Fantom Founder Wants To Create a Safer Memecoin Environment

A prominent crypto founder wants to create so-called safe memecoins, but past experiments show these tokens can’t be forced.

Addressing the booming memecoin frenzy, Fantom and Yearn Finance founder Andre Cronje posted an article on April 9, bidding to create a safer environment for communities and investors.

Cronje’s post listed four risks that accompany memecoin projects: the creating team sells their tokens, early investors offload their holdings, liquidity gets removed, and tokens come with access controls.

The founder wants to create a new memecoin model that addresses these issues, though he didn’t say exactly how.

"Meme Team"

Cronje has proposed the following allocation of tokens: Up to 10% of tokens will be allocated for marketing related expenses, and up to 5% of tokens will be assigned to support the “meme team.”

Meanwhile, the remaining 85% of the tokens will be put up in a FTM/token liquidity pool LP in via Fantom's foundation multisig, with 100,000 FTM, or roughly $96,000.

“Anyone wishing to launch a community / meme coin for their idea can contact me directly on telegram or twitter. Provide the idea, graphics, name, ticker, and concept,” wrote Cronje.

Although Cronje’s proposal can be considered in good faith, there’s space to see it as an attempt for Fantom to grab market share in the memecoin sector, which currently commands a $65 billion market cap. Fantom’s total value locked (TVL) sits at $141 million, a whopping 98% drop from its 2022 all-time high of $7.9 billion.

In defiance of the overall pullback in prices, Fantom has surged today. The FTM token trades for $0.98, with a 7% pump.

“Culture is Cultivated, Not Curated”

Cronje’s attempt isn’t the first of its kind.

In late 2023, the Avalanche Foundation–which oversees development on Avalanche–expanded its $100 million NFT incubator fund to include memecoins.

This meant adding a “Culture Catalyst” initiative, which aimed to offer exposure for memecoins to its ecosystem.

It didn’t go down well for Avalanche, however. There is a seemingly barren wasteland for memecoins in the ecosystem, with most activity landing on Solana and Base.

Some are predicting Cronje’s proposal will go down the same path. “Culture is cultivated, not curated,” wrote Louis Cooper, a self-proclaimed degen trader on X today.

Cooper’s view was echoed by the pseudonymous account dubbed “Daniel Got Hits,” who added “great idea, I've always thought memecoins should be launched in a carefully selected way, approved by the founder of the chain making sure nothing offensive slips past.”

Carefully Distributed

In a nod to the racist slew of tokens that popped up in late March, forcing DEX screener to review their moderation policy, Cronje noted that he won’t assist any tokens he deems offensive, or that make references to a real person or project.

According to Cronje’s proposal, the token’s he assists in creating won’t have any minting or ownership capabilities, although they will have a pre-set distribution.