There is a distinct nuance about memecoins launched on Farcaster.
Unlike the flashing lights of memecoin Twitter or the noisy mess of telegram or discord, the social app's unique channel-based design has cultivated a memecoin culture where participation isn’t solely driven by the financial incentive of “price goes higher.”
The most successful memecoins on Farcaster are the ones with no reliance on a particular “team” or “utility.” They are the ones created as “Culture Coins,” “Community Coins,” or “Social Coins.”
They aren't just about the memes; they are about the “Scene” they belong to.
The Original Scenecoins (Pre-Scene)
Although the phrase “Scenecoin” was only coined recently (credit to @joshcrnls), the Scenecoin culture on Warpcast has existed since the app's inception.
An early example was the /spam channel and their $SPAM token — a simple proof of concept designed to reward users for casts on Farcaster.
Users would get 5 $SPAM for every unique cast containing the word "$SPAM.” it was a simple memecoin with a fun airdrop mechanism.
But in $SPAM (and other similar tokens at the time), you could already see the seedlings of the Scenecoin culture beginning to sprout.
The community took to $SPAM differently than most memecoins. The vibe (although ultimately short-lived) was similar to that of the Dogecoin Reddit from 2014 – it wasn’t about trying to pump the coin; it was genuinely about the culture, community, and fun.
Some other “pre-Scene” Farcaster memecoins included $WOWOW, $FARTS, and $POINTS (the pre-curser to $DEGEN).
Setting the Scene (Degen)
As the initial flash-in-the-pan Farcaster memecoins eventually faded into the background, a novel wave of Scenecoins (or Scenecoins 2.0) began to emerge.
The most notable is, of course, $DEGEN - the token that has now become synonymous with the Farcaster ecosystem.
DEGEN enabled a points system that would allow Warpcast users to reward (or “tip”) others with $DEGEN for posting quality content.
It served no other purpose initially, but the /degen channel and $DEGEN grew to represent the Farcaster degenerate mindset.
It set the standard for what Farcaster memecoins (read Scenecoins) should be — no artificial hype train, no fake utility, just a token to represent, and be used by a community of like-minded degenerates.
The First True Scenecoin (Higher)
Although hindsight tells us $DEGEN was the first Scenecoin to gain large-scale attention, it was (and is) labeled as a memecoin and nothing more.
It wasn’t until a new channel popped up in March 2024 that people began to realize that $DEGEN, and other Farcaster memecoins, fit into a separate category altogether.
This new channel was the now iconic /higher.
/higher was intended as a conceptual cultural experiment. A completely community-owned brand created to represent an “optimistic state of mind.”
Everything from the logo, website, blog posts and even merchandise were all community-created.
“Higher can be a state of mind we work from, regardless of prices." - @lght.eth, /higher co-founder
This channel and its associated token, $HIGHER, established the point of difference between regular memecoins and Farcaster’s “Scene” memecoins.
Scenecoin Takeover
After the success of $HIGHER, a wave of new Scenecoins and their affiliated channels began to arise on Warpcast (we will spotlight all of them on /scenecoin over the coming weeks):
$ENJOY: The (unofficial) Scenecoin for the Zora network.
$GLOOM: The Scenecoin for those who like being gloomy, whining, and complaining.
$DOGINME: The dog Scenecoin for those who have the “Dog in them.”
$STREAMZ: The Scenecoin aimed at the music community.
$BLEU: The satirical Scenecoin for those who think modern memecoins take themselves too seriously.
The Future of Scenecoins
The next evolution of Scenecoins (Scenecoins 3.0) will likely be the creation of more refined and creator-driven Scenecons.
Warpcast is filled with builders, artists, writers, and creatives of all sorts. Each one with a following (and even those without) will likely create their own Scenecoin to represent their community.
An example of this already occurring is through the artist @animated and their community Scenecoin $AM.
@animated offering a free art airdrop to $AM holders
This trend will likely continue as creators utilize Scenecoins as a gateway to their work and an effective way to reward dedicated community members and supporters.
Join the Scenecoin Community
🎩 Farcaster
Website (coming soon)
