tl;dr
The chief investment officer of crypto asset management firm Bitwise, Matt Hougan, believes the cryptocurrency industry needs a new narrative as memecoins lose popularity. In an interview with crypto influencer Scott Melker, Hougan expressed concern over the North Korean hacking group Lazarus attemp...
Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan emphasizes the need for a new narrative in the crypto industry, citing the decline of memecoins and the negative impact of North Korean hackers attempting to launder funds through a memecoin platform. The attempted fund laundering by North Korean hackers through memecoin platform pump.fun signals the decline of the memecoin craze and the necessity for crypto investors to rally around new narratives such as decentralized finance (DeFi) or stablecoins, according to Hougan. Hougan highlights the theft of nearly $1.5 billion worth of Ethereum and Lido Staked Ether (stETH) by the Lazarus Group from Bybit, and underscores the need for a shift away from memecoins to alternative stories in the crypto market, such as DeFi and stablecoin growth.
The chief investment officer of crypto asset management firm Bitwise, Matt Hougan, believes the cryptocurrency industry needs a new narrative as memecoins lose popularity. In an interview with crypto influencer Scott Melker, Hougan expressed concern over the North Korean hacking group Lazarus attempting to launder funds from the Bybit hack through the memecoin platform pump.fun. He stated that this incident signifies the potential end of the memecoin craze and the industry now requires a new compelling story, possibly centered around decentralized finance (DeFi) or stablecoins. Hougan highlighted the negative impact of the memecoin trend and emphasized the need for alternative narratives outside of Bitcoin. He suggested that green shoots exist in DeFi and stablecoin growth, but they currently lack the vibrancy of memecoins.
The chief investment officer of crypto asset management firm Bitwise says the industry needs a new selling point now that memecoins are losing mindshare. In a new interview with crypto influencer Scott Melker, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan says that North Korean hacking group Lazarus attempting to launder funds from the Bybit hack through memecoin platform pump.fun was not a good look for the asset class. "The killer piece there was that tried to launder the funds… I think that spells the sort of existential death of the meme coin craze. If you have MELANIA and you have LIBRA and then you have it being used as a laundering facility, even in this permissive regulatory environment, people are not going to look favorably on North hackers finding a way to launder stolen. That’s not going to do well so I think there’s going to be real pressure on the memecoin space. I think that’s why you’ve seen Solana pull back so much and sort of lead us down this path. Lazarus Group stole nearly $1.5 billion worth of Ethereum (ETH ) and Lido Staked Ether (stETH ) from Bybit last week.
According to Hougan, crypto investors now need a new narrative to rally around, potentially in decentralized finance (DeFi) or stablecoins. "Outside of Bitcoin, the only real story that was sort of present and easily felt over the last six months was positive was the memecoin story. It was injecting capital into the market, it was injecting energy into the market, and I think people are riding that effectively to zero right now and as a result, we need another story outside of Bitcoin. I think those stories exist, I think you can see green shoots in DeFi (decentralized finance), I think you can see green shoots in stablecoin growth, but they aren’t as present and as vibrant as memecoins and I think the trio of Melania, Libra, and Lazarus through Bybit just means the story is basically over."