BONK, PEPE and SHIB are a menace to crypto

In 2013, the launch of a dog-themed crypto token as a private joke between a couple of software developers was a harmless piece of fun. The fact that Dogecoin (

Memecoins, in short, are becoming less and less funny. While once we could all have a good laugh at the latest coin dedicated to Elon Musk’s dog, the scale at which these disasters are unfolding is leading to steeper and steeper losses. But does this mean we should ban them outright? No. There is a place for memecoins in crypto.

Just as we can in the real world, all users in crypto should be free to gamble their money away if they so choose. As much as regulators love to harangue the financial industry, they see no problem with allowing anyone to bet their house on a horse. If this is how you want to spend your money, it’s a free world.

However, make no mistake: memecoins are gambling, plain and simple. They are not investments, they are not valuable and they are not useful. They attract outsized negative attention from the press that makes us all look bad. And for every lucky person that makes a million on a meme, nine will lose. It might be that one day we all fly to the moon with DOGE, but it will most likely be in Elon’s rocketship, not our wallets.

Lucas Kiely is the chief investment officer for Yield App, where he oversees investment portfolio allocations and leads the expansion of a diversified investment product range. He was previously the chief investment officer at Diginex Asset Management, and a senior trader and managing director at Credit Suisse in Hong Kong, where he managed QIS and Structured Derivatives trading. He was also the head of exotic derivatives at UBS in Australia.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.