A16Z Executive Starts Debate About Memecoin Value, Community Disagrees With Opinion That It is Damaging
A16Z CTO Eddy Lazzarin has criticized the memecoin frenzy as damaging to the crypto industry. But several stakeholders disagree
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Eddy Lazzarin, the chief technology officer of Andreessen Horowitz, described the memecoins as a "risky casino."
The criticism of memecoins was in response to a post by Compound VC managing partner Michael Dempsey. Dempsey blamed memecoins for distracting crypto users from valuable use cases.
According to Dempsey, the memecoin frenzy has pushed more builders out of the crypto ecosystem than the bear market. He also criticized the increased interest in memecoins from VC.
"Increasingly find it hard to square VCs who think these are beneficial with those who also say they care about the long-term fulfilled promises of crypto."
Lazzarin agreed with this claim, saying that memecoins are not technically exciting or attractive to builders. Instead, he considers them to cause more damage to the crypto industry.
How About Onchain Adoption?
Lazzarin's criticism of memecoins is not new. However, it comes at a time when more stakeholders see memecoins as valuable components of the crypto ecosystem.
Most of these stakeholders support memecoins because of the increased activity on several blockchain networks.
The a16z executive does not agree with this view and believes only a small percentage of crypto users are trading memecoins.
The activity of this small group affects the public perception of crypto, which is why regulators and entrepreneurs see it as a risky casino, he said.
"I'm here to build new networks to power a fundamentally more powerful internet. It's just not the same size."
Pro Memecoins Advocates Fight Back
Unsurprisingly, Lazzarin's comments drew much criticism and counter-opinions. The Block co-founder Mike Dudas noted that users find memecoins interesting, and memecoin is just one of many use cases of the blockchain.
"Someone partaking in memecoins doesn't prevent them or others from partaking in other blockchain use cases (DePin, DeFi, gaming, social, payments, etc.) I'm here to support both."
Meanwhile, Helius Labs CEO Mert Mumtaz also questioned why the memecoin frenzy will discourage developers from solving any other real blockchain problem.
Although he agreed that the hype around memecoins might steal attention from serious projects, he noted that this should not impact whatever real solution anyone is trying to build.
One user perfectly captured this sentiment.
"not a particularly hot take but assuming you are building something actually useful and not vaporware in disguise, memecoins shouldn't bother you."
Memecoins Value Comes from The Communities
Despite the debates around the value of memecoins, everyone agrees that the asset class is attention-grabbing. Bitcoin developer Udi Wertheimer believes the social impact of memecoins is what makes them valuable.
According to him, all progress in the crypto industry has started from a social movement rather than technological improvement.
"meme coins take that to an extreme, and yes it’s basically just a casino, but i suspect communities can be impactful even if they're formed around slot machines."
While debates continue over the impact of memecoins, the asset category has been performing well over the last 24 hours.
According to CoinMarketCap data, the market cap for memecoins has been up 2.78% in the past 24 hours, with the average price change being positive of 102%.
Several top memecoins, including SHIB, PEPE, BONK, WIF, and FLOKI, have seen gains ranging from 12% to 4% within the period.
