When a cryptocurrency trade lists its first altcoin, it units itself up for an limitless cycle of launching memecoins, warns a Bitcoin-only establishment government.
“The minute an trade provides one non-Bitcoin token, they’re signing as much as be on the eternally hamster wheel of memecoins,” River Monetary CEO Alex Leishman stated in a March 29 X publish. “It is senseless to listing ETH should you don’t listing the tokens issued on ETH, and the identical goes for Solana,” Leishman stated.
River has little interest in constructing a “profitable crypto on line casino”
Leishman stated whereas there are a lot of “profitable crypto casinos,” he has little interest in constructing one. River Monetary is a Bitcoin-only monetary establishment specializing in shopping for and promoting Bitcoin (BTC). A number of corporations have opted for the Bitcoin-only strategy, together with Swan Bitcoin, Bull Bitcoin, and decentralized trade Bisq.
Leishman claimed that multi-asset buying and selling platforms prioritize short-term hypothesis over wealth accumulation:
“The on line casino enterprise mannequin is constructed round maximal extraction from prospects, and the Bitcoin-only mannequin is targeted on serving to individuals construct long-term wealth.”
Critics have voiced this level earlier than, even in the course of the memecoin uptrend in early 2024. In April 2024, A16z chief know-how officer Eddy Lazzarin stated that memecoins hamper the long-term imaginative and prescient of crypto that has stored so lots of the authentic builders within the house.
“At greatest, it seems like a dangerous on line casino,” Lazzarin stated.
The memecoin market cap is down 27.94% over the previous 12 months. Supply: CoinMarketCap
The general memecoin market cap has taken a big downturn for the reason that starting of 2025. Since Jan. 1, the memecoin market cap has slumped nearly 49% to $48.49 billion on the time of publication, in accordance to CoinMarketCap information.
Nevertheless, whereas altcoins have traditionally been extra unstable than Bitcoin, providing them alongside Bitcoin has been a profitable transfer for crypto exchanges and brokers.
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On Feb. 12, Robinhood, which provides a number of cryptocurrencies to its prospects, reported a 700% year-over-year surge in This autumn 2024 cryptocurrency income.
Some merchants appear to interpret a memecoin itemizing on an trade as validation of its credibility. Among the many 15 memecoins listed by crypto trade Binance in 2024, 12 noticed important will increase in worth after going dwell on the trade, pseudonymous onchain analyst Ai_9684xtpa stated in November.
CoinGecko founder Bobby Ong not too long ago speculated that the memecoin market is perhaps headed towards an “excessive case of energy legislation,” the place 99.99% fail and some rise to the highest and endure.
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