JAKARTA - Memecoin, an internet meme-inspired crypto asset, has become a phenomenon that has attracted the attention of many people. Some memecoins like Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB), and Akita Inu (AKITA) have experienced fantastic price increases in recent times. However, not all parties have liked this trend. One of them is Vitalik Buterin, founder of Ethereum, who criticized memecoin and invited the crypto community to focus more on more useful infrastructure.
Memecoin is a type of crypto asset that uses images, words, or symbols that are popular on the internet as logos or names. Memecoins are usually created as jokes, parody, or forms of expression. However, some memecoins managed to gain popularity and support from famous figures, such as Elon Musk, Snoop Dogg, and Gene Simmons.
One of the most famous examples of memecoins is Dogecoin (DOGE), which was created in 2013 based on images of Shiba Inu breed dogs. DOGE was originally only worth a small part of a US cent, but now has a market capitalization of around US$6.5 billion (Rp101.9 trillion) and is the tenth largest crypto asset.
Apart from DOGE, there are also other competitors or successors to DOGE, such as Shiba Inu (SHIB), Akita Inu (AKITA), Dogelon Mars (ELON), and Kishu Inu (KISHU). All of these memecoins also use dog images as logos and offer features such as staking, farming, or burning. Some of them even get support from famous figures, such as rapper Meek Mill who claims to buy SHIB.
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Memecoins experienced a significant price spike in recent weeks, mainly triggered by high demand from retail and speculators. According to data from CoinMarketCap, total memecoin market cap has risen 30% to more than $41 billion. SHIB, touted as the DOGE killer', jumped 52% earlier today, leading the memecoin rise. The price increase brought the price of SHIB to 0.00002 US dollars (Rp0.31) and to date, the token has not shown any signs of a correction towards a decline.
However, not everyone welcomes the memecoin phenomenon. One of the critics is Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, a blockchain platform that supports many crypto apps and tokens, including several memecoins. Buterin responded to a post from Roko Mijic, a crypto entrepreneur and investor, who criticized the adoption of a memecoin that sparked a major spike this weekend.
Quoted from CoinGape, Mijic said that memecoin is a sign of the decline in crypto infrastructure' and the collective failure' of the crypto community. It also alleges that memecoin is taking resources and attention from more useful crypto projects.
Buterin does not fully agree with Mijic's view. He tried to explain that memecoin is not a new phenomenon and that there are several reasons why people are interested in memecoin. He also said that not all crypto infrastructures are public goods that need to be collectively funded, but there are also those that are competitive and zero-sum.
Buterin also highlighted some of the crypto infrastructures he deems under pay attention to and funded, such as zk voting, privacy service providers, ENS in Layer-2, proof of people's ownership and community membership, a more secure software supply chain for DApps, and a fully decentralized cross-L2 token transfer protocol.
Buterin hopes that the crypto community can focus more on more important and useful crypto infrastructure, rather than just following a memecoin trend that may not last long. He also invites crypto developers and investors to be more critical and selective in choosing crypto projects that deserve support.
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