The Dark Side And The Potential of The Degenerate Economy
Good morning.
Before I get into it, Stocktwits has refreshed our brand. When I started the company in 2007, I never assumed we would be still going in 2025. Now it feels like we are just getting started. The markets have definitely changed – there was no Bitcoin or blockchains or memecoins – and it was time for us to rethink a few things ourselves. I wanted a modern, lighter, faster and brighter logo that would match the speed of the markets, our product and the community. I also wanted to lean into the power and utility of the ‘Cashtag’ that we created for the financial web way back in 2007. Cashtags are no longer just for stocks!
I hope people like it…
Onward… to some more thoughts on the ‘degenerate economy’ that has hit warp speed.
I really liked this piece from Simon Taylor who writes ‘Fintech Brainfood’. Make sure you read It all. The title…
It starts…
I’ve spent 48 hours watching a sitting US President launch a memecoin that hit $60bn in value. Part of me is horrified. Part of me sees this as inevitable. All of me knows this changes everything for our industry. Understanding it is going to be key to understanding what comes next.
Within hours of a new administration, we had $TRUMP and now $MELANIA memecoins. It’s an obvious grift, get-rich-quick, cash-grab. With a massive risk that retail consumers who try to buy will lose out and these coins go to 0.
Yet, we’ve crossed a rubicon. Crypto infrastructure is ready for scale, Stablecoins are mainstream, and we will get regulation in the next 18 months.
What I call the ‘degenerate economy’, a narrower definition of this current phenomenon/craze/trend is ‘financial nihilishm’. Again from Simon:
Back to Trump… I do not believe/trust that $TRUMP has any good intention with his memecoin.
But, that won’t make memecoins go away.
I believe memecoins can be used for good – not just the potential to be a company or person’s ‘goodwill’ on their balance sheet to be monetized at will.
One last time from Simon:
In the meantime, Robinhood is hitting all time highs, so is Visa, Wells Fargo and Goldman. Both old and new financial platforms are benefitting from this ‘degenerate economy’ and ‘financial nihilism’. The logo for Wells Fargo is still a freaking stagecoach!
We are seeing the absolute worst of people right now and I do not think that continues.
Just because you can launch a coin or execute a rug pull …does not mean you should. I believe the punishment and karma will catch up to a lot of the crimers.
