One of many large tendencies in Web3 in 2023 has been the rise of memecoins, cryptocurrencies also called “shitcoins” which can be themed round a viral web development. Their lighthearted nature is barely a part of their attraction; with sufficient momentum surrounding them, they will herald severe income for early consumers on account of their excessive volatility.
Probably the most profitable memecoins to interrupt onto the scene in latest weeks was $TURBO, an experimental undertaking by the digital artist Rhett Dashwood (Mankind) that, at its top, had a market cap of $50 million. Dashwood had created the token from scratch with the assistance of ChatGPT and recommendation from his Twitter followers. Its success earned Dashwood respect amongst $TURBO holders and the broader Web3 neighborhood alike for his creativity and willingness to construct together with his neighborhood.
On June 1, Dashwood introduced his subsequent experimental undertaking: an endeavor to create both a brand new $1 billion crypto token or NFT paintings. Consequently, he’s dealing with some pointed criticisms from the identical neighborhood that lauded him for his work with $TURBO. Right here’s what that you must find out about $CLOWN.
$CLOWN has entered the chat
“The circus is on the town,” Dashwood wrote in a Tweet saying the experiment earlier than offering his followers an tackle to ship ETH. “We’re all clowns. Benefit from the present. As an artwork/ai/social experiment I’ve requested ChatGPT if it will possibly create a billion $ coin or paintings.”
1/8$CLOWN or Crypto Clown artwork. The circus is on the town. We’re all clowns. Benefit from the present. As an artwork/ai/social experiment I’ve requested ChatGPT if it will possibly create a billion $ coin or paintings. 🤡🖼️💰 observe alongside 👇
Be sure that to learn the entire thread earlier than sending ETH to: clownbag.eth pic.twitter.com/DJn3yRZRk0
— Rhett Mankind (@rhett) June 1, 2023
Aside from the token’s intrinsic worth, no matter that seems to be, the one utility it would have is to bid on a bit of crypto artwork depicting a clown. Dashwood’s conceptual framing right here is to confront folks with a selection between artwork and cash. The selection of the clown theme comes from criticisms Dashwood has obtained over the months for working within the NFT area and with crypto tokens.
“I’ve heard numerous occasions, I’m a clown for promoting digital artwork, a clown for doing crypto, a clown for utilizing AI, a clown for making a token, so I both embrace the clown or worry it perpetually,” Dashwood elaborated in his Twitter thread.
These considering collaborating within the experiment have every week to ship their ETH to an tackle Dashwood offered within the Twitter thread and obtain an “equitable cut up” of the token provide based mostly on the ETH share of the overall quantity obtained. Sooner or later within the undertaking, there might be a 1/1 artwork public sale of clown-themed artwork that $CLOWN holders can use their tokens to bid on.
Dashwood says the experiment is completely decentralized, with no web sites or social pages to talk of, and that he won’t withhold any quantity of the tokens. “Anticipate completely nothing of me after launch,” he stated of the experiment.
The backlash
It’s that final bit relating to expectations that appears to have earned Dashwood the ire of a few of his followers. That is partially as a result of emergence of one other latest development within the Web3 panorama through which social media influencers ask their followers to send them money for both a shady memecoin providing or, in some circumstances, completely nothing in return.
A few of these efforts have seen influencers earn tens of millions in just a few days, souring artists (and their collectors) within the Web3 area who’ve spent months or years working to supply worth to the digital artwork ecosystem and be correctly compensated for doing so.
I used to be totally supportive of the $Turbo experiment
However this one offers off 🚩🚩 imo.
– “Anticipate completely nothing of me after launch”Additionally most likely not smart to answer folks’s feedback with clown emojis
— BenJammin.eth 🍌 (@xBenJamminx) June 1, 2023
In a daring show of committing to the bit, Dashwood has been responding to folks’s criticisms with a wide range of clown-centric GIFs. Nonetheless, not all of Dashwood’s followers criticized the thought, with a number of wishing the artist luck with the experiment.
$CLOWN, $TURBO, and memecoin empires
Dashwood is definitely able to pulling off a large-scale conceptual experiment like this, as evidenced by his success with $TURBO, a undertaking he has since handed over to the neighborhood that helped construct it. The artist’s means to play with new know-how and tendencies is exactly what made $TURBO enjoyable to observe. As Dashwood leans into difficult optics in his newest experiment, it would require a deft contact to keep away from being lumped into the identical class as somebody like Ben.eth, who lately launched his third crypto token in almost as many weeks.