Keith A. Grossman, president of payments infrastructure firm MoonPay, says memecoins are not finished — they’ll come back in a different form. Grossman argues the core innovation of memecoins is not hype but the low-cost tokenization of attention: using blockchain tokens to capture and share the economic value created by likes, memes, inside jokes and communities. That model, he says, can democratize access to the attention economy.
Before crypto, the value of attention flowed mainly to platforms, brands and a small set of influencers. Most participants generated cultural and economic value that was absorbed by centralized intermediaries. Tokenization changes that dynamic by giving creators and communities direct ways to monetize and distribute value.
Grossman compares the current mood around memecoins to early skepticism about social media after first-generation platforms faltered in the 2000s, before later companies scaled the idea into a cultural force. Indeed, memecoins were one of crypto’s best-performing sectors in 2024 and the dominant narrative for many investors, according to CoinGecko. But criticism that memecoins and social tokens lack intrinsic value, together with several high-profile collapses, erased much of that momentum.
The memecoin market plunged in Q1 2025 following multiple token failures described as “rug pulls,” and politically tied launches made the downturn worse. A memecoin linked to the January 2025 U.S. inauguration tied to former President Donald Trump reportedly fell from a $75 peak to about $5.42 (CoinMarketCap). In Argentina, a social token called Libra endorsed by President Javier Milei reached a roughly $107 million market cap before collapsing; the token’s failure was labeled a rug pull, prompting investor lawsuits, a government probe and calls for impeachment, while Milei later sought to distance himself.
Despite the slump and scandals, Grossman and other industry figures believe the underlying model — tokenized attention and community-driven value capture — has lasting potential. With stronger design, better governance and clearer utility, memecoins could evolve into legitimate tools for creators and communities rather than remaining purely speculative instruments.