degen signals in the noise
Memecoins exploded after the NFT bull run that started in 2021. Once the attention shifted, a subcultural vacuum opened up. NFTs had captured attention with the promise of digital ownership and community signaling, but most of that energy faded once it became clear the utility wasn’t there, or at least, not yet. Wallets were too technical for most Internet users, interfaces too clunky. Twitter and Instagram flirted with NFT profile pics, and for a brief moment, it looked like identity might have a new protocol. But the mainstream wasn’t ready. This is similar to the early days of the public Internet in the early-1990s - it wasn’t easy to “go online”. There was no native browser in the operating system. Someone had to show you how to download Netscape. You had to plug your computer into your phone jack. It was a bumpy ride, but the immediate future was at the door.
What’s followed the NFT boom feels like a scattered attempt to recapture that early momentum of the space. Memecoins have filled some of the gap, offering a new kind of identity marker, albeit one that’s more volatile and completely unserious. Memecoins hint at an identity nd can function as status, but it's fleeting at best more reflective of the entire space, rather than a specifc memecoin, subject to “what's next” to pump in an industry fraught with bad actors and rug pulls which undermines community and prevents growth. Much of what has been "successful" is also inherently juvenile, predominantly male-focused with the depth of a middle schooler. Memecoins represent degen culture as whole, with those in the space immersed in the meta and the pursuit of the next pump.
Beneath the noise, there are signs of something more. Agentic AI projects are emerging, and the on-chain art market remains active, even vibrant. The democratic promise of digital art is a stark contrast from the souless, curated and elitist white walls of the physical gallery. The salon is gone, in favor of the interface. The frontier is messy and uneven, but it’s not inert.
I don’t participate, but I watch closely. Big things will come out of this turbulence, not despite it, but because of it.
