Former Binance CEO, Changpeng Zhao (CZ) recently caused a stir on social media after he remarked on memecoins. CZ first stressed that he is not against that faction of the crypto market before pushing for real-world use case applications.
Memecoins have grown in popularity over the years, since the launch of the flagship token Dogecoin (DOGE) in 2013. Seven years later in 2020, the self-acclaimed “Dogecoin killer” was created in Shiba Inu, which quickly became a favorite and grew in valuation to become the second-largest meme token. Since then, several notable coins have sprung up in this category, printing exponential gains for investors.
CZ Slams Memecoins
In a November 26 tweet, the crypto giant called out for the support of real blockchain applications rather than creating more memecoins. He stressed that he isn’t against memecoins, but they are getting “a little weird” right now with the way thousands of them are being created daily with the majority of them being “pump and dumps.”
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Source: CZ/X
The pump and dump scam is very particular in the memecoin market where developers sell false hope to investors who rush into the project investing heavy amounts, only for the coin to be rugged within a short time. This has caused millions of dollars in losses for unsuspecting investors. CZ’s message, even though was delivered in good conscience, was met with backlash from the crypto community.
Community Reacts, Calls Out Binance For Listing Memecoins
CZ’s post which was viewed by over one million people attracted a lot of criticism against him and his company, Binance. They accused them of being hypocrites, prioritizing listing memecoins over more useful tokens. Particularly, a user, Dark Crypto Larp, pointed out that Binance has listed more memecoins these days than coins with utility.
“Unfortunately that’s what Binance has been listing nowadays instead of coins with utilities/applications,” he said.
He added that Binance has a big role to play in discouraging this trend and building proper crypto applications since it is the largest centralized crypto exchange in the world.
Another user, HeadBoy, placed a precise figure, noting that Binance has listed twelve (12) memecoins in the past few months and has snubbed other better tokens with real-world utilities. Moreover, he stressed that Binance and other centralized exchanges are the “enablers” of the memecoin frenzy and that actual decentralized finance products are rarely supported by the platform.
Source: X
Amid the back and forth, other community members expressed their love for memecoins especially since it offers one of the fastest ways to make returns in the crypto market. Memecoin’s trajectory is mostly influenced by hype from prominent figures in the crypto industry, a perfect example, is Elon Musk and Dogecoin.
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Victor Swaezy
Victor Swaezy is a crypto-journalist with more than 3 years of experience in covering blockchain technology and digital currencies news. Known for his comprehensive reporting, Victor has contributed to leading industry publications such as Coinfomania and Crypto News Guru, providing market participants with the required knowledge to make informed decisions. When he is not working, he loves to watch movies and have a good time.