The upcoming age of cryptocurrency

MemeCoins and the Evolving Crypto Landscape

MemeCoins may seem like a passing fad tied to internet trends, but there’s more to them than meets the eye. They represent a new information ecosystem within the crypto space. During a recent episode of Fortune’s Crypto Playbook Vodcast, this idea was explored further.

Carlson-Wee is a significant figure in this evolving narrative. He joined Coinbase as its first employee back in 2012, after working as a lumberjack, and later left to co-found PolyChain Capital, diving into Ethereum and smart contracts.

On the Vodcast, he shared insights about the industry’s shift, referencing recent growth in meme coin metrics, crediting platforms like pupp.fun for their rise.

While many of these coins lack practical uses and often become speculative vehicles, it’s noteworthy that several boast market caps exceeding $1 million, with established ones like Dogecoin reaching hundreds of billions. More importantly, Carlson-Wee pointed out that meme coins are starting to leave their mark in popular culture.

“Whenever a new meme or newsworthy event emerges online, there’s often a corresponding coin that pops up, which tends to attract attention,” he noted.

Carlson-Wee envisioned a future where meme coins could integrate seamlessly into social media feeds, offering a refreshing alternative to the content dictated by algorithms from big tech companies.

“These new meme coins act as an advanced information discovery system within the market,” he explained. “On social media, each post could potentially be tokenized. This is likely the direction we’re heading.”

He and his colleagues at PolyChain also discussed emerging trends that may shape the crypto landscape.

Touching on the crossover of crypto and AI, Carlson-Wee mentioned that blockchains represent a fitting foundation for deploying autonomous agents via smart contracts. Traditional software systems fall short in enabling such transactions.

“Agents can enter into contracts through software or mathematical means like smart contracts on the blockchain. They can also possess assets in their crypto wallets, which facilitates trading with both real people and other agents,” he stated.