When a cryptocurrency change lists its first altcoin, it units itself up for an infinite cycle of launching memecoins, warns a Bitcoin-only establishment govt.
“The minute an change provides one non-Bitcoin token, they’re signing as much as be on the endlessly hamster wheel of memecoins,” River Monetary CEO Alex Leishman stated in a March 29 X submit. “It is senseless to listing ETH in the event 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 change 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 clients, and the Bitcoin-only mannequin is concentrated 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 most of the authentic builders within the area.
“At greatest, it seems to be 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 because the starting of 2025. Since Jan. 1, the memecoin market cap has slumped virtually 49% to $48.49 billion on the time of publication, in accordance to CoinMarketCap knowledge.
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 clients, reported a 700% year-over-year surge in This fall 2024 cryptocurrency income.
Some merchants appear to interpret a memecoin itemizing on an change as validation of its credibility. Among the many 15 memecoins listed by crypto change Binance in 2024, 12 noticed important will increase in worth after going stay on the change, pseudonymous onchain analyst Ai_9684xtpa stated in November.
CoinGecko founder Bobby Ong just lately speculated that the memecoin market is likely to be headed towards an “excessive case of energy regulation,” the place 99.99% fail and some rise to the highest and endure.
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