Ansem, an expert in single-name cryptocurrency trading, said he has learned to be more discerning about which celebrity-backed memecoins he would approve of. Speaking on stage at Messari’s mainnet conference in downtown Manhattan on Tuesday, the cryptocurrency social media influencer took a different approach to the recent trend of celebrity-themed tokens following controversy over the apparent rug-pull that enriches celebrities and hurts retail traders. He said he would have done it.
“One thing I’ve had to get used to is that because of the way I gain a large following online, anything I’m tangentially close to or related to can be taken as an endorsement,” Ansem says. His real name is Zion Thomas, he said during a fireside chat with YAP Global Associate Director Debra Nita. “We should be more careful about assuming the best of everyone.”
“Finance is important,” he added.
‘Beyond meme coins and celebrity coins’
Memecoin has had an explosive year, especially following the launch of Pump.fun by Solana, which created an easy-to-use launchpad that allows users to mint tokens. As the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies rebounded following the 2022 market crash, celebrity participation in web3 also began to increase.
While some praise the presence of familiar faces from the sports, music and entertainment industries as a way to attract people, most, if not all, celebrity-backed cryptocurrency projects, including several posted by Ansem, have struggled. Supported.
But now, after the launch of his new blockchain project Bullpen and the launch of his boxing career, the meme trader appears to be looking to make amends and get serious.
“It’s exciting to see Ansem enter a new era,” Nita told The Block in an interview. “I think he’s broadened his focus beyond meme coins and celebrity coins to projects that will have a big impact on the industry, like altVM. After receiving criticism, he’s being more careful about what he says and considering the impact it may have.” “Other positive changes.”
“The original thesis was that there was a lack of consumer apps for cryptocurrencies. I don’t want to say PMF (product market fit). “We’re running out of ways to break into areas like the Web 2.0 space,” Ansem said. He added that celebrities with “millions of followers” can use their “social capital” to win people’s attention back.
But he acknowledged that it doesn’t always work. For example, rapper Sexy Red’s team reportedly owned 90% of the PRESI token supply at launch, while Caitlin Jenner’s token, which she promised to promote, is down 99% from its all-time high. I did it.
One of the reasons this cycle in particular worked so well is because Solana allowed retail trading for very little money. And the UX for on-chain transactions is much better than last cycle.” said Ansem, an early Solana supporter. He pointed out that high fees on the Ethereum mainnet had limited previous transaction cycles.
The Memecoin sector is It started to get cooler. Even recently, Ansem still sees long legs as a trend.
“Ever since we saw (tokens like DOGE rally) in the last cycle, people already knew it was going that high in meme heads. So it’s actually not that difficult for people to make the same deal and have the same mindset,” Ansem said.
Discussing this phenomenon, Ansem said that memecoins are often the first trend to take over the new Layer 1. In part, this is because token holders will find ways to spend their funds. He said he is particularly interested in emerging chains including Monad, Berachain, and Movement, as well as “alt-VMs” (as opposed to the Ethereum virtual machine) such as Move-VM and Solana’s SVM.
Doing it often seen as a jokeAnsem said memecoins are a powerful tool for tracking what has captured the zeitgeist. In that sense, it’s as “raw” as real cryptocurrency is to fundamentals like open finance and privacy.
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