The Attention Machine: Memecoins

In the world of Murad, memecoins have emerged as a disruptive force that both intrigues and confounds many participants. While initially dismissed as gimmicks or mere speculative tokens, memecoins like DOGE, SHIB, and PEPE have demonstrated the ability to galvanize mass attention, foster vibrant communities, and attract new users to the broader crypto ecosystem. We at Degenerator aim to explore how memecoins can act as a proxy for driving attention to dapps and serve as a mechanism for user incentivization, effectively blending the power of culture and speculation, while financially aligning the community with the projects.

Murad's presentation at Token2049, which went viral with over 1.4 million views, highlighted a growing phenomenon: the memecoin supercycle. In essence, memecoins are outperforming traditional utility tokens and even well-established cryptocurrencies. This outperformance stems from several key factors:

1. Organic Distribution and Community Evangelism: Unlike many traditional tokens that are backed by venture capital, exchanges, and market makers, memecoins often have organic, decentralized distributions. Retail investors, who hold these tokens, become unpaid evangelists, spreading the word and driving up the price as a result of their social and emotional investment.

2. Nihilistic Appeal and Financial Motivation: Memecoins tap into a range of societal issues such as inflation, job displacement due to AI, income inequality, and financial uncertainty. They offer individuals a sense of hope in a world that increasingly feels financially nihilistic. Memecoins provide users a low-barrier opportunity to "make it big," combining speculative motives with a sense of fun and belonging.

3. Tokenized Communities: Memecoins are not just about the memes—they represent tokenized communities. These communities use shared cultural narratives to recruit members and propel their tokens forward. As Murad highlighted, the most successful memecoins evolve into mini-religions or cults, complete with shared values, lifestyles, and even artwork.

This framework reveals how memecoins, once considered a joke, have become powerful tools for both capturing attention and onboarding new users into crypto.

One of the primary ways memecoins benefit blockchain projects and protocols is by acting as potent attention magnets. Memecoins often rely on humor, cultural references, and viral marketing, which can quickly catapult a relatively unknown token into the public consciousness.

The recent partnership between the APU memecoin and Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) exemplifies this. APU’s community, in particular one individual, paid for the sponsorship, resulting in the token's logo being displayed during high-profile fights. Such guerilla-style marketing, although unconventional, demonstrates how memecoins can break into mainstream awareness and garner attention for niche blockchain projects.

Guerilla marketing efforts—like wildposting, murals, and stickers plastered in public spaces—further reinforce memecoin visibility. Communities like WIF are even planning to place their token branding on high-profile platforms such as the Las Vegas Sphere, signaling a transition of memecoins from digital to physical spaces.

Through attention garnered from both meme culture and real-world marketing tactics, memecoins position themselves as effective marketing tools for broader blockchain ecosystems. By associating themselves with these highly visible tokens, blockchain projects can channel a portion of the public interest towards their platforms and products.

Beyond driving attention, memecoins provide unique opportunities for incentivizing user participation in blockchain ecosystems. Users who interact with memecoins often experience their first foray into crypto, as memecoins simplify and gamify the onboarding process.

The memecoin phenomenon can attract a new cohort of users who may never have engaged with traditional blockchain projects. As noted in Murad’s presentation, many users driven by memecoins are learning essential crypto skills, such as wallet usage, swapping, and liquidity pooling for the first time. This learning process, combined with the fun and speculative nature of memecoins, provides a low-stakes entry point for users, who might eventually explore other, more complex aspects of the blockchain ecosystem.

Memecoins have also redefined how projects market themselves. Traditional blockchain projects focus on utility, but memecoins emphasize cultural relevance. As Murad points out, altcoins are no longer about technology—they are about community and shared narratives.

Memecoins tap into collective humor and viral trends to create a sense of belonging. They encapsulate the idea that financial gains can be fun, participatory, and culturally relevant. This contrasts with other tokens, which often feel inaccessible due to technical jargon or elitist gatekeeping. In this sense, memecoins are democratizing token ownership and participation, making crypto more accessible to the average user.

Memecoins have matured from being dismissed as speculative jokes to becoming powerful tools for blockchain attention and user incentivization. By leveraging viral marketing, community-building, and financial gamification, memecoins tap into the deepest human desires for belonging, fun, and financial opportunity. Projects that understand and harness these dynamics can position themselves at the forefront of the blockchain ecosystem, using memecoins as a proxy for driving mass attention and incentivizing new users to engage with decentralized technologies. As the memecoin supercycle unfolds, it may pave the way for a new wave of user onboarding and cultural integration in the crypto space.

Watch us cook with MAYG, a case study on UNCHI will be out soon.