On August 20, Messari data engineer Mike Kremer said that Meme Coin is the "most extractive crypto phenomenon" since the IC0 craze in 2017. He believes that while speculative bubbles and assets have always been part of the crypto ecosystem, retail investors' pursuit of crypto's latest hot spots has always "left some residual value". "During the DeFi season, projects like Uniswap Labs introduced protocols that provide real utility to the crypto economy," says Mr. Kremer. "When the speculative mania fades, these tokens will still have potential value because they are tied to functional, valuable services." However, he points out that Meme has a "more disruptive dynamic", "where insiders or cartels create tokens like supercumrocket69 and hype it up to attract retail investors to rush to buy these'revolutionary 'new assets." Once the price goes up, he adds, insiders sell their holdings, leaving the tokens with no real value or utility, and "the whole process is a zero-sum game where value is not only redistributed but destroyed."