{"id":84319,"date":"2025-07-28T13:30:47","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T13:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/?p=84319"},"modified":"2025-07-28T13:30:47","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T13:30:47","slug":"memecoins-nfts-get-called-out-by-their-own-architect-zero-intrinsic-value","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/?p=84319","title":{"rendered":"Memecoins, NFTs Get Called Out By Their Own Architect: \u2018Zero Intrinsic Value\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Solana Labs CEO Anatoly Yakovenko stirred up heat this week by calling memecoins and NFTs<\/a> \u201cdigital slop\u201d with no real value. He made the remark on X as part of a back\u2011and\u2011forth with Base creator Jesse Pollak.<\/p>\n

Yakovenko compared these tokens to loot boxes in free\u2011to\u2011play mobile games. His blunt take has drawn both praise and criticism from across the crypto world.<\/p>\n

Memecoins Face Harsh Words<\/h2>\n

Yakovenko said he\u2019s held this view since at least January 2024. He argued that the price people pay is all that gives these tokens any worth.<\/p>\n

Pollak shot back, saying that the content itself\u2014like a painting hanging in a museum\u2014carries its own value, no matter what you charge to see it.<\/p>\n

The debate has put a spotlight on how far Solana\u2019s growth relies on the very things its leader dismisses.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve said this for years. Memecoins and NFTs are digital slop and have no intrinsic value. Like a mobile game loot box. People spend $150b a year on mobile gaming.<\/p>\n

\u2014 toly (@aeyakovenko) July 27, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Solana Revenue Tied To \u2018Slop\u2019<\/h2>\n

According to Solana\u2011focused infrastructure firm Syndica, memecoins<\/a> made up 62% of the network\u2019s decentralized app revenue in June. That figure helped push Solana\u2019s take to about $1.6 billion in the first half of 2025.<\/p>\n

Big chunks of that money came from Pump.fun\u2019s launchpad and PumpSwap\u2019s DEX aggregator. Yet Yakovenko said Apple\u2019s loot boxes drive revenue for the App Store in much the same way\u2014profitable but seen by many as exploitative.<\/p>\n

the content itself is valuable. ads are a way to monetize that value. but the content itself is valuable. just like a painting is fundamentally valuable, regardless of whether you charge people at the museum to see it.<\/p>\n

\u2014 jesse.base.eth (@jessepollak) July 27, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Community Pushback Builds<\/p>\n

Critics have been quick to call him out. X user \u201cCaps,\u201d who writes for Flaunch, accused Yakovenko of mocking his own user base.<\/p>\n

Another commentator, Karbon, said he finds this stance \u201cdistasteful,\u201d pointing out that Yakovenko promotes memecoins all the time, even while claiming they\u2019re worthless.<\/p>\n

The clash has fans and skeptics debating whether it\u2019s fair to scorn a market that\u2019s so clearly feeding Solana\u2019s growth.<\/p>\n

Competition Heats Up<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a rival memecoin launchpad called LetBonk has been eating into Pump.fun<\/a>\u2019s lead. At various points, LetBonk even topped Pump.fun in 24\u2011hour revenue.<\/p>\n

This shows that users are ready to chase the next big token wherever it pops up. For Solana<\/a>, it means more money in the short run but also more risk of instability if the hype shifts elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Featured image from iDrop News, chart from TradingView<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Solana Labs CEO Anatoly Yakovenko stirred up heat this week by calling memecoins and NFTs \u201cdigital slop\u201d with no real value. He made the remark on X as part of a back\u2011and\u2011forth with Base creator Jesse Pollak. Yakovenko compared these tokens to loot boxes in free\u2011to\u2011play mobile games. His blunt take has drawn both praise […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":84320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-discovery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84319"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=84319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/84320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}