- Changpeng Zhao urges the crypto community to move past memecoins and focus on building innovative blockchain applications
- While many support Zhao’s call for real decentralized apps (DApps), some criticize Binance for listing memecoins with no utility
- Despite Zhao’s stance, the memecoin ecosystem has a combined market capitalization of around $11 billion, representing 3.44% of the crypto market
Changpeng Zhao, the former CEO of Binance, recently urged the crypto community to shift its focus away from memecoins and into building real blockchain applications. This comes as the market has lost interest in memecoins that are purely hype-driven.
Changpeng Zhao’s statements
In a tweet on November 26th, Zhao shared his growing distaste for the memecoin ecosystem. He said that memecoins are getting “a little weird” as opposed to being funny during their early stages.
Zhao stepped down as Binance’s CEO in November 2022 as part of a plea deal with regulators. Since then, he has shifted his focus to supporting grassroots development and education in Web3.
The hype around memecoins
Several memecoins, including Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, retained their hype since 2021. This was catalyzed by support from Elon Musk and the broader crypto community.
However, as market interest shifted toward Bitcoin and other projects delivering value, memecoins have lost their appeal. This is due to many projects being built purely on hype rather than offering real utility.
Criticism of Binance
Some critics accused Binance of listing memecoins with no obvious utility. Binance’s crypto derivatives exchange, Binance Futures, continues to list memecoin trading pairs catering to public demand.
Still, the market price of new memecoins listed on Binance often tank shortly after listing. Seasoned investors held Binance partially responsible for allowing exposure to these unstable investments.
Popularity of memecoins
Despite the criticism, the memecoin ecosystem has a combined market capitalization of about $110 billion. This represents 3.44% of the $319 trillion crypto market.
On November 25th, Pumpfun, a platform for creating Solana-based memecoins, faced backlash after a user threatened suicide during a livestream. While Pumpfun removed the livestreaming feature, this highlighted concerns around the memecoin ecosystem.
Conclusion
As Changpeng Zhao advocated, the crypto community may need to move past the memecoin craze and focus on building blockchain applications with real utility. With seasoned investors losing trust in hype-driven memecoins, a shift in focus could be on the horizon.
