For all the craziness, memecoin fever has been embraced by some corners of the crypto industry. In search of outsize returns, there are a small number of hedge funds invested in memecoins this year. Some investment firms, such as Pantera Capital, consider memecoins a “Trojan horse” will likely introduce new people to crypto.

The idea, says Robert Le, a crypto analyst at market data firm PitchBook, is that memecoin activity on a particular crypto network will translate into a ready audience for future ones. project with practical utility built on the same basic infrastructure. “It brings a kind of tangential value to other real projects,” Le said.

But some say the memecoin phenomenon is likely to harm crypto by perpetuating the perception that the industry is nothing but a paradise for gamblers and grifters. “At best, it looks like a risky casino. Or a series of false promises hiding in a casino,” WRITES Eddy Lazarin, CTO of the crypto division of venture capital firm a16z, in April. “This has greatly impacted adoption, regulation/law, and builder ethics. I see the damage every day. You should too.”

The irony is that memecoins have largely escaped the attention of US financial regulators under the Biden administration, while entrepreneurs have tried to establish meaningful crypto use cases. targeted for investigationsaid Chris Dixon, head of a16z crypto, in an interview with WIRED last year. “The stupidest things in crypto, like Dogecoin, which are completely meaningless and stupid—that’s completely legal,” Dixon said.

There is a potential future where memecoins can be used by entrepreneurs as a vehicle to raise capital for ambitious crypto projects without providing equity, Khan said. But for now, they represent financial speculation in its latest form. “We’ve always been in this place where as an industry we’re seen as a decentralized version of Macau or Vegas. It doesn’t help us this way,” he said.

Whether or not memecoins harm the prospects or reputation of the crypto industry, a crackdown of some form is likely, industry observers say, such is the amount of money flying around and the level of risk in traders.

“Memecoins is a perfect PvP game. For somebody to win, somebody to lose. A lot of people who lose the least money are the ones who lose the most,” Khan said. “There has to be a crackdown at some point.”

Because memecoins defy easy comparisons with traditional investment assets, Le said, they are probably best regulated by gambling authorities. “This is basically unregulated gambling. It probably comes down to whoever is the gambling regulator in each country,” he said. “Through the grapevine, I’ve heard some US state regulators talk about doing some sort of regulation.” Pump.Fun declined to comment.

Until such time, however, memecoins will continue to do their thing. On December 5, Hailey Welch of “Hawk Tuah” fame launched a coin, which lost 95 percent of its value in the first hours of trading, which led to an outcry. On the same day, the merchants threw money PNUTa coin modeled after celebrity squirrel was euthanized late last year of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, currently worth more than $1 billion.

Since the launch of MOTHER, Azalea has promoted the coin non-stop to her 7.7 million X followers, through a flurry of provocative images and meme posts. Part of his plan to ensure his coin has a long life—a rarity among memeocins—is to build some sort of utility for it. Today’s coin accepted as payment through a telecom startup in which Azalea has a stake. “I plan to stay here for a long time. And me,” he said.

Eventually, Azalea hopes to parlay memecoin into other business opportunities—including setting up her own venture fund—by proving to prospective partners and investors that she can identify and get on board. zeitgeist.

“I’ve always been a big shitposter,” he said. “I like to bait, to troll, to say things that are a little bit provocative. I like to say things and act in ways that I know will get members… It’s about going viral, in the end.