Why There's Already a Will Smith Slap Token

David Z. Morris is CoinDesk's Chief Insights Columnist. He holds Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and tiny amounts of different crypto assets.

In the little than 24 hours since megastar Will Smith permanently damaged his nationalist representation by slapping Chris Rock, a antheral fractional his size, the cryptosphere has launched astatine slightest 2 projects purporting to someway enactment the lawsuit connected the blockchain. Despite nary evident logical transportation betwixt crypto and The Slap Heard Round the World, the recently minted integer assets adjacent look to person generated immoderate sales.

But does that mean you should heap in? Absoluuuuuutely not.

Katie Notoupolos astatine BuzzFeed spotted thing Monday greeting called “Will Smith Slap DAO” selling non-fungible tokens (NFT) connected the OpenSea marketplace (I’ll conscionable beryllium referring to it arsenic SlapDAO). And, a token called “Will Smith Inu” has begun trading connected UniSwap and different decentralized exchanges. (I volition arsenic accustomed debar linking straight to suspicious projects.) Will Smith Inu saw a short, little terms surge overnight, and attracted astir USD$1.9 cardinal successful trading volume.

That’s not arsenic overmuch arsenic it mightiness dependable like. But for those caller to the crypto space, it’s capable to invitation immoderate basal questions, specified arsenic What? and possibly Why? Why would Will Smith o.k. specified a thing? What imaginable crushed could determination beryllium to bargain it? Does this someway marque consciousness and I’m conscionable missing immoderate caller but well-known crypto concern model?

The abbreviated reply to immoderate and each specified questions is "Hold connected a minute." If you deliberation these projects are legit oregon investable, it’s clip to instrumentality a measurement backmost and brushwood up connected immoderate important crypto knowledge.

In fact, it whitethorn beryllium the astir important happening to know: Anyone tin make a token and telephone it anything, and accidental thing they privation to astir it, and they’ll astir apt ne'er get successful trouble.

Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain and different crypto systems person tools for rapidly creating secondary tokens (ERC-20 [https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2021/02/09/what-is-the-erc-20-ethereum-token-standard/] oregon BEP-20, respectively). These person nary inherent value, and it tin instrumentality conscionable minutes to motorboat a “new project” claiming immoderate vague relation with a nationalist fig oregon taste event.

This goes backmost astatine slightest to 2014, erstwhile Coinye West launched without immoderate existent affiliation with rapper Kanye West. More recently, we’ve seen “Squid Game Token” capitalize connected the Netflix hit, and the infinite variations connected “Dogelon Mars” and “Elon Doge” attempting to capitalize connected Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s profligate s**tcoinery.

Because the crypto marketplace is global, and due to the fact that you tin merchantability much oregon little immoderate token connected a decentralized speech (DEX), these shallow deceptions summation immoderate trading momentum and volume. But they’re fundamentally tricks, and astir each of them illness arsenic accelerated arsenic they rise.

Kanye West, for his part, rapidly sued the Coinye task into the dirt. But these things usually illness without extracurricular help. After the token changeable up immensely successful a fewer days, the “developers” down Squid Game token abandoned it – a classical "rug pull" – and it dropped to zero. Expect these Will Smith Slap things to endure a akin fate.

The broader takeaway is conscionable arsenic simple, and conscionable arsenic captious for anyone caller to the abstraction to internalize: Not each cryptos are created equal. Not by a agelong shot. And portion “hot and new” is simply a affirmative diagnostic successful a batch of sectors, it’s often a atrocious happening successful crypto, wherever the “Lindy Effect” appears to beryllium rather strong. The Lindy Effect is an investing mentation that the longer thing has existed, the longer it volition proceed to exist. New cryptos, overmuch similar caller companies, person a precise precocious mortality rate.

There is besides country for disorder betwixt “memes” and “meme tokens.” They’re very, precise antithetic things.

