Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX, has defended memecoins, cautioning against dismissing them as "stupid" and highlighting their potential value to blockchain networks.
Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX, has defended memecoins, cautioning against dismissing them as "stupid" and highlighting their potential value to blockchain networks. In an interview with Real Vision CEO Raoul Pal on March 30, Hayes argued that memecoins bring attention to the crypto sector and attract new users and engineers to blockchains, thereby generating positive value for the chains themselves.
Hayes emphasized that chains capable of supporting this cultural phenomenon would be the ones with inherent value. He specifically mentioned Solana and Ethereum as networks well-positioned to capture the attention generated by memes. The Solana network witnessed significant growth in activity last year following a memecoin frenzy in November. Subsequently, numerous non-meme projects launched on the network in the following months.
Both Pal and Hayes acknowledged that the attention directed toward memecoins would persist in the foreseeable future. Notably, the Solana-based memecoin Dogwifhat (WIF) is expected to be projected on the Las Vegas Sphere in the coming months. WIF recently surpassed the total market capitalization of the Ethereum layer-2 network Arbitrum (ARB), with WIF holding a market cap of $4.5 billion compared to ARB's $4.4 billion.
While memecoins have been the best-performing asset class within the crypto sector in the past month, industry executives have also highlighted the risks associated with them. Investment firm Franklin Templeton warned in a March 14 investor note that memecoins lack fundamental value or utility and are prone to risks despite the potential for quick profits.
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