A New Cycle

We're now in an environment where memecoins have become the altcoin pump and dump of choice. Indeed, just about the only coins this cycle that are pumping are either memecoins or platforms for memecoins.
For what it's worth, memecoins seem to have a similar dynamic as other altcoins, in that a few mainstays seem to hold significant mind share while everything else dies a quick death. What's different is that because these memecoins don't have large marketing budgets, they get to their dump phase much quicker.
All this is good. The altcoiners are in a sense a lot more honest this time around. There's no grand promises of crazy applications using blockchain, or disrupting some industry. The people that are getting into memecoins know that it's a gambling vehicle and that they're playing a greater fool game. There's little deception in PepeCoin or DogWifHat because they're not claiming any utility or even a future.
And don't feel sorry for the VCs. They are reaping the rotten fruit of hype and fraud that they've sowed. Many have destroyed their reputations pumping useless stuff and the fact that no one is listening to them is the market functioning properly.
There's also a lot less waste of developer time. Instead of altcoin platforms wasting developer time on barely working, insecure projects, they're eschewing utility altogether for "fun." The entire altcoin industry has been about gambling and now, everyone knows.
In the end, memecoins make Bitcoin look better and better.
I can't stop myself from sharing this video every time I hear about memecoins.
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16 sats \ 3 replies \ @nichro 8 May
"What happened here dude"
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I've watched this video like 21 times and I always laugh out loud.
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16 sats \ 1 reply \ @nichro 8 May
I wonder if he was invested too. His freakout would be a mix of shock from getting ruggled but also excitement for it happening live on stream
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It's not entirely clear to me, but he doesn't seem to be very invested. His reaction wouldn't have been so enthusiastic otherwise.
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There is a german Youtuber, going into online scams and the shady methods of earning money.
He made a video about meme coin Trading on SOL some days ago. What he mentioned is:
  • It cost a creator around 500 Dollar to create a coin on SOL
  • A lot of them get rugpulled at around 750 k to 1.5 Million or in the first 10 minutes
  • Scammers take around 50 Million USD on SOL every day by creating MEME COINS
Example Coin "4":
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20 sats \ 0 replies \ @Tony 8 May
Shitcoinery keeps turning into an ever bigger shitshow with every cycle, even though it feels like things can not get more absurd.
There are only 2 options: go bitcoin-only or fail.
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Memecoins have become the most popular casino on the internet.
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I have some friends who are in a 'crypto' telegram group. Their modus operandi is basically to chase airdrops on Ethereum or on anything else that they think could bare fruit such as 'Runes'.
However as you point out I think they are beginning to realise the gambling nature of what they are doing. I feel there's a shift in consciousness going on right now and I suspect many will eventually leave crypto behind to focus on sound money and building on bitcoin.
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Age group: 20s ?
Surely not 30?
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30s and 40s for a few of them I think .
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  1. What
😭
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @guts 8 May
Many believe the same of Ethereum about sound money, I don't think the degen nature of many will go away.
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This doesnt work for memecoins!
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I went and watched a certain youtuber for shits and giggles recently, the kind that focuses on crypto news and analysis, first time in many many years. Was surprised they were still active and kicking.
Kind of hits different when you're out of the shitcoin swamp.
They just go on analyzing different coins and giving an update on the trends, as if there was anything to be analysed at all. It's the same as it's always been in 99% of the cases: Bitcoin goes up, altcoins follow. Bitcoin goes down, altcoins creater. There's nothing to be analysed but they deliver their report regardless of the fact that it's even less accurate than weather reports, by a lot. It's a myth just like the myth of "keeping your crypto asset diversified to mitigate risk" by having a "portfolio" with a hundred different shitcoins.
In the analysis, there's always the subtext of "Could go up, could go down, could go sideways, we'll have to see".
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They were propped up by VC money, good analysis.
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TLDR
Who’s got time to read about shitcoins?
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Did anyone see that clip of the web 3 VC guy on bankless lamenting the fact that the "token assembly line" has dried up?
Have to give him credit for being honest.
(I don't watch bankless btw. It was a clip shared on twitter. I can't stand those insufferable grifters)
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Not memecoins but jokecoins and not Altcoins but shitcoins.
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I don't know why do we need main coins. If we need main coins we also need need paper money. I only want Bitcoins nothing else. I like it
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