📈 Memecoins and Market Signals: The New Face of Onchain Culture

gm, Early Morning Crew!

This week, the pod felt like a live experiment in the intersection of humor, tech, and governance as we waded through memecoins, DAO token struggles, and the evolution of internet culture. Oh, and we also debated whether dressing up to leave the house is a “boomer move.” Spoiler: It probably is.

This issue is packed with spicy takes, fresh perspectives, and a few ideas you might just see minted as memecoins before the week is out.

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Memecoins, those cheeky tokens built on humor and hype, are taking on a new role: cultural artifacts of the onchain world. But are they here to stay, or are they just a passing trend?

• Diana on Meme Longevity: “It’s hard to keep a memecoin project alive. Most are here today, gone tomorrow. But if a project builds lore or narrative, it can stick. I loved the 747 Airlines project—it resonated with me as a frequent traveler.”

• Humpty on Memecoins as Market Signals: “Memes are the internet’s native language. With memecoins, we’re capturing the value of jokes, moments, and memes that resonate. It’s a giant onchain casino where the market decides what’s culturally relevant.”

The humor hides a profound experiment: memes are becoming tools for collective expression, participation, and even governance.

Onchain governance, especially in DAOs, often feels dry, inaccessible, and riddled with voter apathy. Memecoins, however, bring a playful spin to the voting process.

• Humpty: “DAOs feel like filing taxes—boring and obligatory. Memecoins, on the other hand, are like voting in a game. You’re voting with tokens for the funniest or most resonant idea, and it’s inherently social.”

• Diana on JokeRace: “People love to vote, even if they have to pay to do it. At DevCon, we ran contests on who had the spiciest takes. No stakes, no real impact—just people paying to express their opinions for fun.”

Governance experiments are everywhere, from JokeRace’s pay-to-vote contests to Humpty’s vision of memecoins as cultural polls. By tying governance to playful participation, memecoins could revolutionize how communities make decisions.

Quote to Ponder: “Memecoins thrive where DAOs fail—they make governance fun, accessible, and culturally relevant.”

This episode also explored how platforms like Farcaster integrate social graphs into the memecoin ecosystem. Builders like Clanker are leveraging these networks to tie social behaviors to tokens, creating new ways for communities to participate.

• Humpty on Clanker and Social Identity: “Every podcast, there’s something meme-worthy. Why not tokenize it? By tying tokens to social graphs, we create a market for culture and let communities decide what’s valuable.”

• Diana’s Take: “I’m cautiously optimistic. There’s something intriguing about owning a piece of a cultural moment, but I’m not sure I’d want my identity tied to it.”

The experiment raises questions about the value of social signals in token ecosystems. Is open market voting the next evolution of community interaction?

Humpty argued that meme coins succeed where DAOs falter because they align participation with natural market behaviors like buying, selling, and trading.

• Humpty: “The best signals for community health are market actions. Buying in or selling out says more about belief in a project than a governance vote ever could.”

• Kris on DAO Challenges: “DAOs often copy real-world government structures, flaws and all. Putting it onchain doesn’t fix it. Memecoins strip down governance to its most fun and human elements.”

The vision? Marrying the playfulness of memecoins with DAO governance to create an entirely new mode of decision-making. Think voting not with ballots, but with your wallet.

Big Idea: Onchain governance could learn from memecoin mania, blending fun, market participation, and cultural relevance into community decision-making.

Farcaster’s new “Starter Packs” feature—a curated list of accounts to follow—sparked debate about its utility. While the feature feels like Twitter lists, its potential lies in onboarding and community-building.

• Humpty says: “Starter packs are more than just lists. Imagine joining a community and being handed a pack of connections and resources tailored to your interests. That’s onboarding with purpose.”

Starter Packs could evolve into powerful onboarding tools, making decentralized social platforms more accessible to new users.

This episode highlighted the playful innovation happening at the intersection of memes, markets, and governance. Whether it’s capturing internet culture, experimenting with new governance models, or just laughing at ourselves, the Early Morning Crew continues to push boundaries.

As Diana put it, “We’re at the forefront of community-building experiments. Memecoins are silly, but they’re also meaningful.”

Until next time—go vote with your tokens, meme responsibly, and maybe hang some art on your walls.

Let us know: What’s your take on meme coins as cultural polls? Share your spiciest meme or idea, and maybe it’ll get minted next week!