Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin weighed in on the recent rise in celebrity memecoins and his unhappiness about the experimentation.

Chris Burniske, a partner at venture capital firm Placeholder, suggested that if the Solana-based Mother Iggy (MOTHER) memecoin, connected to Australian rapper and model Iggy Azalea, was to break into sustainable value creation, it would be the “mother of this cycle’s celebrity experimentation.”

“I'm feeling quite unhappy about ‘this cycle’s celebrity experimentation’ so far,” Buterin said in response. “‘Financialization as a means toward an end,’ I can respect if the end is worthy (healthcare, open source software, art, etc). Financialization *as the final product*,” he added, followed by a vomiting emoji.

Buterin highlighted Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis’ 2021 Ethereum-based NFT collection and animated TV series Stoner Cats as an example of celebrity involvement in the crypto industry that was “vastly more honorable” than anything seen this year. “At least there was an actual show being funded,” he said.

In September 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged the company behind Stoner Cats with conducting an unregistered offering of nonfungible tokens that brought in $8 million from investors. Stoner Cats did not admit or deny the SEC's findings and agreed to pay $1 million and destroy all NFTs in its possession.

The Ethereum co-founder outlined the key features of celebrity crypto projects required to win over his respect. Top of the list was having a public-good goal beyond just enriching the celebrity and early adopters, suggesting an art project or the celebrity’s favorite charity.

Buterin also mentioned having "some kind of fun mechanics” beyond just trading a token and making something designed to last over 10 years as other key attributes. “The north star should be: to have a project where even if eventually all tokens involved go to zero, the average person who participated is happy to have done so,” he added.

The rise in celebrity memecoins

As the barriers to entry continue to shrink, the memecoin market has exploded in recent months, with nearly half a million tokens being created on Solana in May alone, according to data compiled by The Block Pro. 

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Celebrities such as Azalea, as well as media personality and former Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete Caitlyn Jenner and rapper Rich the Kid, have launched Solana-based tokens, capitalizing on the ease with which memecoins can rise in value due to their large audiences.

Celebrity memecoin promoter Sahil Arora was later banned from the social media platform X after being accused by many, including Azalea, Jenner and Rich the Kid, of perpetrating “pump and dump” schemes.

“He scammed us! BIG TIME!” Jenner wrote on X. The scam allegedly involved Arora acting as a middleman and launching the token on behalf of Jenner, having Jenner promote it, and then dumping tokens in his possession to withdraw liquidity, sending the price tumbling — a common risk in the memecoin market.

Another X account connected to Arora said Jenner’s claims were false. “She wouldn’t be here in the first place if I didn’t get her on and deployed Jenner,” he said.

Unaffiliated PolitiFi memecoins such as the misspelled Solana-based Jeo Boden (BODEN) and Doland Tremp (TREMP), as well as the Ethereum-based MAGA (TRUMP) have also rallied significantly at times this year.

Celebrities are no strangers to the space, however. In 2022, a group of celebrities, including Tom Brady, Gisele Bündchen, Steph Curry and Larry David, that advertised the collapsed crypto exchange FTX faced a class action lawsuit. Kim Kardashian was charged the same year with unlawfully promoting EthereumMax and agreed to pay over $1 million in penalties. Boxer Floyd Mayweathr Jr. and music producer DJ Khaled faced similar charges in 2018.