Nick Navis

And when you take a step back and just think about what's happening here, it's kind of wild, right? We're living at a time where a 13-year-old can create his own cryptocurrency, successfully hawk it to a bunch of strangers on the internet over livestream video, and then rip them off for tens of thousands of dollars. Not once, not twice, but three times in one night.

And when you take a step back and just think about what's happening here, it's kind of wild, right? We're living at a time where a 13-year-old can create his own cryptocurrency, successfully hawk it to a bunch of strangers on the internet over livestream video, and then rip them off for tens of thousands of dollars. Not once, not twice, but three times in one night.

All from the comfort of his own home. And all before bedtime. If someone pulled this move on a market like the New York Stock Exchange, they might have had government regulators knocking on the door. But meme coins are kind of a Wild West. And the thing is, what this one kid did is just a tiny glimpse into this much bigger economic story.

All from the comfort of his own home. And all before bedtime. If someone pulled this move on a market like the New York Stock Exchange, they might have had government regulators knocking on the door. But meme coins are kind of a Wild West. And the thing is, what this one kid did is just a tiny glimpse into this much bigger economic story.

All from the comfort of his own home. And all before bedtime. If someone pulled this move on a market like the New York Stock Exchange, they might have had government regulators knocking on the door. But meme coins are kind of a Wild West. And the thing is, what this one kid did is just a tiny glimpse into this much bigger economic story.

Just one example of a transformation rippling across the Internet. There are thousands of these meme coins being launched every single day now, involving everyone from literal children to social media sensations like Hoctua or Mudang the pygmy hippo to the President of the United States. It's the kind of thing that makes you wonder, how in the world did we get here?

Just one example of a transformation rippling across the Internet. There are thousands of these meme coins being launched every single day now, involving everyone from literal children to social media sensations like Hoctua or Mudang the pygmy hippo to the President of the United States. It's the kind of thing that makes you wonder, how in the world did we get here?

Just one example of a transformation rippling across the Internet. There are thousands of these meme coins being launched every single day now, involving everyone from literal children to social media sensations like Hoctua or Mudang the pygmy hippo to the President of the United States. It's the kind of thing that makes you wonder, how in the world did we get here?

Hello and welcome to Planet Money, I'm Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi, and I'm joined by freelance reporter Nick Navis.

Hello and welcome to Planet Money, I'm Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi, and I'm joined by freelance reporter Nick Navis.

Hello and welcome to Planet Money, I'm Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi, and I'm joined by freelance reporter Nick Navis.

Today on the show, the story of the meme coin casino. How a few technological leaps and cultural shifts helped turn a seedy internet backwater into a giant cryptocurrency gold rush. OK, so in order to tell the story of how we got to this moment where we are constantly awash in new meme coins, we have to begin at the beginning.

Today on the show, the story of the meme coin casino. How a few technological leaps and cultural shifts helped turn a seedy internet backwater into a giant cryptocurrency gold rush. OK, so in order to tell the story of how we got to this moment where we are constantly awash in new meme coins, we have to begin at the beginning.

Today on the show, the story of the meme coin casino. How a few technological leaps and cultural shifts helped turn a seedy internet backwater into a giant cryptocurrency gold rush. OK, so in order to tell the story of how we got to this moment where we are constantly awash in new meme coins, we have to begin at the beginning.

But in the years after its launch, there was also this whole wave of often sketchy new Bitcoin copycats. And this is where you start to see this pattern develop that's characterized the world of cryptocurrency ever since. A cycle of grand utopian promises followed by a period of frenzied speculation and outright fraud.

But in the years after its launch, there was also this whole wave of often sketchy new Bitcoin copycats. And this is where you start to see this pattern develop that's characterized the world of cryptocurrency ever since. A cycle of grand utopian promises followed by a period of frenzied speculation and outright fraud.

But in the years after its launch, there was also this whole wave of often sketchy new Bitcoin copycats. And this is where you start to see this pattern develop that's characterized the world of cryptocurrency ever since. A cycle of grand utopian promises followed by a period of frenzied speculation and outright fraud.

The story starts back in 2013 with a guy named Jackson Palmer. Palmer was an Australian product manager at a tech company, and he believed that there was something fundamentally useful about what crypto promised to do. But when he looked around at some of these speculative new cryptocurrencies, he saw that people seemed to be using crypto as a kind of cash grab.

The story starts back in 2013 with a guy named Jackson Palmer. Palmer was an Australian product manager at a tech company, and he believed that there was something fundamentally useful about what crypto promised to do. But when he looked around at some of these speculative new cryptocurrencies, he saw that people seemed to be using crypto as a kind of cash grab.

The story starts back in 2013 with a guy named Jackson Palmer. Palmer was an Australian product manager at a tech company, and he believed that there was something fundamentally useful about what crypto promised to do. But when he looked around at some of these speculative new cryptocurrencies, he saw that people seemed to be using crypto as a kind of cash grab.