MEME destroys crypto? a16z engages in a debate with the community

Original title: "VC Community Debate: a16z CTO criticizes MEME coin for being similar to a casino, but the community enjoys it"

Original author: TechFlow

No matter whether it is a local dog or a golden dog, a dog that can make money is a good dog.

This sentence may have become a true psychological portrayal of the leeks in the currency circle.

When Meme frequently appears in the top 50 tokens in the crypto market value, and when Solana runs out of the golden dog myth every now and then, from missing it to being "conquered by the rise", everyone's recognition of Meme coins has gradually formed.

No one doesn't love Memecoin? There are exceptions.

For example, A16Z's CTO, Eddy Lazzarin.

In a discussion thread on Twitter today about the value of Meme coin, Eddy made it clear:

"Memecoin destroys the long-term vision that keeps many people in the crypto field, and is not technically attractive; it is not attractive to builders."

When someone suggested that Meme coin could attract a lot of users and make the use of different chains active, Eddy further expressed his disdain for this attraction effect:

"Which users are attractive? Providing casino services to a few people is not exciting... Memecoin has changed the public, regulators and entrepreneurs' views on cryptocurrencies. At best, it looks like a risky casino, or a series of false promises to cover up a casino. This has a profound impact on the adoption of encryption technology, laws and regulations, and the behavior of builders. I see these damages every day."

Obviously, A16Z's CTO regards Meme coin more as a casino, which has no actual value, but affects the image of the industry.

From a technical perspective, Meme Coin is really just a simple copy and paste of a different image and slogan. Of course, there is no technical innovation. From a CTO perspective, it is easy to understand Eddy’s technical cleanliness and condescending attitude——

What we need is substantial technological innovation, optimizing or changing production relations, and contributing to the industry or the world. Meme is not clean and creates air. Can people with some technical pursuits not be annoyed?

However, VCs and leeks do not share the same joys and sorrows. I can understand CTOs, but can CTOs understand leeks?

VCs delay gratification, while leeks enjoy the present

Eddy's remarks obviously attracted counterattacks and refutations from the community.

A very insightful comment is:

Instead of criticizing Meme coins, it is better to criticize those destructive pseudo-innovations. For example, the arbitrarily named ERCxxx standards, or those who conduct large-scale dust attacks on Bitcoin (sending tiny amounts of Bitcoin to many addresses in the network).

Does it have the flavor of ERC404 and inscriptions?

The subtext here is that the so-called technological innovations in the industry are all serving hype; they are all creating concepts, while Meme coins are more pure.

From the perspective of a purer leeks, the rebuttal of a netizen is the collective heartfelt words of the leeks:

"Meme is our opportunity to flip big institutions. I like Meme. Although most Memes will make me spend money, I only need to catch one to greatly improve my life. But if I invest in projects invested by large institutions, I have to wait for several days to get a meager return."

Meme may do three things.

Fair, fair, or TMD fairness.

Although the fairness of the currency circle needs to be put in quotation marks, compared with the last round of VCs investing first, making a big technical narrative and then selling it to the secondary market, the leeks obviously prefer the Meme coin model.

And here the irreconcilable contradiction between VCs and leeks in their positions is further highlighted:

VCs delay gratification, and leeks enjoy the present.

VC's delayed gratification is based on extremely high information density and information advantages. Entering early enough and feeling it thoroughly enough, of course, you can be patient enough and have the confidence to delay gratification; this is also the basic logic of other people's investment business.

And the leeks also delayed gratification at the beginning, first ICO and then get the coin, it's nothing more than others eating meat and I drink some soup; but the current situation may be that the leeks can't even eat the bone residue, so naturally they have no position, motivation and patience to delay gratification.

So Meme coin became a carnival for leeks, long bets, small trial and error, hit one, and take off on the spot.

In an environment lacking opportunities, it’s a gamble anyway. There is no hope outside the circle, and those in the circle must enjoy the present and bet. This is the key to Meme coin being popular with most ordinary people.

And the high-brow VC CTO may not have the need to gamble from the perspective of his career. The business model of his institution is more inclined to long-term fishing for big fish, and it is more fulfilling to be able to invest in technical products.

Position determines the mind

From a more practical perspective, A16Z’s CTO publicly expressed his dislike for Meme coin, which may mean that they have no position.

According to the on-chain address data counted by Scopechat and Rootdata, the largest position of A16Z’s public address is Uni, followed by COMP and ETH.

In contrast, Jesse Walden, co-founder of Variant Fund, also spoke out in the discussion thread, and his attitude towards Meme was obviously much more tolerant:

“It is debatable which of the following has caused more damage:

a) Projects that promise to use breakthrough technology to cover up token liquidity scams

b) Memecoin does not promise anything except volatility and entertainment”

Whether Variant itself holds a large number of Memes has not been verified by public data, but its other co-founder Li Jin has previously announced the convening of a Meme hackathon, and the venue is at the headquarters of Variant Fund.

Obviously not all VCs reject Meme. This round of Meme bull market has also seen the participation of many VCs.

Positions determine the mind. When interests are irrelevant, you can objectively criticize Meme coins; but once you really take a position, no one wants Meme coins to fail.

In the crypto information that is full of criticism or praise, FUD or shouting every day, all the noisy arguments are not important.

What matters is how you make your position benefit.

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