Author: YBB Capital Researcher Zeke
1. Celebrity Coin, from its Birth to Marketing
Warren Buffett has been carrying on the philanthropic legacy of his late wife Susan Buffett for 23 years, transforming the admiration of a group of business elites into a "time auction" that has attracted global attention, creating the most iconic "sky-high-priced lunch" model in the history of human philanthropy.
The monetization of celebrity time is not uncommon in Web3. From the ancient Time New Bank to the later Friend.tech, SocialFi has been exploring the road for more than seven or eight years, but in most cases, there is little thunder or even little rain. After all, in the on-chain world, the importance of speculative trading is often greater than this "fragile social" established with tokens as a link. Most users really care not about the exclusive insights shared by celebrities, but focus on the "volume and price" of celebrities. In other words, for top celebrities, the SocialFi platform pool is too small and cumbersome to make a profit. For KOLs, it is embarrassing and stupid to put their already scarce influence on the SocialFi platform, which has transparent prices and few users.
The lack of accumulation means that SocialFi is not feasible for the time being. Therefore, the monetization path of celebrity value in Web3 needs to be differentiated, transitioned, and then evolved. A paid subscription community and an X account with a blue logo, this kind of Web2 combination with accumulation is what KOLs need at present. However, the value conversion path of top celebrities has not been smooth enough, just like a large enterprise with tens of millions of goods waiting to be dumped. To B is not cost-effective, and To C has no carrier.
The first successful step in exploring the path from monetization of time to monetization of influence is NFT, which has played the role of this carrier for a long time. However, it is obvious that NFT’s characteristics of scarcity, fixed price and lack of liquidity cannot satisfy both buyers and sellers. This form of selling souvenirs has temporarily failed after the BTC ecosystem failed.
The value of celebrities needs a new carrier. Although the answer has long been hidden in the story of Musk and Doge, this matter still needs some opportunities. Last year, Pump.fun's coin issuance fever swept the cryptocurrency circle. The Meme trend was carried out along with the US presidential election. During this period, various presidential coins issued by the public have appeared. The extremely high increase and popularity made some behind-the-scenes operators in the cryptocurrency circle smell an opportunity. Through signing contracts or inducing, they let the real celebrities issue coins, and the rest was left to them to operate. This sounds a bit like the cooperation model between MCN agencies and Internet celebrities, but the actual situation is extremely violent. From Caitlyn Jenner's JENNER (US Olympic decathlon champion and one of Trump's top fans) to President Milley's LIBRA. It started with a tweet and ended with a vertically falling K-line. The whole process can take several days or even hours to harvest. Then the script is often that the big V on social media starts an emergency "investigation", the coin issuing team posts to blame each other, and finally nothing is done. The concept of celebrity coins was born in this mess.
But in any case, this path has become very clear. Judging from the initial results alone, the low-threshold distribution channel of Meme is perfect. However, celebrity Memes that lack intrinsic value will disappear after the popularity and PvP end. The problem shifts from the carrier to long-term storage. AI Agent can tell you about the future of mankind, RWA can describe a track of Hundred Trillion, and what story can celebrity coins tell?
Trump's answer was very cliché. He would give the first 220 TRUMP holders a "presidential time" bonus, and the first 25 holders would be invited to a special VIP trip to the White House the next day. The value support of celebrity coins has been rolled back to "time". In my opinion, this solution can save the short-term unlocking of tokens, but it cannot support the long-term growth of token prices.
A good enough meme should emphasize emotions and narratives, rather than empowerment. The value of celebrity coins is not the insights and time of celebrities, but the stories of celebrities and the emotions behind them. Trump's dinner invitation is more like selling a super expensive version of Social Token, and everything will dissipate when the president's time is over. How to market TRUMP well, the crypto team behind Trump may ask Minister Doge for advice. Doge is tied to Musk, SpaceX and Tesla. To The Moon is still a slogan engraved in the hearts of cryptocurrency users. The people's currency makes holders believe that 1Doge=1U. Challenging traditional finance is in line with the genes of encryption. In fact, every point is Musk using his own power to