“Memes” successful wide are hugely influential successful crypto – successful information I’ve written an full publication astir them. But memes are connection tools, not a worth proposition oregon selling constituent successful themselves. The bully memes successful crypto are condensations of overmuch much analyzable ideas. “Bitcoin Maximalism” is simply a simplified meme – “Bitcoin (BTC) volition go the world’s reserve currency.” It stands successful for a overmuch much analyzable acceptable of arguments, though, astir the inferior of a neutral integer currency layer, and Bitcoin’s unsocial positioning to beryllium that layer.

Then determination are, let’s conscionable accidental it, the Bad Memes, which travel successful astatine slightest 2 varieties. There are memes that purport to correspond much nuanced ideas, but are simply incorrect (“XRP the standard”). There are besides meme coins with nary underlying deeper connection astatine all, axenic mindshare plays that slap a catchy representation oregon a slogan connected a token created from an unfastened root algorithm and telephone it a day. Dogecoin (DOGE), shiba inu (SHIB), Coinye West and SlapDAO each autumn successful this category.

SlapDAO, similar astir of these bare signifiers, leans into winking self-awareness astir its ain ephemerality. It features lo-fi pictures of assorted Will Smith slaps from assorted angles, plastered with random low-IQ crypto slogans. They’re beauteous funny, successful a 4chan chud benignant of way.

But nevertheless drenched successful [crap]poster irony a task whitethorn be, the wealth is inactive real: As tracked by OpenSea, the decidedly infringing Will Smith Slap DAO has sold 13.3 ether (ETH) worthy of these destined to beryllium short-lived NFTs successful little than 24 hours. That’s much than $40,000 astatine existent prices – arguably a saccharine spot for abbreviated cons due to the fact that it’s not capable to trigger overmuch investigation.

(They’re destined to beryllium short-lived due to the fact that OpenSea, the 800-pound gorilla of NFT marketplaces, tends to delist infringing oregon scammy projects. The NFTs inactive beryllium aft being delisted, but erstwhile they can’t beryllium traded connected OpenSea their worth mostly tanks.)

At the aforesaid time, those purchases mightiness themselves beryllium fake “wash trades” meant to make the content there’s marketplace involvement and instrumentality existent traders into buying in. Wash trading is incredibly elemental – you conscionable usage your ain bully crypto (BTC, ETH) to bargain a fake oregon shoddy crypto plus you created, usually from a caller wallet that somewhat obscures the root of the funds. That fake bargain drives up the markets’ cognition of the “correct” terms for your crummy asset, fundamentally tricking consequent buyers.

Wash trading and different manipulation is highly communal successful crypto, particularly successful caller oregon chartless projects. There are fewer systematic and reliable ways to forestall oregon observe it. LooksRare, an NFT level that sought to situation OpenSea’s dominance, appears to person hosted rampant lavation trading.

To beryllium clear, I don’t person grounds this is happening with the Will Smith Slap assets, and fixed the smallish amounts involved, it seems plausible radical are genuinely conscionable piling successful for a laugh. That’s different dynamic important to understand: Whether oregon not it’s an outright scam, meme tokens are heavy traded by radical who explicitly recognize what they’re doing arsenic a signifier of gambling.

The “game” of meme trading is usually to effort to drawback a precise abbreviated “pump,” a terms highest sometimes lasting conscionable hours oregon adjacent minutes, earlier a worthless token collapses to zero, usually forever. You mostly don’t privation to commercialized against the self-identified “degens,” who pridefulness themselves connected obsessiveness, sleeplessness and wide self-destructiveness.

As a testament to conscionable however galore worthless crypto tokens already exist, determination are besides “slap”-themed cryptos that person thing to bash with Will Smith oregon the Oscars. A SLAP ERC-20 token that launched much than a twelvemonth agone was supposedly linked to a dating service, but present appears to beryllium dead. There’s a 2nd unrelated token called ShibaSlap that launched successful January arsenic a bare and seemingly unsuccessful effort to siphon disconnected meme-coin interest. There are astir apt more.

The basal constituent is this: Anyone tin make a integer token and they tin telephone it thing they want. Then they tin easy database it to a decentralized speech without support oregon support from anyone. Then they tin easy bargain their ain token from different wallet they control, creating the content that there’s integrated demand. Keep each of that successful caput erstwhile pondering immoderate crypto trade.