One of many huge developments in Web3 in 2023 has been the rise of memecoins, cryptocurrencies also referred to as “shitcoins” which are themed round a viral web pattern. Their lighthearted nature is just a part of their enchantment; with sufficient momentum surrounding them, they’ll usher in critical income for early consumers because of their excessive volatility.
One of the profitable memecoins to interrupt onto the scene in current weeks was $TURBO, an experimental mission by the digital artist Rhett Dashwood (Mankind) that, at its peak, had a market cap of $50 million. Dashwood had created the token from scratch with the assistance of ChatGPT and recommendation from his Twitter followers. Its success earned Dashwood respect amongst $TURBO holders and the broader Web3 neighborhood alike for his creativity and willingness to construct along with his neighborhood.
On June 1, Dashwood introduced his subsequent experimental mission: an endeavor to create both a brand new $1 billion crypto token or NFT paintings. In consequence, he’s going through some pointed criticisms from the identical neighborhood that lauded him for his work with $TURBO. Right here’s what it’s essential to learn about $CLOWN.
$CLOWN has entered the chat
“The circus is on the town,” Dashwood wrote in a Tweet asserting the experiment earlier than offering his followers an deal with to ship ETH. “We’re all clowns. Benefit from the present. As an artwork/ai/social experiment I’ve requested ChatGPT if it may create a billion $ coin or paintings.”
1/8$CLOWN or Crypto Clown artwork. The circus is on the town. We’re all clowns. Benefit from the present. As an artwork/ai/social experiment I’ve requested ChatGPT if it may create a billion $ coin or paintings. 🤡🖼️💰 observe alongside 👇
Be sure to learn the entire thread earlier than sending ETH to: clownbag.eth pic.twitter.com/DJn3yRZRk0
— Rhett Mankind (@rhett) June 1, 2023
Other than the token’s intrinsic worth, no matter that seems to be, the one utility it would have is to bid on a bit of crypto artwork depicting a clown. Dashwood’s conceptual framing right here is to confront folks with a alternative between artwork and cash. The selection of the clown theme comes from criticisms Dashwood has obtained over the months for working within the NFT area and with crypto tokens.
“I’ve heard numerous instances, I’m a clown for promoting digital artwork, a clown for doing crypto, a clown for utilizing AI, a clown for making a token, so I both embrace the clown or concern it eternally,” Dashwood elaborated in his Twitter thread.
These excited by collaborating within the experiment have per week to ship their ETH to an deal with Dashwood supplied within the Twitter thread and obtain an “equitable cut up” of the token provide primarily based on the ETH share of the overall quantity obtained. In some unspecified time in the future within the mission, there shall be a 1/1 artwork public sale of clown-themed artwork that $CLOWN holders can use their tokens to bid on.
Dashwood says the experiment is completely decentralized, with no web sites or social pages to talk of, and that he won’t withhold any quantity of the tokens. “Anticipate completely nothing of me after launch,” he stated of the experiment.
The backlash
It’s that final bit relating to expectations that appears to have earned Dashwood the ire of a few of his followers. That is partially as a result of emergence of one other current pattern within the Web3 panorama during which social media influencers ask their followers to send them money for both a shady memecoin providing or, in some instances, completely nothing in return.
A few of these efforts have seen influencers earn tens of millions in a number of days, souring artists (and their collectors) within the Web3 area who’ve spent months or years working to supply worth to the digital artwork ecosystem and be correctly compensated for doing so.
I used to be totally supportive of the $Turbo experiment
However this one offers off 🚩🚩 imo.
– “Anticipate completely nothing of me after launch”Additionally in all probability not clever to reply to folks’s feedback with clown emojis
— BenJammin.eth 🍌 (@xBenJamminx) June 1, 2023
In a daring show of committing to the bit, Dashwood has been responding to folks’s criticisms with quite a lot of clown-centric GIFs. Nonetheless, not all of Dashwood’s followers criticized the thought, with a number of wishing the artist luck with the experiment.
$CLOWN, $TURBO, and memecoin empires
Dashwood is definitely able to pulling off a large-scale conceptual experiment like this, as evidenced by his success with $TURBO, a mission he has since handed over to the neighborhood that helped construct it. The artist’s capability to play with new know-how and developments is exactly what made $TURBO enjoyable to look at. As Dashwood leans into tough optics in his newest experiment, it would require a deft contact to keep away from being lumped into the identical class as somebody like Ben.eth, who not too long ago launched his third crypto token in almost as many weeks.
