Coins are the Content

Social networks enabled user generated content. Blockchains enable user generated assets.

On blockchains, coins (assets) are the content. Coin founders are the content creators. Blockchains are a neutral platform that let coin founders create their content without anyone’s permission. The ticker and price chart let thousands of people create stories around what is happening to the coin and why. Volatility creates virality.

Investing as entertainment — something I wrote about 3 years ago — has only accelerated as more parts of finance and investing get democratized. We are living in a world in which anyone, including a teenager from a developing country, can create an asset for anyone else to buy with a few clicks.

Assets used to be viewed as investment goods, but now that they have taken the shape of content, they are also consumption goods. Dogecoin, which started as a joke based on a viral dog meme in 2010, now has a market cap of over $50 billion, significantly more than consumer brands like Ford Motor Company and Kellogg. It produces nothing “useful”, but it is the purest way to participate in a viral internet meme.

When the media got disintermediated by social networks, it led to more voices, entertainment, and polarization. When investing gets disintermediated by blockchains, it leads to more assets, financial participation, and speculation.