Attention economy has fueled memecoins — Hashed co-founder

One of the co-founders and partners of South Korea-based venture fund Hashed said attention will be one of the “currencies” to watch in the future, citing examples from the political climate in the United States.

Speaking to Cointelegraph at the India Blockchain Week conference on Dec. 5, Hashed co-founder Ryan Sungho Kim pointed to US President-elect Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk as examples of the attention economy in action.

Musk, the world’s richest person, is a well-known proponent of Dogecoin (DOGE), going so far as to propose a “department of government efficiency” — with the acronym DOGE — within the incoming Trump administration based on the memecoin.  

According to Kim, memecoins can be successful without strong fundamentals behind the project, fueled by high-profile public figures like Musk and Trump, and also by online masses joking or sharing content about it. This dynamic could potentially change how exchanges relate to retail investors. 

“Now the attention is more important than just money because if you get the maximum attention, you can get the power to bring all the research from the world,” said Kim. “This is my thesis recently and memecoin is also I think quite resonate to this thesis because everybody says a memecoin doesn’t have a fundamental value but 100% attention.”

Lessons from the rise of DOGE

Dogecoin, one of the first significant memecoins in the crypto space, was initially created as a type of joke based on a Shiba dog meme. However, the price of the token has surged in recent years, likely due to Musk mentioning it on social media — Twitter before he purchased the platform and X once he rebranded it — and associating with Trump, who won the 2024 US presidential election.

Related: Is the ‘memecoin supercycle’ over already? Analysts weigh in

The Hashed co-founder said that though initial interest in a memecoin was critical for its success, the project should also focus on “how to make an impact, how to inspire people.” It remains to be seen whether crypto users will be moved by certain memecoins that receive a lot of attention, either online or offline. 

“I think new inspiration should be very important over time,” said Kim.

Haliey Welch, the influencer behind the “Hawk Tuah” meme, launched her own token on Dec. 4. The memecoin’s market capitalization rose to roughly $490 million within a few hours, then dropped to roughly $42 million, prompting allegations of insider sales.

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