Trump recently launched a Solana-based meme token, which surged to billions of dollars in value in a short time frame.
As cryptocurrency gains mainstream acceptance, its countercultural appeal may diminish, just like when weed became legalized and lost some of its rebellious appeal.
With the initial “rebellious” phase of crypto now over and token creation on the rise, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has called for prioritizing responsible development and long-term value creation over short-term hype.
“It is not about “fun is bad”, it is about the equivalent of modern hyper-addictive cellphone games, versus chess or World of Warcraft,” Vitalik said.
Free Money!
Vitalik took aim at past regulatory strategies. He said that the influence of former SEC Chair Gary Gensler twisted things, giving opaque “governance tokens” an edge over more straightforward securities offerings. This, in Buterin’s view, played a big part in the crypto market’s excesses.
The man behind the leading layer 1 blockchain also warned about the potential misuse of “political coins” for large-scale bribery and foreign influence.
These days, the Solana memecoin has become a subject of discussion, especially after President Donald Trump and his wife launched their memecoins on the blockchain.
Breaking presidential precedent, Trump made cryptocurrency history after launching the $TRUMP memecoin just days before his inauguration. The token rapidly climbed to a market value of $14 billion. Following in his footsteps, Melania Trump also unveiled her $MELANIA meme token.
Trumr’s token launch triggered a frenzy among crypto speculators. According to Lookonchain, an anonymous trader invested $1.1 million in $TRUM and saw approximately $20 million in unrealized gains within the first hour. Over the next three hours, his total profit reached $70 million.
The price of $TRUMP fluctuated between $6 and $10 during the period. Following listings on major exchanges, the token blew past $72 before crashing 40%, according to CoinGecko.
Vitalik did not explicitly mention $TRUMP or $MELANIA in his message.
Return to Transparency
Vitalik added that he saw things starting to shift with a return to more transparent and responsible token sales, which is similar to the ICOs before 2020 but with enhanced security measures.
He envisions a future of improved capital allocation mechanisms that prioritize community values such as privacy, security, and open-source development. Vitalik stressed that the cryptocurrency space is increasingly maturing and that the focus must transition from hype to building a more robust and responsible ecosystem.
According to the Ethereum co-founder, anything-goes development needs to be replaced with a more thoughtful and constructive way of doing things.
Vitalik’s statements come amid criticism surrounding the Ethereum Foundation (EF) which is undergoing a leadership overhaul in a bid to improve technical expertise and communication with ecosystem stakeholders.
The EF has been under fire for its repeated ETH sell-offs to cover its operational costs. Community members have called for the foundation to explore staking and other DeFi activities instead of selling ETH.
Critics also argue that the foundation has lost its visionary direction, focusing more on minimizing internal conflicts and external threats.
Some community members have called for the resignation of Executive Director Aya Miyaguchi and advocated for the promotion of developer Danny Ryan. The debate escalated into personal attacks against Miyaguchi.
In response, Vitalik asserted his sole authority over the Ethereum Foundation’s Treasury and rejected any leadership changes. But his reaction has drawn more backlash and even sparked concerns about centralization in the Ethereum ecosystem.
Addressing centralization concerns, he clarified that Ethereum’s core mission is still decentralized, with the EF being “only one part” of the vast ecosystem. He said that the focus should be on reforming other organizations like Consensys to take on more responsibilities.
To address financial criticisms, the EF announced it had allocated 50,000 ETH to support DeFi applications.
Vitalik called for the need for patience as the foundation undergoes reforms to establish a “proper board.” He urged the community to focus on constructive criticism and support for Ethereum’s long-term vision rather than personal targets.
