Charles Hoskinson, the founding father of Cardano, delivered a scathing critique of meme coins in a live stream broadcasted on Halloween, October 31, 2024. Speaking from Colorado, Hoskinson addressed the present state of the crypto market, focusing particularly on the proliferation and perceived inherent flaws of meme-based cryptocurrencies.

Cardano, Not Meme Coins

Hoskinson didn’t mince words in his assessment of meme coins, labeling them as fundamentally devoid of value. “Meme coins, they don’t have any value, they never may have value, they’ll never ever have value, stop, stop considering they’ll you degenerates. Grow the hell up,” he asserted.

Expanding on his criticism, Hoskinson elaborated on the speculative nature of meme coins, characterizing them as inherently unstable and liable to pump-and-dump schemes. “What do you truthfully expect? What do you expect? What’s the end result of this game? You purchase a token and the token goes up a little bit bit and a complete bunch of other people rush in and the token goes up after which what happens? People dump on you. That’s how that game works. It’s at all times worked that way for meme coins, at all times will work that way for memecoins,” he explained.

Hoskinson also took aim on the role of social media in perpetuating the meme coin phenomenon. He criticized the dearth of accountability amongst self-proclaimed experts and analysts and the benefit with which meme coins could be launched and promoted online. “They don’t have any utility. There’s no culture behind anyone taking an image of me and turning it right into a meme coin for the needs of a pump and dump,” he stated.

The Cardano founder also pondered why meme coins have grow to be that popular this cycle. “Everyone knows that this stuff [meme coins] don’t have any value. There’s no utility behind them. After they lose their luster, they go to zero. […] The explanation why meme coins have any any popularity straight away is individuals are bored […]. We’ve passed through three years of a brutal bear market. It’s been horrible and so people got to do something with all this crypto wealth,” Hoskinson elaborated.

In stark contrast to meme coins, Hoskinson lauded the foundational strengths and long-term vision of Cardano. “Have a look at something like Cardano. There’s an on-chain government. There’s a wise contracting stack. There’s a network that has 1.4 million users inside it that lets you store information in a secure way. It’s been running for seven years straight. You need to use it as the inspiration to rebuild the social fabric of society itself,” he emphasized.

Beyond crypto, Hoskinson delved into broader societal issues, expressing frustration with the present state of public discourse and accountability. He linked the rise of meme coins to a “bare market” and societal distractions, suggesting that the dearth of depth in discussions—each in crypto and beyond—contributes to the prevalence of speculative and unproductive financial activities.

Hoskinson concluded his address with a call to the crypto community to prioritize meaningful engagement and responsible investment. He urged users to concentrate on the tangible utility and long-term potential of blockchain technologies, reasonably than succumbing to the fleeting hype of meme coins. “In the event you can do this, you’re a real crypto user, a real one since you’re worthy of being your personal bank and being in control of your personal life,” he stated, reinforcing the ethos of self-sovereignty that underpins Cardano’s mission.

At press time, ADA traded at $0.3468.

Featured image from YouTube, chart from TradingView.com