Memes, DeFi & NFTs, OHM-y!
Cultural movements built on gamified rarity and financial incentives converge into a powerful force
TradFi to DeFi is a networking hub, project incubator, talent connector, mentorship provider, and opportunity maximizer for the DeFi enthusiast, whether new or experienced. Every Friday at 3 pm EDT, we host an open mic round table, where we discuss DeFi (decentralized finance), how it intersects with traditional finance, and where we see this whole thing going. This article briefly summarizes the topics of our latest discussion. Want to join us? Check out the links below!
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What an exciting week in crypto! TradFi to DeFi members had a lot of fun topics to cover, so let’s jump right in.
ConstitutionDAO
If you’ve been following the excitement lately, a group of crypto-natives pooled funds and attempted to buy an original copy of the constitution! The ConstitutionDAO auction was almost a success, raising over $40 million in ETH but falling just short of beating a rival bidder at Sotheby’s.
And in a surprising turn of events, the winner of the auction was none other than Ken Griffin, infamous billionaire and hedge fund manager of Citadel. You may remember Citadel from the not-to-distant annals of history as the villains shorting GameStop. Looks like the elites strike back against the crypto-native patriots trying to make history.
We once again see the power of communities coordinating with financial tools to achieve an end goal but maybe there’s a lesson to be learned here.
Avalanche, OHM Forks and Pangolin
In other news, community member and contributor Leo shared some exciting developments in the world of DeFi on Avalanche. Decentralized exchange Pangolin recently announced some exciting changes to their tokenomics. The biggest takeaway is that they are burning the supply of native $PNG token by 57%! If you were an early member of TradFi to DeFi, this should be especially exciting, as we’ve been following the development of Pangolin for a while ever since Leo gave an awesome demonstration on how to use the exchange. Be sure to follow him on Twitter for other exciting developments on Avalanche!
OHMy Goodness
From there our conversation turned to the numerous OHM forks we’ve seen crop up in the emerging world of DeFi 2.0. (If you haven’t already, be sure to check out our quick overview article!) It seems that the success of the protocol has catapulted it to the top of crypto’s zeitgeist, with dozens and dozens of forked versions cropping up on other chains. Many in TradFi to DeFi are experimenting with these projects, and as always we recommend doing your research to make sure you know what you’re getting into before deploying your precious capital.
What is it about this project and its fascinating tokenomics that makes for such a compelling story to be replicated? This led our conversation toward the fascinating confluence of two worlds into one: memes, and financial incentives.
Why are crypto memes so potent?
The argument was made that if not for the financial incentives underlying the crypto assets that we enjoy so much, there wouldn’t be such a powerful reaction to memes about crypto. A common expression you may hear on twitter is “don’t FUD my bags”. In traditional finance, we call it “talking your book”, meaning that you’re more likely to say good things about assets in your portfolio than you are about assets that aren’t. (But really, this is all just common sense, right?)
So it’s clear to us why a meme driven by financial incentives can be powerful for motivating people to protect their interests. But can memes motivate action to change your financial interests?
Well lets put it this way. Your buddy who hardly pays any attention to crypto (and who refused to buy Ethereum when it was $1,000) just loaded up on Shiba Inu and turned his measly $100 investment into over $10,000.
Does that sort of situation motivate you to maybe consider what all these meme coins are about?
This is the power of mimetic desire
French Historian René Girard’s theory of mimetic desire posits the idea that human desire is shaped by the observed desires of others. Using our above example, Shiba Inu (or insert your favorite meme token here) was a useless token before your friend bought it, but now that he’s made a ton of money, you find yourself wanting to participate in the same experience.
We don’t make promises our guarantees about any tokens here at TradFi to DeFi, and as always we encourage you to DYOR! But if OHM and meme tokens have taught us anything it’s that you should never underestimate the power of a good meme!
NFT’s
One last piece that we touched on during our call was the power of NFT’s and their ability to motivate financial behavior. It’s no surprise to anyone at this point that NFT’s are enjoying quite the cultural wave right now. (How else can you explain a Bored Ape selling for $2.7 million?)
In fact, the community is really excited about “gamified rarity” NFT projects that utilize the blockchain as a game platform. Two examples include EtherOrcs which Tyler enjoys and Crabada which Leo is very excited about. These projects build games on Ethereum or Avalanche and enable you to take actions that directly change the metadata of your NFT. Very cool!
Remember that mimetic desire concept? Well now with on-chain gaming, other players actions are more visible than ever before. What implications does this have for the future of gaming?
Interested in learning more about NFTs? Curious about DeFi? Or maybe you just want to enjoy some good memes. Come join the conversation!
