BitMEX Co-founder Endorses Memecoins as Catalysts for Blockchain Growth
Summary:
Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX, advocates for the value of memecoins in drawing attention and resources to the crypto sector and the chains they are launched on. In an interview with Real Vision CEO, Raoul Pal, he suggests chains like Solana and Ethereum stand to benefit the most from the meme-driven attention. Despite potential risks and lack of inherent value, memecoins have outperformed other crypto asset classes in recent weeks, according to CoinGecko data.
Arthur Hayes, BitMEX's co-founder, advises not to hastily dismiss all memecoins as worthless, arguing their launch on blockchain networks can boost these platforms positively. In an interview on March 30 with Real Vision's CEO Raoul Pal, Hayes contended that memecoins garner interest and lead to an influx of new blockchain users and developers, enhancing the crypto world. "It may be easy to write these off as frivolous and without value, but if they are drawing more engineers and interest into this field, it only augments the value of the chain itself", Hayes said. He went on to suggest that platforms like Solana and Ethereum, being well-placed to capitalize on the wave of interest generated by memes, "will be the ones carrying value". Solana's network activity experienced a significant surge following a memecoin boom in November last year, leading to the launch of many non-meme projects on the network in the subsequent months. The Bitcoin network also saw similar growth in activity and development after a wave of BRC-20 tokens and Ordinals. Pal reckoned that memecoins are ready to gain more popularity, particularly among younger cryptocurrency investors, feeding into the gaming mindset predominant among Gen Z and millennials. "This is essentially gaming, but with money," commented Pal. Both Hayes and Pal believed the interest in memecoins will sustain in the foreseeable future. Solana-based memecoin dogwifhat (WIF) is lined up for showcasing on the Las Vegas Sphere in the upcoming months. This dog-themed memecoin recently overtook Ethereum's layer-2 network Arbitrum (ARB) in overall market capitalization. Currently, WIF holds a market cap of $4.5 billion while ARB's stands at $4.4 billion. Nonetheless, some industry insiders highlight the multifold risks associated with memecoins. In its investor note on March 14, the U.S. investment company Franklin Templeton stated that while memecoins might offer an opportunity for prompt profits, they are exposed to risks stemming from their inherent lack of tangible value or utility. In a blog post dated March 29, Ethereum's co-founder Vitalik Buterin conveyed his general lack of interest in memecoins, but urged cryptocurrency investors and memecoin creators to render these tokens useful or philanthropic, rather than just rejecting them or providing hollow endorsements. Despite these risks, memecoins have outperformed other asset classes within the cryptocurrency sector over the past month, per CoinGecko data. Data from CoinGecko shows an aggregate 20% gain for memecoins listed on their platform over the past week, as compared to 6% for layer-1 network tokens and 5.4% for decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens.
Published At
4/1/2024 5:40:55 AM
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