The past 18 months in the crypto market have been a wild ride, and amidst the chaos, we’ve witnessed the rise of memecoins. While memecoins are not new—in fact, they’re one of the oldest forms of cryptocurrency—they have once again proven to be the preferred vehicle for engaging with one of crypto’s most novel mechanisms: speculation.

Though memecoins feel pure and almost artistic in nature, they also have a dark side. No, it’s not insiders or cabals—that’s a feature that plagues all of crypto. The real issue, in my view, lies in the lack of effort, the failure to seize the moment, and the complacency of how people build memecoins. I might be naive, but I refuse to accept this is where memecoins will remain—or at least, I hope not.

I deeply believe that the Trojan horse for crypto adoption is intellectual property (IP) because of its ability to create trust and credibility in a space that lacks the ladder, and memecoins, like NFTs, are a form of IP. Memecoins have a tremendous opportunity to push crypto forward by embedding themselves into the hearts and minds of everyday people. However, rather than pushing the boundaries of what crypto-native characters can become, they remain stagnant, unoriginal, and lame in their effort to transcend. I fear that if they remain in their current form, they will do more harm than good. For the category to thrive, memecoins need to evolve, and I believe that evolution is toward becoming social currencies—tokens that move beyond lazy pump-and-dumps to become scalable, memorable, and beloved IP.

My ask is not to replace memecoins with social currencies but to instead add a final step to the roadmap of their growth. Memecoins must graduate from being nonproductive images onchain to becoming productive and sentient social currencies that drive crypto forward. I also believe that there’s tokens that already fall into this category. In this article, I’ll discuss how memecoins currently operate, why the successful ones should evolve into social currencies, and the impact social currencies will have on crypto.

First let’s start with, What is a Social Currency?

A social currency is a tokenized asset that represents value within a specific community, often used to incentivize engagement, reward participation, and strengthen brand or community loyalty. It operates similarly to traditional currency but derives its worth from social interactions, reputation, and influence.

In layman’s terms, a social currency is a memecoin with fundamentals—one that is progressive, sentient, and focused on cultivating communities that consistently create virality rather than extracting value from fleeting hype.

Memecoins Vs Social Currencies

Memecoins don’t create virality—they monetize virality, milking the moment until the moment is gone. Social currencies, on the other hand are sentient, and consistently generate virality by actively pushing their IP through various mediums, partnerships, and integrations.

The typical lifecycle of a memecoin:

• Idea → coin launch → community cultivation → community championing a narrative → narrative dies → community dies

The lifecycle of a social currency:

• Idea → coin launch → community cultivation → community championing a narrative → brand creation → brand proliferation → ecosystem creation → globally adopted and recognized currency

Every social currency to me starts off as a memecoin, but as it gains momentum it needs to evolve into a social currency. The graphic below illustrates exactly this.

I love this graphic because it shows that social currencies are not here to replace memecoins, they are an evolution of them. To me, Social Currencies are memecoins with real value behind them. Anyone can launch a memecoin but only the best can create real value behind them.

If you believe liquid crypto will largely remain a retail asset class, then you believe in memecoins and their success. If you believe institutional capital will one day flow into alts, then you must expect fundamentals to take over. Social currencies are the best of both worlds because they have the retail appeal of memecoins but are interesting enough for institutions to participate. To me, a social currency takes the best parts of a memecoin and a utility token and combines it into one.

When breaking down the cons of memecoins, it’s evident that they have the potential to be more, yet we’ve let social consensus convince us that, “memecoins should do nothing, and that’s just the way it is” and I personally refuse to accept this as the norm for the category moving forward. To understand my frustration, let’s break down what’s handicapping memecoins today and how becoming a social currency can address these handicaps.

The Cons of Memecoins:

• Stagnation - Once the trend fades they lose momentum
• Stigma around memecoins—99% of participants have lost money - they are not long term holds.
• PVP - Built for short-term velocity consisting of a game of musical chairs with existing users
• No infrastructure to bring in new net users
• Nothing to truly believe in beyond hope and hockey pockey narratives - no fundamentals.
• Success is often based on delusion and luck.

Why Social Currencies Are Better:

• They are sentient - Social currencies create trends and catch trends - constantly remaining relevant
• Social Currencies are a fresh narrative with the lindyness of a memecoin but with real fundamentals to help support its growth. They are long term holds
• PvE - They’re built to push crypto forward, and to bring new people in.
• Social currencies consistently create demand through content initiatives, brand partnerships, and IP growth.
• By building something thats real and transcends the industry you create a deeper affinity and more conviction amongst holders. Theres something real to believe in.
• Success is not purely luck or narrative driven but has real fundamentals behind it.

Here is a visual:

Sentient vs. Non-Sentient:

To me, the core distinction for traders and investors between memecoins and social currencies is sentience—the ability to stay relevant over time. Social currencies are sentient and memecoins are not, and that’s why traders and investors should care. Sentience = relevance = attention = momentum. Unless you are at the top of crypto legacy and lore (DOGE), anything that isn’t sentient will die.

Some of you may read this and think to yourselves:

“I don’t want my memecoin to have any execution risk”

This pysop was started in 2020 by NFT art collectors and I’m really surprised we kept this narrative going. My rebuttal is simple; something without execution risk is something that is solely predicated on luck. Execution risk is the only risk worth taking and if your bags are not dependent on execution I can tell you with the utmost certainty you will underperform those betting on execution 999999/1M times (though I do hope luck is on your side).

The Future of Social Currencies

For memecoins to fulfill their true potential, they must add a final chapter into their evolution that includes graduating into a social currency (once they begin to hit escape velocity). Tokens that create culture, foster deep community ties, and integrate into real-world applications will be the ones that define the next era of crypto. The shift from stagnant, speculative assets to dynamic, engaged ecosystems is not just necessary—it’s inevitable.

The question you now have to ask is: who will lead the charge? 🐧

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