The cryptocurrency community is sounding the alarm on what they call “peak degeneracy,” as founders of memecoins have made millions of dollars through token presales in the past 72 hours. Data aggregated by and cited by crypto researcher 0xGumshoe shows that approximately $100 million worth of Solana has been sent by traders in an attempt to invest in new Solana memecoins. These memecoins, such as Book of Meme (BOME), $NAP (NAP), and Nostalgia (NOS), have been using controversial presale models to raise funds for their unreleased coins.
This trend has raised concerns among some members of the crypto community. Pseudonymous investor Nick expressed his shock at people investing significant amounts, such as $180,000 and $90,000, into memecoins. The frenzy surrounding memecoin presales began when Book of Meme launched using the crowdfunding model. In just 56 hours, its market capitalization skyrocketed from an initial value of $4 million to $1.45 billion, representing a more than 36,000% increase. One investor, known as sundayfunday.sol, turned an initial investment of 420.69 Solana into a staggering $32 million in just three days.
Presales involve investors sending their cryptocurrency to a wallet address and receiving a weighted distribution of tokens once the token becomes available. There is no guarantee that investors will receive tokens in exchange for their cryptocurrency, making presales a popular target for fraud and scams. Ethereum educator Anthony Sassano criticized the presale model, calling anyone who sent money to a random wallet address in hopes of receiving a token “dumb as hell.”
The memecoin frenzy is not limited to the crypto community but has attracted attention from mainstream figures as well. David Sacks, known for his role as co-host of the All In podcast, saw the drama surrounding his memecoin escalate, resulting in one lucky user reportedly profiting around $39,000. Another user on X, a pseudonymous online forum, expected an appreciation in another All In podcast memecoin after Sacks began promoting his own. When Elon Musk tweeted about buying the coin affiliated with his co-host Jason Calcanis, the JASON coin experienced a massive surge, turning an initial investment of 1 SOL into 200 SOL.
People need to educate themselves before jumping into memecoin investments. It’s mind-boggling how easily they fall for these schemes.
These memecoin founders are laughing all the way to the bank while innocent people lose their money.
I can’t help but feel a mix of FOMO and concern when it comes to memecoin investing. 🤔 It’s definitely a wild ride, but we should proceed with caution.
The whole memecoin trend is damaging the credibility of cryptocurrencies. It’s a shame that legitimate projects get overshadowed by these scams.