Political Meme Coin: Monetizing Influence and New Forms of Corruption on the Blockchain

A few weeks ago, Dmitry Kofinas expressed negative views on political meme coins in a podcast, while Arthur Hayes took a relatively positive stance in a recent article. These two perspectives have sparked deeper contemplation about political meme coins.

Kofinas believes that the actions of a certain former president in launching a meme coin are absurd and disturbing. He pointed out that this person, who once held the highest office in the country, should have used this opportunity to influence the world, leave a legacy, and change people's lives, yet chose to launch a meme coin instead. This behavior is completely contrary to the national rejuvenation concept he promised during his campaign.

Meme coins are viewed by many as the most useless and foolish part of the cryptocurrency ecosystem. While it is understandable for teenagers or certain celebrities to get involved with meme coins, it is unacceptable for a former president to do so. This inevitably raises the question of how our political system has come to this point. Why does such behavior escape sanctions both politically and legally?

However, the actions of this former president are not accidental. They are the result of long-standing poor policies and blatant corruption by political leaders. When people question this behavior, there is always someone who will compare it to the misconduct of other politicians' families.

Grant Williams believes that events such as the lies about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction in 2002 and the global financial crisis in 2008 led to a massive loss of public trust in the political system, and this loss of trust created the conditions for the emergence of political meme coins.

Williams further discussed how this loss of trust leads to the collapse of moral values. In his view, today's society seems to revolve entirely around greed and making money in speculative bubbles. He expressed a broader pessimism about Western values, believing that society is falling into a state of moral vacuum.

Cofinas also expressed negative views on cryptocurrencies. He believes that although blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies may have some applications in the financial sector, the amount of capital and wealth generated so far is insufficient to justify their validity. He is concerned that if we invest all our efforts and capital into an economic sector that can only yield limited returns, it may affect our economic success in the long run.

On the other hand, Arthur Hayes holds a more positive view of political meme coins. He believes that meme coins are ushering us into a new political era, where emerging political leaders can fund their campaigns by issuing meme coins, allowing them to enter public office while simultaneously becoming wealthy. The price of meme coins will reflect the political fortunes of the respective politicians.

Hayes believes that through meme coins, politicians can profit from public office in a more transparent way, which is better than some political families secretly receiving remuneration through complex means. However, this transparency may also lead to a more turbulent political situation, as now everyone knows the system is corrupt, which could change the game.

Regarding the distribution of meme coins, Hayes proposed a solution: to distribute 100% of the tokens at the time of issuance, and then if politicians want to hold them, they must enter the market at the same price as others.

Regarding whether the price of political meme coins should reflect the career or popularity of politicians, Hayes believes this question is simple: people buy a certain politician's meme coin because they want to be part of that politician's supporter group or believe that the politician will become more popular in the future.

However, there are also more traditional views that consider following the popularity of politicians in meme coin prices to be a foolish speculative game, and the prices are likely to deviate severely from political realities.

In the future, we may see the rise of a new type of politician who uses "no meme coins" as a unique selling point, claiming that their candidacy is for the right reasons, not for the purpose of getting rich.

In addition to meme coins, a former president also plans to launch a series of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), including two Bitcoin-related ETFs. This again provides opportunities for possible corrupt practices.

Overall, the emergence of political meme coins reflects some deep-seated issues within our political system. It could serve as a more transparent way of political fundraising or it might become a new form of corruption. Either way, it marks a new development in the intersection of politics, finance, and technology, warranting our ongoing attention and reflection.